Black Pepper and Spice Cake with Lemon Glaze does a balancing act between winter and spring

I’ve got a dessert recipe for this tricky time of year – the bridge between winter and spring, when the cold temperatures and snow linger but there are signs of the warm days ahead.
  Black Pepper and Spice Cake with Lemon Glaze (click for the recipe) has winter components, with the cinnamon and ground cloves harkening to enjoying a dessert on a cozy evening indoors, but the ground cardamom and the lemon glaze add a freshness that looks towards glorious days of spring.
   The black pepper added to the batter, an unusual ingredient for a cake, to be sure, leaves a very, very slight peppery burn in the mouth. It’s nothing alarming at all – it’s just a pleasant reminder that we have different kinds of taste buds.
   In fact, this moist cake is quite family-friendly.
   This is yet another recipe I’ve reviewed from Lauren Chattman’s excellent cookbook, Cake Keeper Cakes. The recipe I linked to above is on a news website; scroll down to find the recipe. It is the same recipe I used.
   Black Pepper and Spice Cake with Lemon Glaze is very easy to make.
   Buttermilk, eggs and vanilla are whisked together in a glass measuring cup. In a bowl, flour, toasted and chopped walnuts (I toasted them in a pan on the stovetop), baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground cardamom, ground cloves and black pepper are combined. (I ground fresh pepper from a pepper grinder).
   Butter and sugar are creamed together with an electric mixer, and the buttermilk and flour mixtures are added in alternate amounts and combined.
   The batter is scraped into a 12-cup Bundt pan and is baked for 40 to 45 minutes. The cake is taken out of the pan and left to cool completely.
   To make the glaze, confectioners’ sugar (icing sugar) and lemon juice are whisked together. The glaze is drizzled over the cake.

Cake Keeper Cakes at amazon.ca