Pound cake is rich and moist with its golden-brown crust it’s no wonder it’s a bakery favourite. This recipe gives you the basics with a classic lemon pound cake with a glaze. A pound cake depends on the eggs to give it a little lift so you don’t have to add baking powder or baking soda that is why you need a good quantity of eggs. Beat sugar, eggs and lemon zed in a stand mixer then to supplement the eggs, you are going to add in vegetable oil.

After the mixture is well combined, add in a little sour cream, the tartness adds that extra level of richness you can use a third of a cup of the sour cream and a teaspoon and a half of vanilla and stir that into the sour cream and add it at once in the mixture. For the dry ingredients, this recipe provides two types of flour, a cup of all-purpose flour and cake and pastry flour which has a lower protein content, which is what will also contribute to a delicate texture in the pound cake.

Sift the flour mixture with a little salt, then adds the flour to the batter on low speed. If you feel you may have overmixed your batter while adding the flour, all you have to do is set the batter aside for ten minutes, it will relax and when you bake it, it will come out perfect with a delicate pound cake texture. Get your standard loaf pan, lightly grease pour the batter and level it.

Pound cakes like to take their time to bake, in 325 degrees Fahrenheit oven, bake it between 65 to 70 minutes to coom all the way through. Once baked, insert a skewer in the centre and when there are no visible crumbs, you know it’s cooked all the way through. To prepare a cooked glaze, start with two tablespoons of water in a saucepan and three tablespoons of lemon juice. Also a third of a cup of sugar and bring that to a simmer just until the sugar has fully melted.

Take a skewer and randomly poke over the tip of the cake so that the glaze can sift through the entire cake. Pour the glaze over the cake then set it aside to cool. Slice the pound cake using a bread knife and enjoy.

Ingredients;

Cake;

  • 1 ½ cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup of Vegetable oil(115 ml
  • 1 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
  • 5 large eggs, almost at room temperature
  • ⅓ cup sour cream (full-fat)
  • 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose
  • ½ cup cake and pastry flour
  • ½ tsp salt

Glaze;

  • 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
    2 Tbsp water
  • ⅓ cup of sugar

Instructions;

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 F and grease a 9-x-5-inch loaf pan.
  2. Beat sugar, vegetable oil and lemon zest using electric beaters or a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  3. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the eggs with a fork and add this to the batter in a few additions, scraping down the bowl in between.
  4. Stir the sour cream and vanilla together and beat this into the batter.
  5. In a separate bowl, sift the all-purpose cake and & pastry flour and the salt and add this to the batter, mixing until fully incorporated, scraping to the bottom of the bowl to ensure this.
  6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and tap it a few times to make it level and allow any air bubbles to escape.
  7. Bake the cake for 65 to 70 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  8. Remove the cake from the oven and prepare the glaze while the cake is still warm.

Glaze;

  1. For the glaze, heat the lemon juice water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Poke holes in the warm pound cake using a bamboo skewer and brush the warm glaze over the cake.
  3. Let the cake cool completely in the pan (the glaze will set once the cake is cool) before removing it to serve.
  4. The cake will keep well wrapped and unrefrigerated for up to 3 days.