I have no idea where my grandmother got this recipe. All I know is, it's been part of my life for all my 40 years, and my dad remembers her making it "just after the war." Grand was never one for "frosting" on a cake. She'd scrape it off, unobtrusively, of course. She told me once, "When I was a girl, we would never have dreamt of wasting that much butter and sugar! The very idea!" Imagine that being said in a Florida panhandle-southeast Alabama accent.... I'm sure her original recipe wasn't a lot like this one, but this is what it mutated into by the time I got her to write it down for me.
1 package yellow cake mix
1 4-serving package instant lemon pudding
2/3 c vegetable oil
3/4 c water
5 eggs
1 t lemon extract
Mix dry ingredients, then add in order given oil, water, eggs, and extract. Grease a bundt or angelfood cake pan very well. Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with chopped pecans. Pour in batter. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
In practice, of course, I just sorta dump everything into the bowl at once.... I haven't noticed any real difference. Grand was just one of those damned "methodical" cooks.... *sigh*
Allow the cake to cool slightly, then turn out onto a plate and ice while still warm.
Icing: grate the peel and squeeze the juice from one lemon into a small bowl. Add enough powdered sugar to thicken.
As always, if you have a recipe you want to share, Email me!