Lemon Sour Cream Poundcake - Oprah's Recipe

I had a bag of lemons to use and a huge container of sour cream. This seemed like the perfect recipe. I found this lemon sour cream pound cake recipe on Oprah.com. I pretty much followed the recipe but added a big splash of lemon emulsion (photo below). It's an extract sort of thing that I bought from King Arthur's Flour. I purchased a lemon emulsion and an almond one. I really really like them. They bring a brighter, more intense flavor to my baked goods. I definitely reach for my emulsions more than the extracts. But anyway, one other change that I made (besides the fact that I used loaf pans instead of a bundt) was I used my own icing recipe. Oprah's recipe was more like a concentrated lemon syrup that is drizzled & brushed over the cake. I like a thicker more "frosting" like glaze. My glaze consisted of fresh squeezed lemon juice and powdered sugar - that's it. Really tart and lemony.

I enjoyed this cake very much but it doesn't seem much different from my other wonderful pound cake recipes plus, this one did not look very attractive before the glaze. It was FLAT. No doming on these loaves. None. I realize the taste and texture is more important and this cake delivers on both of those. This cake has a very fine crumb and is light in texture. Not a heavy or dense pound cake at all.

Yeah, I do recommend this recipe. It's a delightful pound cake recipe and if you love lemon, you will love this cake.

The outside of the poundcake was a nice light golden brown but was not tough at all. Very tender and flavorful.

I did not know what to expect when I first purchased these emulsions. I just thought it would be fun to try something new. I'm very impressed and will definitely purchase them again.

Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake
Created by Art Smith
Found on Oprah.com

Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter , at room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs , at room temperature*
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Grated zest of 2 lemons (I used 3 lemons)
  
• 1 cup sour cream , at room temperature

Lemon Syrup

• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• Zest of 1 lemon

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325°F. Butter and flour a 10-inch fluted tube (Bundt) pan, and tap out the excess flour.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together; set aside. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a hand-held electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla and zest. On low speed, add the flour in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl often with a rubber spatula. Spread evenly in the pan.

Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 1/4 hours.

Bring the lemon juice, zest, water and sugar to a boil over high heat and cook until it is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 15 minutes. Allow syrup to cool before drizzling onto the cake.

Transfer the cake to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Drizzle half the syrup over the cake. Invert onto the rack and brush with the remaining syrup. Cool completely.

Recommended technique: If a recipe calls for room temperature eggs, place the uncracked eggs in a bowl of hot water for 5 minutes so they can lose their chill.