Lemon Drop Pound Cake

~Lemon Drop Pound Cake~

The most lemony pound cake you will ever try. I made candied lemon peel to dress it up and drizzled royal icing over for a finished look as well. A slice of this with a cup of tea...heaven.

(For 1 standard 9 in. loaf pan)

For the batter:
220 grams cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
4 large eggs
200 grams sugar
105 milliliters heavy cream
100 grams  unsalted butter, melted and cooled
zest and supremes of 2 lemons


For the glaze:
200 grams fresh lemon juice
180 grams 10x sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Butter and lightly flour the loaf pan.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, combine the eggs and sugar, whisking to blend well. Stir in the cream.
4. Add the flour mixture, stirring just to combine.
5. Stir in the melted butter and lemon zest and supreme, working quickly.
6. Pour batter in loaf pan and bake for about 20 minutes, then open the oven and run a knife down the center of the cake to create an even split down the center when it's done.
7. Continue baking for about another 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown or a cake tester comes out clean.

To make the glaze, combine the lemon juice and 10x sugar an pour over the cake while it's still hot, then put back in the oven for another 10 min. If desired, drizzle royal icing over when the cake has cooled. The cake lasts for about a week if wrapped well and refrigerated, or frozen up to a month.

 

 

Southern Red Velvet

My sister comes home this week from a semester abroad in South Africa. She is so adventurous! I'm making this occasion extra special with her favorite cake, Red Velvet. I used this recipe for the delicious filling, but frosted the cake with the classic cream cheese frosting.

The Cake (batter divided among 4 separate 8 in. cake pans)

2 3/4 cups cake flour

1/2 cup unsweetend cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

 3 tbsp red food coloring

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

 1. Preheat oven to 350. Whisk flour and the next 4 ingredients together and set aside in bowl. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar until blended and fluffy.

2. Add eggs 1 at a time. Add food coloring and vanilla ON LOW SPEED so the red doesn't splatter everywhere on your expensive kitchen chairs (oops).

3.  On low speed, alternate between flour mixture and buttermilk (start and end with flour mixture). Divide batter evenly among cake pans-I always weigh each pan with the right amount of batter to ensure each layer is the same size.

4. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate, then bake for another 12 minutes. Let cool completly then remove from pans to cool on wire rack. When completly cooled, assemble layers with coconut filling. I use an ice cream scoop (about 3 scoops for each layer). Freeze at this point (wrap in plastic wrap) then allow to thaw and frost when you are almost ready to serve.

 The Frosting

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted Butter, softened

3 bars (8 0z. each) of Cream Cheese, Softened

3 cups 10x Sugar

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

In stand mixer paddle butter and cream cheese until completly blended and smooth. Add powdered sugar, then vanilla, careful not to overmix at this point.

Special tip:

Freezing cake ahead of time before frosting and serving ensures you will have a more tender, moist crumb. Also, it will be much easier to decorate a cake pulled from the freezer than one you just assembled. So if possible, bake your cake layers, let cool, and after assembling layers with filling, wrap tightly in plastic and freeze at least overnight or up to 1 month.

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