One thing I love about living in Starkville is the fact that I have the opportunity to get to know some of my out-of-town nieces and nephews better. Two of them are attending Mississippi State University, one a junior and one a freshman.

The junior — I’ll call him Christopher, because that’s his name — turned 21 this month. The girls and I were visiting his hometown the night his immediate family celebrated, and we were back in Starkville a few days later, just in time for his celebration with his grandparents, my parents.

Translation: we celebrated him twice. Complete with two different cakes.

The second was my mama’s famous carrot cake, which I’ve shared with you before.

The first was my sister’s own invention, a yellow cake-mix cake doctored with fresh lemon glaze and icing. The tastiness of it was a testament to her ability to cook because, you see, she can’t eat wheat. So we tested and tried the icing and glaze until it was Goldlilocks style — just right — and then the poor woman couldn’t even taste the finished product.

But I could. And it was delicious.

But first I have to tell you how it went down, because there’s never been anything more Killcreas than the development of this recipe.

Realizing halfway through the process of cooking dinner that we didn’t have a birthday cake, my sister hurriedly found a cake mix in the back of her cabinet and put her daughter and my daughter to work mixing it up. While the cake baked, she found a brick of cream cheese and opened the cabinet door to the cream cheese icing recipe she had taped on the inside.

The girls followed the recipe for the icing and then Christy — I’ll call her Christy because that, too, is her name — exclaimed, “Oh! We should put some lemon in it! Christopher loves lemon stuff!”

So the girls added the juice of a lemon to the icing. It was delicious.

Soon after, Christopher came through the kitchen. He tasted the icing and approved. But then he got wind that the icing was the only part with any lemon in it.

“Oh. There’s no lemon… in the cake part?” he asked.

Well. That would not stand, of course.

“Maybe we could do a glaze between the layers. What do you think is in a lemon glaze?” Christy asked me.

“It’s just powdered sugar and lemon juice,” I replied.

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m sure. I read cookbooks when I’m stressed. But I can look it up,” I said.

“No. I believe you. I wouldn’t if it were anybody else, though,” she said. That might be the nicest compliment I’ve ever been given.

And that’s how it came to pass that we developed a recipe that I plan to recreate many times again. The freshness of the lemon makes the whole cake seem homemade rather than doctored.

And yes, in case you are wondering… we did of course add more ingredients to the lemon glaze. We are who we are.

DOCTORED LEMON CAKE

Ingredients
1 yellow cake mix, mixed and baked according to box directions

For the lemon cream cheese icing:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, full fat
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups powdered sugar
1-2 lemons, microwaved for about 30 seconds and cut in half

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 lemons, microwaved for about 30 seconds and cut in half
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
■ Make cake. Bake in at least two layers for an impressive birthday cake, but a 9-inch-by-13-inch will also be delicious. While cake bakes, mix butter and cream cheese together until smooth. (If you do not have an electric mixer, try heating them before beating for about 30 seconds on half power to make it easier to whisk them together.)
■ Whip butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla, salt, juice of one lemon and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and uniform. Taste. Mix in additional lemon juice, half a lemon at a time, to taste. (If you want stronger lemon flavor without adding the pucker, zest the peel but not the pith into the icing.) Set icing aside.
■ In a separate bowl, make the glaze. Mix together all glaze ingredients. Start with the juice of one lemon and taste. Add up to one more lemon’s worth of juice. When cakes are cooked, allow to cool on a wire rack until the cakes are easy to handle. (They do not have to be completely cool.)
■ Using a fork, gently poke several holes in the top of each cake layer. Drizzle glaze over the cake layer(s). Allow to sit until glaze is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Allow cakes to cool to room temperature (unless you have guests already waiting in the living room). Spread lemon cream cheese icing on top of bottom layer, add top layer and frost top and sides of cake. Enjoy.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.