Lemon Pound Cake

Today I'd like to introduce you all to my most favorite baking person in the world! (Apart from mom, of course.)  Her name is Betty, and she lives in Kentuky, USA. She runs a YouTube channel called Betty'sKitchen and she's absolutely delightful.

Although most of her recipes are not vegetarian (which I am), I enjoy the bakes and desserts she puts up almost every week. Betty is so sweet and her videos are wonderfully easy to follow. Very much like learning to cook from a favorite aunt!

I've watched a lot of her videos and the first one I ever tried is her Lemon Pound Cake. On her channel it's called Betty's Perfect Lemon Pound Cake. And it's nothing short of perfect!

This is my version.

Lemon Pound Cake

According to my husband, who simply loved this cake, it has a very refreshing flavor to it. Reminded him of sunshine and cheerful days, he said. :D

RECIPE ~ Lemon Pound Cake


The original recipe from Betty makes a huge cake which would not fit in my oven! So I reduced the ingredients to a third of the original and it worked out just fine. If you have the luxury of a large oven, feel free to use the original recipe (mine times 3). Also, I wouldn't know where to get lemons in India, so I went for limes instead.

The original recipe uses regular flour and no baking powder! It's meant to be a very dense sort of cake. But I was too chicken, and I added it anyway. Might have worked without it as well.

One of my biggest learnings with this cake was not to use granulated sugar directly if you are in India! The sugar we get in regular stores in Hyderabad is so coarse. It took me forever to get it incorporated with the butter. At one point, I thought my cake was ruined and I would have to start over. So, unless you are using some special super fine sugar (which could be expensive), please powder the sugar after it has been measured.



Ingredients

• Butter at room temperature- 1/2 cup (US) or 4 oz or 115 gm or 8 Tbsp + extra butter for preparing the tin
• Granulated Sugar - 1 cup 
• Flour - 1 cup + extra for preparing the tin
• Large Eggs - 3 (original recipe called for 8)
• Lime juice - 1 Tsp
• Lemon Extract/Essence - 1 Tsp
• Baking Powder - 1 and a 1/2 Tsp
• Salt - 1/2 Tsp

Note: I used salted butter (Amul) and the omitted the salt in the recipe. You can use unsalted cooking butter if you wish and add salt.

Omit baking powder and salt if using self-rising flour.

Utensils & Bakeware

• Mixing Bowl and Spoon or Spatula
• Stand or Hand Mixer (optional)
• 7.5" Bundt Pan.
• OTG/Convection Oven -Regular or Microwave
• Cooling Rack or Tray
• Oven Mitts

Note: If you don't have a bundt pan handy, the batter should fit into a 6" round pan or equivalent. 

Procedure

• Prepare the cake pan by greasing the bottom and sides generously with butter. Dust a bit of flour on top of the butter and shake the pan well so the flour sticks all over. Remove excess flour.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
• Powder the granulated sugar in a regular mixer.
• Place butter in the mixing bowl. It's very important to have it at room temperature. Using a hand mixer, cream the butter for about 5 minutes on high speed.
• Add sugar gradually and continue to mix. The objective is to cream the butter and sugar to form a fluffy mix. Should take around 5 to 10 minutes of mixing on high.
• Add eggs one at a time and mix just until incorporated.
• Abandon the mixer.
• Add the flour gradually (2 Tbps at a time), and fold in gently using a good spatula or mixing spoon. Mix only until all the flour is incorporated. Do not over mix!
• Add the Baking powder, salt and essences + juice. Mix only until incorporated.
• Spoon batter into the prepared baking tin. Smooth over the top with a spatula to make it even.

Note: If you do not have a hand or stand mixer, not to worry. A good wooden spoon or nice spatula should do the trick. Just double the mixing time or continue until the butter and sugar get nice and fluffy. Great exercise! :D

Baking Instructions

• Bake at 180C or 350F for 1 hour and 10-15 minutes more if necessary.
• Once done, remove tin and place on cooling rack for 10-15 minutes.
• Invert cake onto a plate and allow it to cool completely.

Note: The cake might seem done before that and a toothpick might come out clean, but it's better to leave it in a bit longer and brown the cake a little. Or the surface might be sticky. Like mine was :D The top browns quickly but the bottom will be relatively whiter.

Here's some pics of mine when it came out of the oven!

Lemon Pound Cake ~ Fresh from the Oven!

And Out of the Pan!

The Texture!

Hmm... I don't like my Bundt pan very much. The shape is weird.

I know some of you have asked me for pics of the in-between stages of baking. It's getting a little overwhelming for me to photograph while learning to bake, since I'm fairly new at this. But soon, there will be more pictures, I promise!

I do hope you try this cake and love it. As always, I'm happy to hear from you!