Lemon Pound Cake

Lemon Pound Cake

Serves 8

For best results, the butter should be between 65 and 70 degrees--it should give slightly when pressed with your finger but still hold its shape. You will need three lemons for this recipe.

Cake
16	tablespoons  unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened but still cool, plus extra for greasing pan
1 3/4	cups  all-purpose flour , plus extra for dusting pan
1/2	teaspoon  baking powder
1/2	teaspoon  table salt
1/4	cup  sour cream
1 1/2	tablespoons  lemon juice
1 1/2	tablespoons  grated lemon zest
1	cup  granulated sugar plus 2 additional tablespoons
5	large eggs , at room temperature, beaten
Syrup
1/4	cup  granulated sugar
1/4	cup  lemon juice
Glaze
1/2	cup  Confectioners' sugar , sifted
1	tablespoon  lemon juice

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with butter; dust pan with flour, then tap out excess. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into bowl. Stir sour cream and lemon juice together in second bowl.
2. Using fingers, toss lemon zest and sugar together in large bowl until clumps are gone. Add butter and beat with electric mixer at medium-high speed until smooth and light, about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add beaten eggs in three additions, mixing until smooth and scraping down bowl after each addition (mixture will begin to look curdled). With mixer on low, add one-third of flour mixture, followed by half of sour cream mixture, stopping as necessary to scrape down bowl. Repeat, ending with flour mixture. Scrape down bowl, then mix on low until smooth, about 30 seconds. Use rubber spatula to give batter final stir.
3. Pour batter into pan and smooth top. Gently tap pan on counter to release air bubbles. Bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 55 to 70 minutes.
4. For the syrup: While cake bakes, stir sugar and lemon juice together in saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 2 minutes, remove from heat, and set aside.
5. Cool cake in pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Brush top and sides of still-warm cake with syrup and cool completely, about 2 hours.
6. For the glaze: Whisk confectioners' sugar and lemon juice in bowl until smooth. Spread glaze over cake, allowing some to drip down sides. Let glaze set for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Make Ahead
The test kitchen found this cake to be more moist the day after it was baked. In fact, when tightly wrapped, the cake will stay fresh up to 5 days. This cake also freezes well. Apply syrup, let cool, and wrap, unglazed, in two layers of plastic wrap and freeze in a zipper-lock plastic bag for up to 1 month. When ready to serve, defrost the cake, still wrapped, at room temperature, then remove the plastic wrap and proceed with the recipe from step 6.
To Make Two Cakes
Double all ingredients except the eggs, using 9 eggs (instead of 10). Cream the butter and sugar in step 2 for 6 minutes (rather than 3 minutes) and add the eggs in four additions (rather than three). Divide the batter between two buttered and floured loaf pans and bake as directed, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time.