Lemon Pound Cake

My little blog has been very quiet the last 6 weeks! Tax Season 2018 took over my life. We did good to have groceries in the house and dinners were very basic. Most days we had big lunches and no dinner. My work load started to lighten up last week and I managed to get in the kitchen one evening and bake. I was exhausted but it felt so great to be back in my kitchen and not working with numbers!

I didn’t have much in the way of exotic baking ingredients, not even a bag of chocolate chips, but I had lemons withering away on the counter.  My Hubbers likes the lemon loaf cake slices at Starbucks so it was an easy decision to bake a cake for him.  This small pound cake has lots of lemon flavor, first with lemon-infused sugar and later with a lemon syrup that is brushed over the cake.  Finally, a glaze flavored with lemon juice adds even more lemony flavor.  It went fast at the office!

We have one more day of tax season, then I’m back to a part-time work schedule.  I have so many projects planned at home, I’m almost overwhelmed with what I should tackle first. Getting in the kitchen, and baking again, is high on the list!

 

Lemon Pound Cake

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sour cream
1 ½ tablespoons lemon zest
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten

Syrup

 

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup lemon juice

Glaze

½ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick baking spray.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small measuring cup, whisk together the sour cream and lemon juice.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the lemon zest and sugar. Rub together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter to the bowl and beat the butter/sugar mixture on medium speed until very pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the eggs in 3 additions, beating well after each addition until the mixture is smooth (stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary).  With the mixer on low, alternately add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the sour cream in 2 additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Once all the ingredients have been added, scrape down the bowl then beat on low for another 30 seconds to fully combine. Use a rubber spatula, if necessary, to make sure the batter at the bottom of the bowl is fully mixed.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Smooth the top then tap the pan on your work surface to release any air bubbles. Bake the cake for 55-65 minutes, or until a skewer inserted near the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack.

While the cake is baking, make the syrup. Combine the sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a simmer and allow to simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and set aside.

After removing cake from the pan, brush the tops and sides with the lemon syrup.  Let the cake cool completely before glazing.

To make the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl and stir until smooth, adding more lemon juice, if necessary, to get a thick glaze.  Pour over the top of the cake.  Let the glaze set for at least 15 minutes before serving.