Artichoke Olive Oil Cake

1. If using fresh artichokes, first prepare artichokes for steaming. Snap off the tough outer leaves. Using a serrated knife, cut off about 1” from the top of the artichoke. Snip off the remaining sharp, spiky tips with kitchen shears. Slice off about ¼” of the end of the stem.
   Place a steaming basket in a large pot filled with water until it reaches just under the basket. Add the trimmed artichokes to the steaming basket in a single layer, with the stems facing up. Cover with a tight fitting lid.
   Bring to a boil on high heat. Steam until tender, about 30 minutes for medium sized artichokes and 45-60 minutes for large or jumbo sized.
2. Once steamed, place the artichokes stem up on a cutting board to cool.
   When cool enough to handle, carefully pull open the petals at the top of the artichoke and remove the small, inner inedible leaves and the hairy "choke" by scraping the fuzz away with a spoon. Carefully pull the tender edible leaves away from the heart and set aside to snack on with melted garlic butter and lemon! Once you are down to just the hearts, chop into about ½” hunks. You will need about 1 cup of chopped hearts.
3. If using canned artichoke hearts, remove from the can juices and chop into ½” hunks. You will need about 1 cup of chopped hearts.
4. Combine the chopped hearts with 2 tablespoons lemon juice and olive oil in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
5. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan or spring form pan that is at least 2 inches deep (it will spill over if it is smaller) with olive oil. Line the bottom parchment paper, grease and dust lightly with flour.
6. In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and ginger. Whisk in lemon zest.
7. In another bowl, whisk the milk, eggs and blended artichoke mix until smooth.
8. Stir into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
9. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
   Run a knife around the edge of the pan, invert the cake onto the rack and allow to cool completely.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Combine cream cheese, butter and lemon zest together in the bowl of a stand mixer. With the whisk attachment, mix on high speed until smooth and airy. Add the lemon juice and blend until smooth.
   Stop and add the sifted powdered sugar. Mix together on a low speed until the powdered sugar is absorbed. Then turn up to medium high speed and mix until smooth and airy.
2. For Basic Frosting, use an offset spatula to simply spread the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting over the top of the cooled cake, adding swoops and swirls.
3. For Blooming Artichoke Flower Design, you will need 2 frosting bags, a #2 or #3 Round Tip, a #125 Leaf Tip #127 Leaf Tip.
4. First spread about half of the frosting in an even layer over the surface of the cake. Use 3 diffrent sized cups or bowls to mark 3 concentric guide rings radiating from the center of the cake. This will help keep the design perfectly centered.
5. Following the guide rings, begin by piping the outer leaves using the #127 Leaf Tip. Align the tip sideways along the outer guide ring, then gently pipe on the frosting as you pull away towards the edge, rotating a quarter turn and creating a pointed tip. Repeat all the way around the outer guide ring. Then repeat the process using the smaller #125 Leaf Tip along the next concentric guide ring.
6. Using a #2 or #3 Round Tip, pipe straight threads radianting out from the inner guide ring all the way around. Layer in another one or two additional rings with shorter threads from the center. To finish, pipe dots in the center 1"-2" of the cake. And voila, you have a beautiful, radiant blooming artichoke flower cake!