Tastes Like Spring

My favorite day of the year is the first day of spring. Not the official first day of spring, whenever that is, but the first warm day of the new year; the first day after the long months of winter that you can go outside without your boots and winter hat. On that day, I can feel the heat warming into my bones and jolting me awake after the sleepy winter.

Now, in April, after a slew of warm, even borderline hot days the novelty of warm days is gone. The first day of spring has long passed (or feels like it) and is stored in my memory with first-day-of-springs past.

As an ardent lover of spring, I have to admit something: I feel slightly cheated this year. Here in southeastern Pennsylvania, we went from grey skies to brilliant sunshine, from coats to t-shirts, from winter to seemingly summer. It's as if they skipped spring this year. I returned from a short walk and was shiny with sweat. I would expect this kind of behavior from June, July, August, maybe even May and September, but April?

April, I don't know what to make out of you anymore. I wanted you to provide me with strawberries and asparagus, which you did (and thank you), but also sweatshirt weather. I wanted you to come down with your famed rain showers and send a cool wind our way. But you know I can't stay mad at you for long- your beauty and charms are too bewitching.

Even with April feigning summer, I go right on cooking spring foods. I read about rhubarb recipes online. We roast and saute fresh, tender asparagus. And I bake lemon yogurt cake. Since I couldn't find my cake pan, I decided to bake cupcakes instead. Light and airy, the cupcakes taste a bit like spring. You can make them with a lemon glaze, but I just ate them plain and they were delicious.

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LEMON YOGURT CAKE (OR CUPCAKES)

Cake Ingredients
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/2 cup canola oil

Glaze Ingredients
Juice from lemons
1/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, sugar, and eggs, stirring until well blended.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, and zest, mixing to just combine.
4. Add the oil and stir to incorporate.
5. Pour the batter into a 9 inch round cake pan or cupcake pan.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Do not over bake.