Lemon pound cake with lemon glaze
Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person · ♥ 8.9K likes · 273.5K views · 19 min video
Read about loaf, pound and bundt cakes in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 195 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1¼ cup granulated sugar
Grease the loaf pan thinly with the butter wrapper and line it with parchment cut to the pan's length, smoothed into the corners and up the sides.
Lining the loaf pan
Have every ingredient at the same, room temperature.
Why every ingredient must be one temperature
- 0.125 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
Mix the all-purpose flour with kosher salt, an eighth teaspoon baking soda and a quarter teaspoon baking powder.
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix a quarter cup each of sour cream and milk with two teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Sour cream and milk
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
Grate a tablespoon of lemon zest and massage it into the sugar with the fingertips until fragrant and like wet sand.
- 12 tbsp butter
Cream 12 tablespoons of cool room-temperature butter with the sugar in the stand mixer, medium-low until combined, then medium-high about 10 minutes, scraping every couple of minutes, until pale, nearly white, and about four times the volume.
- 3 whole large eggs
On medium, add three large eggs one at a time, each when the last is incorporated; whip about a minute more.
On low, add the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the liquid in two, starting and ending with flour.
Alternating dry and wet
Stop the mixer, scrape the paddle and finish mixing by hand until thick, light and smooth.
Finishing the batter by hand
Spread into the prepared pan with an offset spatula into the corners.
Bake 50 to 60 minutes, going by the signs: dark golden brown, a tester clean, springy in the center. Baked here 58 minutes, slightly under.
- ¾ cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tbsp butter
- salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
For the glaze whisk three quarters of a cup of confectioners' sugar with a tablespoon of butter, a pinch of salt, half a teaspoon of vanilla and a quarter cup of fresh lemon juice until smooth and thin.
Poke holes over the warm cake in the pan with a skewer, loosen the sides with an offset spatula, and pour the glaze over in stages as it soaks in.
Leave 40 to 45 minutes to cool and let the glaze set, then lift out by the parchment and slice.