Lemon Pound Cake

My basic pound cake recipe originated from the July 2000 issue of Bon Appetit. I added about ¼ cup of lemon zest. The lemon zest was added to the sifted dry ingredients and mixed to distribute. I substituted the tablespoon of vanilla with 2 tsp of lemon extract and 1 tsp vanilla.

Lemon Pound Cake
3 C Flour
2 sticks butter
3 c sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ cup lemon zest
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp lemon extract
1 cup buttermilk

Sift flour, baking soda and salt. Distribute lemon zest in sifted dry ingredients- set aside
Cream butter and sugar using paddles on mixer
Add eggs one at a time to buttered sugar mixture
Add vanilla and lemon extract to buttered sugar mixture
Alternate addition of flour mixture and buttermilk to buttered sugar mixture
Bake 55 minutes to 1 hr 20min at 350 degrees. (Test for doneness at 55 min)
Cool on a raised rack.

While cake is cooling, prepare the Lemon Glaze.

Lemon Glaze
2 cups confectioners sugar
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Yellow food dye (optional)

Add lemon juice to confectioner’s sugar to achieve the consistency of glaze you wish. I like a fairly thick flowing glaze, not watery. Add a couple of drops of yellow food coloring (optional). Mix until color is evenly distributed and glaze is smooth. When cake is cooled, place racked cake on a baking sheet. Slowly pour lemon glaze over top of cake allowing it to slowing drip down the sides of the cake and onto the baking sheet. (A lot gets wasted)

Mini doughnuts with Purchased Lemon Curd

As I mentioned, I recently purchased a non-stick mini doughnut tin which I have been dying to try out. Why not use part of the above batter to make little pound cake doughnuts? I could glaze them or better yet, fill the little doughnut holes with lemon curd purchased from Trader Joe’s. This could have been a great idea had I not overcooked the little doughnuts. Also, the concept of a lemon curd filled mini doughnut sounds good, except that in order to keep the curd from flowing out the bottom, the little doughnuts had to be placed on little parchment squares.
I actually prepared two batches to make the mini doughnuts because I didn’t prepare the non-stick pan appropriately. In the first batch, I also overfilled the tin resulting in the batter rising above the hole to create what was a closed bottom. This could be the base of the little doughnuts. Turning them over, the lemon curd could then be added to the hole with no free flow out the bottom. I tried this with a couple of mini doughnuts I could salvage. Not bad. These I hadn’t overbaked but just couldn't get them out of the tin.

(From Food Got To Love It- May 20, 2005 SHF)