Step-by-Step Recipe: Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake

So I bake too.  Less often, of course, as I have fewer opportunities to bake than cook, but I find it therapeutic in an entirely different way.  This past week was a good friend of mine's birthday.  As long as I have known her, I've always known that she loves lemon cake.  So when I saw this recipe on Pinch My Salt, I knew I had to make it for her!  (It also gave me an excuse to use my bundt pan, which I am truly in love with.  It was a wedding gift.)

The recipe was a big hit--the birthday girl may or may not have had a third piece--I would never embarrass her by saying that she did.  Ha!  My husband has declared it superior to his favorite TastyKake, which I think is a compliment.  I enjoyed it--the lemon flavor in the cake is mild; it's much more potent in the glaze, which is why it's very important.

First things first--assemble your ingredients!  Also be sure to get some buttermilk, which I inexplicably left out of this photo.  FYI, that is the zest of three lemons and the juice of just one.  So yes, I have naked lemons in my kitchen.  I'll figure something out, eventually.

Then combine your dry ingredients.

Then cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer.  (If you have a stand mixer, that's best, but a hand
mixer will work, too.)

Add in 2 tablespoons of the lemon zest and the eggs, one at a time.

Then combine the vanilla, buttermilk, and oil.  Try not to be grossed out by its appearance, because I promise it makes for a good cake.

Slowly add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixture, alternating, to the butter and sugar mixture, making sure to end on the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Ignore the cat litter bucket we use for recycling in the background.  (Hey, at least we recycle!)

Spread it into the prepared pan.

Then bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool on a wire rack for at least 45-60 minutes before removing from pan.  (No photos because the battery was charging.)  Then very carefully cut off the bottom of the cake with a serrated knife (I used my bread knife) so that it will sit flat on a plate.  Eat all of the scraps and do not tell anyone.  Then admire the beautiful cake sitting all flat on the plate.

Then prepare the glaze...and drizzle it all over the beautiful cake.

This cake does not take a full pound of butter, which I think makes it a bit lighter than regular pound cakes.  Also, the bit of oil in the batter helps it stay moist.  We finished the leftovers tonight and it was still just as good!  Enjoy! 

Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake, recipe found on Pinch My Salt (which links to the original elsewhere)
Time: 80-90 minutes, plus at least an hour for cooling.  Serves: 8 people who'll all have seconds or 16 people who can control themselves, perhaps.

Ingredients

for the Pound Cake

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 tbsp lemon zest
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

 for the Lemon Glaze

• 2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan (or bundt pan).
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in lemon zest, then beat in the eggs one at a time until well-combined.
4. In a measuring cup or small bowl, combine vanilla, buttermilk and vegetable oil. 
5. Working in two or three additions, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the butter mixture, ending with a final addition of dry ingredients. Stir only until no streaks of flour remain. 
6. Pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool on a wire rack before topping with lemon glaze.  
8. Prepare lemon glaze: combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake.