Gracie's Lemon Kiss Me Cake

Description:
I based this recipe on Tita Fely's, which was the traditional orange flavor for a Kiss Me Cake. I like lemons, and we just happened to have a few in the garden, so I made a lemon Kiss Me Cake. Then I felt that it was rather heavy, so I lightened it up a bit. Too bad we didn't have raisins or nuts when I made it tonight, but the results came out great anyway. Yum, yum!

(I am not sure how this cake got its name. Perhaps from the musical "Kiss Me Kate", or did the cake predate this?)

Ingredients:
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar (I used packed brown sugar)
2 eggs
1 c milk (I used evaporated milk)
2 c flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 lemons
1 c seedless raisins

Topping:
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, peanuts...)
1 tsp cinnamon


Directions:
Soak the raisins in warm water to plump them up, then chop them finely. (I do this because I don't like raisins and if they're smaller I don't notice them as much, but you don't have to chop them if you don't want to.) Also finely grate off the rinds of the lemons. Just get the colored part - the white part is bitter. Then squeeze the lemon juice and set that aside for later. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and set this mixture aside too. Separate the eggs and set the whites aside. That's a lot of setting aside! :p

Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the egg yolks and mix really well. Now add about a third of the flour mixture, mix well, then a third of the milk and mix well again. Continue alternating the flour and milk until all the flour and milk are mixed in. Stir in your raisins and lemon rind, too. Almost forgot that!

Beat up the egg whites until they become white and form stiff peaks. Either use an electric mixer or be prepared to give your arm a workout. You can tell they're stiff peaks because if you lift up the paddles (or fork...hehe! I used a fork, forgetting we have an eggbeater) the mound of egg whites forms a point that just barely bends over.

Add about a third of the egg whites to the batter and mix it in so the batter becomes lighter. Now add the rest of the egg whites and GENTLY fold it in. You don't have to mix too thoroughly. It's actually nicer if there are a few little flecks of white left, because you wouldn't want to deflate all the bubbles you've worked so hard to put into the egg whites.

Pour the mixture into a greased (and I mean butter or oil, not engine grease) pan and bake at 350° for about half an hour or until done.

Use a barbecue stick or skewer to poke holes in the cake, then pour in the lemon juice and let it soak into the cake. Combine the sugar, chopped nuts and cinnamon, then sprinkle this over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely. Guard it if necessary against the attacks of hungry family members. Enjoy!