Yesterday I came across this post for “Better Than Starbucks Lemon Pound Cake” from Dozen Flours. I was so excited about this recipe because #1) I love lemon cake #2) this recipe doesn’t use artificial flavoring, and #3) it uses the membranes of lemons! I bookedmarked the site for future use.
Fast forward to today.. this morning my son woke up at 6:30am and when he wakes up, I wake up. The rest of the family was fast asleep and Sunday mornings around here, one expects to wake up to some warm and tasty baked goody. I wasn’t planning on baking this recipe today but when I saw I had sour cream and 2 lemons left.. well how should I put it.. it was on.
Because I can be a little alot ADD especially in the kitchen, I didn’t follow the techniques described on her site. Shame on me. Instead after creaming the butter and sugar I just dumped everything else into my Kitchenaid. I also didn’t cut the lemons like she did. Instead I cut the lemons in half vertically and from there I could see the skin and pull the flesh out by hand. It was a lot easier in my opinion. I halved the recipe with the exception of the baking soda. It made a nice Sunday morning bundt poundcake. I also omitted the lemony glase and opted for a dusting of powdered sugar.
The end result was fantastic. The cake itself was not overly sweet but full of real lemony goodness in each bite. The picture here is not the greatest since I didn’t get a clean cut of the cake, but that’s what happens when you cut into a cake straight from the oven. I did not follow the wait 15 minutes to cool rule. I flipped the cake onto a plate after 5 minutes on the counter and from there I had no self-control this morning.. I just wanted to eat this cake right away. So I apologize in advance for the unclean sliced-cut photo of this wonderful cake. I wasn’t planning on doing a write-up or photo shoot this morning. All I wanted was some coffee and a nice slice of warm lemon pound cake in my slippers and pink bath robe. This picture is what happens when you decide to bust out your camera last minute. But if you decide to bake this, I’m sure you will forgive me and understand my impatience fully. You can find the recipe here.
PS: This is way better than Starbucks… or any other place I have had lemon pound cake.
- lemons
- cake flour
- baking soda
- salt
- unsalted butter, that is completely softened*
- superfine, Baker’s or caster sugar*
- eggs
- full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- Glaze
- lemons
- powdered-sugar*, sifted
I have made this many times with many compliments!
My problem is getting the membranes from the lemon! UGH!
It is making me feel sour! 🙁
Thank you Sara for reposting.
Here’s the post from dozen flours.
Better Than Starbucks Lemon Pound Cake
adapted from Bill Yosses and Epicurious
Cake
4 small lemons, organic if you can find them (Note: Avoid the giant lemons! Smaller lemons tend to pack more flavor, contain less water, and are cheaper too!)
3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, that is completely softened*
3 cups superfine, Baker’s or caster sugar*
6 eggs, warmed for 10 minutes in hot tap water before using
1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
Glaze
2 lemons
2 cups powdered-sugar*, sifted
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 16-cup tube pan and dust with cake flour; tap out any excess. Be sure to grease and flour the center column too. You can also use Pam with Flour (I do).
Scrub the lemons with hot soapy water. Rinse really well and dry completely. Zest four of the lemons, being careful to avoid the pith (the white part that live right below the yellow part of the lemon). With a very sharp paring knife, cut the tops and bottoms off of each lemon. With one cut side down on the cutting board, trim the pith off the lemon, vertically, going all the way around each lemon, exposing the flesh of the lemon. (About.com has a great little tutorial how to do this. They illustrate the technique with an orange but it translates to any citrus fruit). Over a bowl, cut segments from membranes, letting fruit and juice fall into the bowl, being sure to discard the seeds and the remaining membranes. With a fork, break segments into 1-inch pieces.
In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and the lemon zest. Work the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Set aside.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
Beat the butter for 2 minutes at medium speed in the electric mixer. Add half the sugar and mix for 2 more minutes, then add the rest of the sugar and mix again for 4 minutes, stopping once to scrape down the bowl and the beater blade.
Remove the eggs from the warm water and dry them. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition (about 30 seconds). On the lowest setting, mix in the dry ingredients, then the sour cream. Lastly, gently fold in the lemon juice and segments. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about an hour and a half. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Cut around the cake in the pan, turn out the cake. Carefully turn cake right side up on rack.
While the cake is cooling, juice the remaining 2 lemons. In a small bowl, slowly add the powdered sugar to the and stir until smooth. It should look thick, opaque, and should be thin enough to it should be pourable. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, add more lemon juice. Poke small holes all over the top of the cake using a fork or toothpick. Carefully pour about 1/2 the glaze over the tops and the sizes of the cake. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours or overnight. Cover the remaining glaze and keep at room temperature. About a half hour before you’re ready to serve, pour the remaining glaze over the cake.
Store in a covered container, either in the fridge or at room temperature.
Ingredient Notes:
* Butter – A butter knife dropped on a stick of butter should slide completely through the butter to its center. This means the butter needs to be at 70-72F.
* Superfine/Castor Sugar – You can make this by putting granulated sugar into the food processor and whizzing it around several times for a minute or two.
* Powdered Sugar – If you have an old, half-opened bag of powdered sugar sitting in your pantry, I’d strongly encourage you to throw it away! It’s been my experience that powdered sugar that’s been opened and not properly resealed starts to oxidize very quickly. It can give the sugar a metallic taste that will impart an “off” flavor into your dessert, especially glaze.
Hey everyone, not sure who will see this first, but anyone that actually used the “Better than Starbucks Lemon Pound Cake” recipe by Dozen Flours… If you have it could you email me a copy please?? I saw it yesterday and now it won’t load.. I was looking forward to making it.. Thank you!
Tried the link, and doesn’t look like the website is active any more-would love to try the recipe still! Any chance you could post it?
I made this cake today and also halved the recipe as you did too. I’ve never baked with cake flour before and found the texture of the cake to be very strange. It reminded me of a sponge. It was airy, light and had lots of holes in it. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but didn’t feel like any cake I’ve ever baked before. However, the flavor was good.
don’t apologize for the pic it is what drew me in, if it had been sliced oh so perfectly, it wouldn’t have shown that this cake is a very moist cake, in my opinion. so as far as I am concerned “GREAT JOB”!!!!
Thank you for this recipe. I live in Florida and am always looking for good (and not too complex) recipes that use citrus. Lime is my absolute favorite, with lemon being a close second. I’m ready to try this recipe right now, I think!
I found your site through the Steamy Kitchen Breakfast Pancake link back here–another amazing (perhaps fascinating is a better word) recipe.
Hi Lucie,
To be honest I don’t know the answer but I did take a look on a few websites with good information on how to adjust for high-altitude baking. You make want to check these great and informative articles out. I hope you will be able to tweak this recipe according to their tips. And if you do, would you mind coming back and posting your results? I hope you enjoy this cake, it is worth the hassle of dealing with those lemons!
Bests,
Alice
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/High-Altitude-Cake-Baking/Detail.aspx
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/586333/high_altitude_cake_baking_tips.html?cat=22
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes2008/high-altitude-baking.html
I live in Santa Fe, NM. The elevation is just under 7,000 feet. I was wondering if you could offer any words of wisdom on how to alter this recipe for high altitude.
Cynthia: This cake is 100 times better than Starbucks. Here’s the reason.. it taste like real lemon!
Julia: I should be thanking you. I have been searching and experimenting for years to find a lemon cake I could be happy with. The search is over. I did try to make this cake with oranges. I would not recommend this. There must be something about oranges that ruins this cake.
Thank you so much for giving my little experiment a whirl. I am glad to hear that you had good results and enjoyed it so much. Yours came out looking so moist, I can almost taste the lemony goodness wafting from my monitor. (Love your blog!!)
I have to say this looks great. I used to always get that Starbucks lemon pound cake, until I noticed that each time I got it it was drier and drier. I dunno if they changed their recipe or if my local branch just kept getting stale shipments. This cake just LOOKS exponentially better than the Starbucks version, and I’d bet my paycheck that it tasted better, too.
This looks fantastic! I love lemon bundt cakes….
I saw this recipe too and want to make it. Yours looks so light and refreshing. And I find myself not following the recipe all the time! 🙂
Thanks everyone. This cake is so yummy.. its sunshine in every bite.
I love lemony tastes. The cake looks delectable. Please send me a slice 🙂
Your blog is beautiful.Love it !!
Looks fabulous.. had a giggle at your use of the term “lemony goodness”… we use those sorts of terms in our house a LOT.. 🙂
Mmmm…Poundcake. Looks like it turned out nice and moist. I’d love to have a slice of that with a nice cup of joe in the morning. If it says it’s better than starbucks then I’m all for it.