Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Lemon Sour Cream Glazed Iced Pound Cake


How's that for a title?

Spring is coming. I have faith. I believe. I trust.
I love spring and fall. I hate summer and winter.
My Dad says I need to be more Zen about life.
Zen shmen.
Cold is good if you have a cabin and can ski. Hot is good if you have a yacht and a pool and a pool boy named Julio. Otherwise...it sucks being cold and it sucks being hot. But it is perfect in spring and fall.

I love citrus.
It seems sunshiny.
Citrus is fresh, clean, light and juicy.
Love the taste, love the smell.
I don't love the burn when it squirts in my eye though.
Citrus works for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, dessert, taco truck.
You can drink citrus. Think orange juice, grapefruit juice, lemonade, limeade, and then you can add the naughty stuff for fun drinks with parasols and twists and blurry vision.

So why am I babbling? Because I like to. That, and a sweet older gentleman customer gave me a bunch of lemons and grapefruit. What a love. 'Gentleman customer', now that sort of makes me sound like a little whore doesn't it? Oops!

My very favorite cookies in the whole world are at Alexis Baking Company in Napa, California. One of my wonderful sisters lives there so I visit a few times a year and I almost always stop by ABC, usually on the way home. They make a lemon cookie that is crisp and light with a lemon icing. I can never remember the actual name but they remind me of lemon clouds. I buy every one on the platter. I don't even care what they cost. I take them all. I am searching for a lemon cookie recipe like them but until then the craving must be met. So lemon sour cream glazed iced pound cake it is. With extra lemon. Ahhh, that ought to do it. Oh and if you get to Napa, go to ABC. It is somewhere downtown, right by a (blue?) church, maybe on a one way street and next to a liquor store. I swear I always go there but I have to drive around a little till I find it. It is casual and very local, great breakfast and lunch and baked goods. They should pay me for this.

This cake is dense and moist and very lemony. I upped the juice, upped the zest, upped the recipe. There is juice and zest in the cake, juice in the glaze and juice and zest in the icing.
This is a mix of two recipes from Bon Appetit. It's two, two, two cakes in one.
Don't forget, I simplify... c= cup t=teaspoon T=Tablespoon

LEMON SOUR CREAM GLAZED ICED POUND CAKE
8-10 servings

stuff

3 c cake flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 c sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1/2 c fresh lemon juice, no bottled stuff!
2 T fresh grated lemon zest
1 c sour cream

fix
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Grease 16-cup tube pan.
Dust pan with cake flour; tap out excess flour.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl.
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until fluffy.
Gradually add sugar and beat 5 minutes.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined after each addition.
Beat in lemon juice and peel.
Using rubber spatula, mix in dry ingredients.
Mix in sour cream.
Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

glaze stuff
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c fresh lemon juice

While the cake bakes, make the glaze.
In a small bowl mix the sugar and lemon juice together, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.

Let cake cool in pan on rack 15 minutes.
Loosen around cake in pan with a butter knife etc..
Carefully turn out cake onto a rack.
Poke holes with a long skewer.
While the cake is still warm, slowly spoon or brush glaze over it letting it soak into cake.

icing stuff
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
2-3 T fresh lemon juice, more or less as desired
1 T fresh grated lemon zest

This is just a basic icing.
After the cake has been glazed and cooled, mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice together until it is the tart/sweet blend that you want and has a smooth consistency.
Drizzle over the cake.

No I didn't wait till it was cool. It was just a little warm. A little warm and icing means drippy icing and not pretty picture. I don't care, it tasted perfect.

Make this, it will not disappoint.

4 comments:

Finla said...

Wow the cake looks so moist and delicious, i love cakes like these, they are so delicious.

Anonymous said...

I might seriously drive to Napa tomorrow and get those cookies...why did you tell me.

And having a pool sucks...cause it's too much work.

But this cake...perfection.

Leslie said...

Price scanning is your profession huh???? Sounds like you dabble in the lady of the night profession as well,,julio,,gentelmen customers??? You naughty girl you!

Megan said...

All those things combined makes for a very delicious looking cake. I'll be making that!