Words and images by Dana.
I hope you enjoy this delicious cake as much as we have, and good luck testing your family’s (and your own) restraint!
I baked this recipe twice in less than 24 hours last weekend. Originally as a nice springtime dessert for our backyard BBQ guests but, as it turns out, my family has no restraint when it comes to citrus-flavoured pound cake. Baked just the night before, only a single sliver greeted me under the cake-plate-cover the morning of the BBQ. So began my quick scramble for Round 2 of a buttery, moist, fresh-tasting pound cake to serve our 10 house guests for dessert. Fortunately for my sake, this cake is as easy to create as it is crowd-pleasing.
Lemon Pound Cake
Bakes single layer 8” round cake, serves 8 to 10
This recipe is an adaptation of Donna Hay’s original pound cake recipe.
Total time to prepare: 20 minutes, plus 1 hour to bake, 1 hour to cool
Ingredients:
(See below for my plea to shift to grams.)
- 250 g / 1 ¼ cup butter, softened
- 250 g / 1 ¼ cup caster sugar (caster sugar is a superfine sugar, I simply toss a cup of regular granulated sugar in the food processor for a few pulses. For a visual sample between the two check out: Bourbon Crème Caramel.)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 farm-fresh eggs
- 250 g / 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- ¼ cup milk
- Rind of 1 lemon
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
Method:
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Preheat oven to 325ºF (160ºC)
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Place butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 8 – 10 minutes until pale and fluffy.
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Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. (Adding and beating the eggs one at a time binds the ingredients together and aerates the mixture to help the cake rise.)
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Add the flour and beat well to combine.
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Thoroughly fold in the milk, lemon juice and zest. Spoon into a lightly greased 8” round cake tin that has been well-greased and lined with parchment paper (bordering the edges and a square on the bottom)
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Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until testing skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before plating.
In the business of eating, we call that a ‘large, moist crumb’. It’s a beautiful thing.
I have been simply sprinkling confectioner’s sugar to the top of the cake before serving. If you’re looking for that extra sweetness, a vanilla buttercream with fresh lemon rind would be just lovely (am I the only one that feels fancy and more British when using the word ‘lovely’?). It’s so lovely, this luscious lemon pound cake. Enjoy! xo
My kitchen’s British mascot. Also very “lovely” at scrubbing pots.
Wait! Before you sprint off to the kitchen, let’s discuss recipe measurements…
♪ First I was afraid, I was petrified ♪
Most of my baking life I have relied on recipe directions using cup measurements. Once our British Apronite, Amanda, joined the Hot Pink team there was debate on whether or not to convert her gram measurements into North American standards of cups. My original thought was to just conform to popular expectations, that was until I invested in a $15 scale and embraced baking with weight. Now, I believe that everyone should invest in the scale approach to baking for the absolute best (richest/moistest/most decadent) outcomes.
Gram is a measurement of mass, where cup is a measurement of volume. The best results are achieved using grams because your measurements will always be accurate, no matter the density of your ingredients. Of course, if you are a creature of baking habits, we’ve found this handy converter calculator on about.com for you to use.
For the time being we will often include both options in our recipes, but this is something for all serious bakers to consider. Feel free to ask us any questions in the comment section below.
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