Lemon Posset Shortcakes

What fun I had with this cake!  So light and beautiful.  I admit I had no idea what a "posset" was until reading the Baking Bible.  According to Rose, the word "posset" comes from medieval times and refers to the small pot in which the dessert is presented.  Well, I wavered from the posset path and seized the opportunity to use one of my many unused pans stashed in the cabinet for that "perfect moment."  It was perfect because it provided the perfect well for the Lemon Posset, but can I really call it a posset since the pan was a full size cake pan??

Reading through the recipe, it can seem pretty intimidating because of the million steps involved.  Cake Batter, Lemon Syrup, Apple Glaze, Lemon Posset.....check, check, and double check!  I swear I read this recipe about 5 times before I even started measuring one thing.  I finally threw caution to the wind and dove in.

Making the batter was pretty straightforward.  The only thing that threw me for a loop was the Wondra flour.  I have about a dozen different flours, but Wondra isn't one of them.   Once again Rose came to the rescue and provided an alternative that I did have!  The recipe also called for clarified brown butter, which Rose also provides very detailed instructions for.  

To accommodate the much larger pan, I doubled each of the recipes.  Trust me, you'll be happy you did when you get a taste of the Lemon Posset.  Absolutely divine!!

 Straining the clarified butter

Making the lemon posset

Assembling everything was pretty easy.  The recipe calls for apple jelly to make the glaze.  But...  if you don't have that, I would recommend apricot.   In pastry school, apricot was the go to jelly for anything requiring a glaze.

It's important to de-pan the cake quickly after baking.  This will help to prevent the cake from collapsing.

I cannot say enough about how good this lemon posset tastes!!  The possibilities of where this could be used are endless.  You'll be sorry if you don't make it....;)

To garnish, I just used a small amount of lemon zest.

As always, we're not allowed to share the recipes on here, so you'll need to run out and buy your own copy of the Baking Bible.  The posset recipe alone is reason enough!