My friend Georgia makes a lemon pound cake that is quite famous. Friends are always asking for the recipe after tasting this tart yet sweet lemony pound cake. She recalls that she originally got the recipe from Sur La Table, but I can’t find it on their website so I will include the recipe here with a few changes that I added to increase the lemon flavor a bit. If you like a less lemon flavor, feel free to leave them out.
Make sure you have a Bundt pan large enough to accommodate the large amount batter! I used this 12 cup Kaiser Bundt pan and the cake baked up to just the edge with no spillage.
The lemon simple syrup brushed over the warm cake adds lots of flavor and helps to keep the cake moist. The addition of a simple lemon glaze drizzled over the cooled cake adds more tart lemon flavor and a nice decorative touch.
Here is how you can make your own:
Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake (adapted from Sur La Table & Georgia)
Batter
⢠3 cups all purpose flour
⢠1/2 teaspoon baking powder
⢠1/4 teaspoon baking soda
⢠1/2 teaspoon salt
⢠1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
⢠3 cups granulated sugar
⢠6 large eggs, room temperature
⢠1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⢠1 teaspoon lemon extract (I added this for extra flavor)
⢠Grated zest of 2 lemons
⢠1 cup sour cream, room temperature
⢠1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (I added this for extra flavor)
Lemon Simple Syrup
⢠1 cup fresh lemon juice
⢠2/3 cup granulated sugar
⢠1/4 cup water
⢠Zest of 1 lemon
⢠1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (I added this for extra flavor)
Lemon Glaze
⢠lemon juice
⢠1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
⢠powdered sugar
Start by spraying a 12 cup Bundt pan with Pam for Baking (or you can butter and flour the pan). Set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar until fluffly. Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.
Beat in the extracts and the zest. On low speed add the flour alternating with the sour cream, in three additions.
Beat in the lemon juice until batter is smooth. Spread batter evenly in pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours until a wood skewer inserted in the center of cake comes out clean.
Lemon Simple Syrup: While cake is baking, combine lemon juice, sugar, water, zest and lemon extract in a small sauce pan set over medium high heat. Bring mixture a boil and cook until reduced down to approximately 1/2 cup of syrup, around 15 minutes. Let syrup cool before brushing onto warm cake.
Assembly: Poke holes into cake while still warm from the oven. Brush liberally with lemon simple syrup. Let cake cool for 15 minutes then invert cake out onto cooling rack. Poke holes in top of cake and brush liberally with remaining lemon simple syrup. Let cake cool completely on wire rack.
Lemon Glaze: While cake is cooling on rack, in a small bowl add lemon juice by the tablespoon full to around 1 cup of powdered sugar until a thick glaze comes together.
I also added a little lemon extract for extra flavor. Drizzle the glaze over the cool cake.
Let glaze set up for around 10 minutes before cutting cake. Store in a airtight container on the counter.
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