Luscious Lemon Loaves

I know I've been so good about avoiding alliterations (oh there I go again) but sometimes I just can't help myself. But now that you've read luscious lemon loaves, aren't you intrigued to know more?

At any rate I hope so because that's what I am focusing on today. This past Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day, my boyfriend's 21st birthday, and his brother's confirmation all in one shot. I baked these loaves and they turned out to be a  huge hit: one standard-sized loaf for my boyfriend's mother, and a baby loaf for the rest of the guests.

Making smaller loaves also aided me in feeling less guilty about the sheer decadence of this recipe. I know pound cake received its name from the ingredient list of a pound of each sugar, eggs, flour, and butter, but wow did I feel guilty when I dropped the contents of a 1 lb box of butter and 8 whole eggs into my mixing bowl.

Oh and did I mention that it gets a coating of lemon syrup and lemon glaze? 

Hence the term luscious. The syrup seals in the moisture and the glaze sets it right over the top. With a dozen fresh lemons, tons of butter and sugar, how could these have possibly turned out badly?

I'd love to try this out with the substitution of fresh strawberries or blueberries, or any fresh fruit for that matter. Fruit and cake, as long as it's not fruitcake always receive an A+ in my recipe book.

At this point you may be asking yourself "how do you top luscious lemon loaves?"

Answer: White. Chocolate. Filled. Snickerdoodles.

Keep an eye out for them and more coming up On Sugar Mountain!

Happy Baking!

 Luscious Lemon Loaves Via Glorious Treats
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
8 eggs
1/4 cup grated lemon zest (4 lemons)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups melted butter, cooled
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp vanilla

lemon syrup:

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

lemon glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup +1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and thoroughly grease 2 9x5 loaf pans (or mini pans) with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, eggs, lemon zest and juice. Beat in sour cream and vanilla until just incorporated.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
4. Use a large spoon or spatula to fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
5. Pour into prepared pans and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, rotate pans, then at 325 for an additional 30 minutes. Cakes are done when toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let cakes cool while preparing syrup and glaze.

7. Lemon Syrup: Add lemon juice and sugar to small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let boil for three minutes. Remove from heat until ready to use.

**While cakes are still slightly warm, poke tops and sides with a toothpick. Brush liberally with lemon syrup.**

8. Lemon Glaze: Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice until thick syrup forms, using a little more juice if needed to adjust consistency.

**After cakes have soaked in syrup, drizzle glaze over top**

Mom's Perfect Pound Cake

Hello all!

So the other day I went with my parents to go visit Daisy (my dad's horse) and I had a great idea. The man who takes care of Daisy for us is named Dave, and he's a nice (albeit rough) old man who really does love horses. After having so much success with the Red Velvet Cake Pops, I thought I'd make a kind gesture and bring him one. Although a bit hesitant, Dave goes in for the big bite, and wouldn't you know it he loses part of the cake pop right into a bush! AND to top it all off, he jumps right in there and fetches it out and eats it!

I guess he liked it right?

So I thought to myself, 'poor guy lives all by himself, and he would probably love something sweet, and more than just a little cake pop.' I decided I'd make him a pound cake, since who doesn't love pound cake? Tons of butter, tons of eggs, tons of sugar = tons of fun. I go to search the internet for a recipe, but then my mom says "wait! I have the BEST recipe for pound cake. Let me get it; I've had it for forever."

At this point, I'm floored. My mom is not one for recipes. Ever. Even when she does quote-on-quote "use" a recipe, she usually deviates from it completely in all of a few minutes. So to hear that she has a pound cake recipe that she has kept for years was astonishing.

Do you see that little pamphlet? That's it. The recipe for "Perfect Pound Cake." This little booklet looks like its as old as I am, so now I'm really intrigued. For her to keep such a tiny little booklet like that for something as simple as a pound cake recipe (which I probably would have just searched for on the internet) makes me think that this is no ordinary pound cake.

So off I go with testing out the recipe, beginning with the whopping 2 sticks of butter, 1 1/3 cups sugar, and 2 tablespoon vanilla extract.

Then we have what it looks like after the 4 (count it FOUR) whole large eggs.

I blend in the flour, baking powder, and salt, and we have one dense batter on our hands. Talk about pound cake - the filled pan is way heavier than I expected.. But, in it goes, into the oven at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. During which time my kitchen and all surrounding area becomes infused with the delicious scent of homemade vanilla pound cake: my new favorite.

Houston: we have pound cake. No problems in sight yet but I have yet to try and lift this out of the pan. Fingers crossed it's still pretty once I'm through with it!

Perfect? No. but pretty nonetheless, and most importantly: it's yummy, which I'm pretty sure is all Dad's friend Dave cares about. Sara Lee eat your heart out. ;)

Mom's Perfect Pound Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Thoroughly grease one 9x5 loaf pan.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. On the lowest speed possible, beat in dry ingredients until just combined (and smooth).
5. Bake at 350 for 55-57 minutes or until toothpick inserted in deepest part of loaf comes out clean
6. Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then gently remove to cool completely on a wire rack.