For the Greatest Lemon Pound Cake, Go Laborious on the Citrus

My tastes change with the seasons. Within the coronary heart of New England’s chilly, blustery winters all I would like are thick stews and wealthy chocolatey desserts—ideally loved with a blanket over my shoulders. However as soon as spring comes, I instantly need nearly all the pieces I eat to be lighter and brighter, ideally with a lemon taste that’s perky sufficient to match the yellow daffodils popping up in my yard. So as soon as April hits, buttery, moist selfmade lemon pound cake is a staple on my countertop. It’s pretty simple to whip up—it’s comprised of elements most individuals have already got of their fridge or pantry and it is easy to combine collectively, dump right into a loaf pan, and bake.

My recipe right here relies on my mother’s lemon pound cake I grew up consuming. Like me, she’s a pound cake lover. Her lemon pound cake was a staple dessert all the time served with our Easter brunch unfold. Although she made it look so easy, making an ideal lemon pound cake can include its challenges. Baking the thick, dense batter in a tall, deep loaf pan in order that the within bakes on the identical charge the surface browns requires a foolproof approach and simply the correct steadiness of elements so that you don’t find yourself with a dry, squat, or burnt cake. 

And don’t neglect about that lemon taste. By my requirements, any nice lemon cake must be tart and zippy sufficient to make your eyes open large and your mouth pucker while you take that first chew. Incorporating a scant sprinkling of lemon zest immediately into the batter (which is all that many recipes name for) simply isn’t sufficient to get that citrus pop I would like.

With a number of strategic tweaks to my household’s recipe, my lemon pound cake recipe avoids all of those attainable pitfalls. It has a daring lemon taste, a golden crust, and a buttery, dense, advantageous crumb that I really like.

Fixing the Dry Pound Cake Drawback

Pound cake usually will get a foul rap for being stodgy and dry. However a properly made pound cake must be as clean as marble, have a dense however creamy crumb, and be moist because it melts in your tongue. Some pound desserts don’t ship this, and their issues often come all the way down to the ratio of elements used within the batter. Many basic pound cake recipes name for equal weights—a pound every—of sugar, butter, eggs, and flour, therefore the identify pound cake. This ratio is simple to recollect however not splendid if you would like a moist cake (extra on that beneath). On high of the ratio points, most conventional recipes additionally embrace no added leavening, and their rise depends on the air naturally trapped within the batter by way of correct creaming and mixing, which if not perfected can result in a squat cake. And since basic pound cake recipes have no added liquid (no milk or cream, for instance), the batter seems particularly thick, which makes them susceptible to drying out within the oven. 

I break many of those basic pound cake guidelines on this recipe, and by doing so I keep away from these pitfalls. First, I’ve advantageous tuned the ratio of elements and use fewer eggs than many recipes. I additionally add a contact of baking powder to leaven the batter. In testing, I discovered that even with the correct creaming methodology, desserts baked with out leavener routinely didn’t get the best carry, leading to a squat cake that had a squished, spongy texture in the direction of the underside. However utilizing one teaspoon of baking powder ensures a correct rise, so the cake has a fair texture from high to backside. The baking powder offers a late-stage launch of carbon dioxide that’ll assist give the cake its closing carry within the oven to create the specified domed high each time.

Including liquid past eggs to pound cake is not conventional. The cake has a good, clean crumb construction, and to get that you just want a thick batter that received’t transfer an excessive amount of because it bakes. Any added liquid would skinny the batter, making a lighter texture, extra like a layer cake, which you don’t need right here. However including only a couple tablespoons of milk to the batter enhances the cake’s velvety texture and provides sufficient moisture to ensure the cake melts in your mouth—relaxation assured, this small quantity of milk would not disrupt a correct pound cake’s signature dense texture.

3 Methods to Assure the Brightest Lemon Taste 

Most lemon desserts simply aren’t lemony sufficient for my tastes. Listed below are the three primary methods I incorporate lemon into my cake so it lives as much as its tart potential.

1. Use each lemon zest and juice within the cake batter and toss the zest with the sugar. It’s a no brainer so as to add lemon to a lemon cake batter, proper? However how a lot you add and the way you add it makes an enormous distinction. To begin, use a mix of each zest and juice. The zest comprises many flavorful oils, so utilizing it along with lemon juice not solely helps you utilize as a lot of the fruit as attainable, however produces a extra pronounced citrus taste. The lemon juice additionally provides the acidity and brightness you’d count on in a lemon cake.

To boost the fruit’s taste, the zest is first rubbed with the sugar, which helps draw out the rind’s oils, releasing its vibrant, citrusy taste and aroma. (It is a trick we make use of in lots of our lemon-forward recipes, together with Genevieve’s lemon curd and Daniel’s spicy chile lemonade, and it is what number of cooks and bartenders put together oleo-saccharum, a lemon syrup made by muddling fruit’s peels with sugar.)

2. Brush the simply baked cake with lemon syrup. A widely known trick that pastry cooks use to forestall desserts from drying out is to brush a fresh-out-of-the-oven cake with easy syrup. The cake soaks up the syrup whereas nonetheless heat, protecting it moister for longer. That is additionally a good way to include extra lemon taste into the cake. As an alternative of utilizing water to dissolve the sugar within the easy syrup, I exploit lemon juice. A beneficiant brushing of this lemon syrup does double responsibility: protecting the cake moist whereas additionally including one other layer of contemporary lemon taste.

3. End with a lemon glaze. A thick sugary sheen over the cake isn’t simply fairly, it additionally provides—you guessed it—much more lemon taste. The glaze comes collectively rapidly—all it’s a must to do is whisk lemon juice with confectioners’ sugar. It’s a straightforward sweet-tart end for this cake. In contrast to the lemon syrup (which is brushed on the cake whereas it’s nonetheless heat), the lemon glaze is poured over the cake as soon as it’s utterly cool to make sure the glaze clings to the cake, making a frosty white coating excessive. And to verify this cake actually screams lemon, a sprinkle of contemporary lemon zest or candied lemon slices nestled into the glaze earlier than it absolutely units is a pleasant closing contact.

Dusted with powdered sugar, dolloped with whipped cream, and topped with some contemporary berries, this lemon pound cake is ideal for any spring celebration—or any time of 12 months actually. It might actually brighten up a dark winter day or be welcome at a summer time picnic.

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