Sweet Melissa's Lemon Icebox Cake

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays assignment is Lemon Icebox Cake. I don't think I'd ever eaten icebox cake before, and after making - and tasting - this one, I can say it won't be my last!

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Jennifer of Keep Passing the Open Windows chose this recipe, and you can find the recipe on her post.

- If I were to stop and think about it, I'd be scared of this recipe, seeing as it involves separating half a dozen eggs and making a custard with the yolks and a meringue with the whites. Although I can usually handle egg separating, neither custard nor meringue has become second nature to me, and both are fraught with potential pitfalls. Luckily, with this cake everything came together quite nicely.

stiff peaks + glossy whites = meringue

- The meringue began to brown very quickly in the oven, so I tented it with some foil so it could cook for the prescribed time without getting too brown.

Ready for the deep freeze!

- I thought it was funny that the directions say to remove the springform cake bottom by inverting the cake onto a plate. No way this one could be inverted with that meringue topping on it! I slid a spatula between the crust and the metal disk, and pushed the cake onto the serving plate. The bottom crust is quite sturdy so that worked well.

You did notice the Wild Strawberry plate, right?

the verdict:

I brought this to a neighborhood dinner party. Everybody seemed to like it - nearly as much as the gooey box brownies that were the other dessert there. My husband loved the cake (even more than the lemon tarts that will be posted on Tuesday!)

This cake is light an fluffy and so cool - the perfect refreshing summer dessert. I really enjoyed the lemon + meringue + crust flavors together. Although the strawberry sauce was fine, it seemed to overpower the soft cake.

best version?

This icebox cake reminded me strongly of lemon meringue pie, only better. My husband would likely say this is the best lemon dessert I've ever made.