Fresh lemon pound cake

Babies are cute and adorable but they’re also a handful – their moms usually do not have time for anything else but them. A very good friend of mine is the mother of a beautiful baby boy and when she invited me to first visit her son I knew I could not go empty handed: besides a present for the baby I brought a freshly baked cake for her, too (which she told me later made a wonderful breakfast). :)

Loaf cakes are easy to package and carry around – to me they are the perfect picnic fare – and this recipe turned out to be a great choice for the occasion: not only because the cake was delicious and very, very tender but also because the recipe yielded two loaves – one got sent to my friend and the other was enjoyed by yours truly. :D

Fresh lemon pound cake
from the wonderful and delicious Desserts from the Famous Loveless Cafe

Cake:
1 ¾ sticks (198g) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¾ cups (350g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
2 ¼ cups (315g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
½ cup sour cream*
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice

Glaze:
2 cups (280g) icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice, more if necessary

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter two 20x10x5cm (8x4x2in) loaf pans, line them with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the yolks, beating well after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt over the bowl, add the sour cream and lemon juice and fold together by hand. Transfer the batter to the prepared pans.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until the cakes are golden and risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans over a wire rack for 10-15 minutes then carefully unmold onto the rack. Peel off the paper. Cool completely.
Make the glaze: sift the icing sugar into a medium bowl, add the lemon juice gradually, mixing until desire consistency. Drizzle over the cooled cakes.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Makes 2 loaves (serves 6 each)