Best Lemon Pound Cake Recipe

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

Hello, Lovelies!

This simple lemony recipe celebrates the best of friendship. The recipe harks from my Nana’s friend, Coralee. Coralee and Nana were in a group of ladies who played Bridge together in New Guinea, back in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. They took turns visiting each other’s homes and bringing a plate to share.

Nana loved Coralee’s Lemon Pound Cake so much she had her write the recipe down for her. It’s on a much-folded piece of notepaper. Don’t you love it when recipes get shared and handed down like that?

You’ll love this recipe too. It’s moist, rich and dense, with a tangy lemon flavour, and it keeps well. In an airtight tin this cake will keep for five to six days (refrigerate if you live in a warm climate!) and it freezes well too. The cake has three levels of lemon flavour, with the cake itself, a lemon syrup poured over the hot cake, and a tangy drizzle glaze for when the cake has cooled. The cake is big, and makes twelve generous serves or about 20 smaller ones.

It’s a perfect recipe for our week ahead at the farm. My Meyer Lemon tree is groaning with fruit, so there are plenty of lemons for us to use. We have visitors coming and going in the next few days, as well as WWOOFers (willing workers on organic farms) helping us clear Fireweed by hand. A cuppa and a piece of cake is always welcome at times like these, and now I have a cake big enough to last us for days.

I hope you get some time for a cuppa and a slice of cake too this week.

Much love to you, Nicole xx

PS – For all my lovely friends who worry, when I post a recipe, that I am not well – which is the usual plan, I want you to know that I am just peachy! It is so good to be home, and to be able to mess about in the garden and the kitchen, and to have energy to work AND cook up a storm. 😊

Cake Ingredients:

• 3 cups plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of milk which has been soured with 1 tablespoon of vinegar (add vinegar to milk and allow to sit for 5 minutes)
• 3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 250 grams butter, softened
• 2 and 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 large eggs

Syrup Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice

Glaze Ingredients:

• 2 cups confectioners sugar (icing sugar)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Cake Method:

1. Thoroughly grease a 10 inch (25cm) Bundt pan and then use sugar to dust the interior to thoroughly coat the pan. If you don’t have a Bundt pan use a 25cm deep-sided springform pan.
2. Preheat the oven to 160 Celcius or 325 Fahrenheit. Drop the temperature slightly (try 10 degrees) if your oven is fan-forced.
3. Add the lemon zest and juice to the soured milk and sit for five minutes.
4. Sift flour, salt and bi-carb soda together.
5. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream at medium speed, so that butter is soft and sugar is dissolved.
6. Add one egg to butter mixture on low speed and mix thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Repeat process for the remaining two eggs.
7. Add one quarter of the flour mixture and beat slowly to combine.
8. Then add one third of the milk mixture and beat together slowly.
9. Keep alternating wet and dry ingredients until they are finished and the batter is complete.
10. Spoon the batter carefully into the prepared pan and level the top with a wet spoon or a spatula so it is smooth.
11. Bake for one hour. Check with a skewer inserted into the cake. If it comes out dry the cake is ready. If there is batter on the skewer cook a little longer. Cooking times can vary depending on your oven and the pan you used.
12. When cake is cooked remove from oven and stand in pan for ten minutes. Then shake the pan gently to loosen the cake and invert it onto a wire rack.

Syrup Method:

Combine juice and sugar over low heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. Poke a few holes in the cake with the skewer while it is still warm and sitting on the rack. If possible place rack over a tray to collect drips, or place some paper underneath rack. Gently brush the syrup over the entire outside of the cake until it has all been used. Leave cake to cool.

Glaze method:

Combine sugar and juice in a bowl and beat with a spoon until smooth and thick. Place cake on serving platter. Gently drizzle glaze over the top of the cake, letting it run down over the sides. It’s okay for the cake to look messy and for the glaze to only partially cover the cake surface.

If you want to make the cake look more fancy, consider using edible flowers, additional grated zest or candied lemon as decoration. I used some sweet little violas from my garden for a pop of colour, and kept them attached with a little extra glaze.