Canadian Lemon Pound Cake : LTU Flour

Hey Ivy! Look what you made me do?  I am baking with lemons for the very first time! And I made lemon glaze for the first time too! Thank you for sharing your Canadian Lemon Pound Loaf which got me hallucinating for days hah..hah...I mean look at the nice texture of your cake and that lemon icing dripping down the sides. Beh tahan liao!

It so happened that my partner picked up 4 lemons for me two Sundays ago. I remember taking a whiff of the lemons before stashing them into the fridge. I love the fresh lemony aroma of lemons. They really perk me up.

The original recipe came from Ivy's Canadian friend. Now, this recipe calls for 1/2 cup (113g) of butter and 1/2 cup (113g) of sour cream. You know me, I have mild OCD. I don't like odd numbers as they represent disorder to me (remember the TV series Monk?). I cannot stand 113 or 112 but 100 or 150 is fine. And I don't like having leftover bits and pieces of ingredients in the fridge.

With that in mind I upped the amount of butter and sour cream to 250g each. That way, I use up the whole block of butter and the whole tub of sour cream. I know. Me bad. 

I expected this cake to be moist with tender crumbs due to the sour cream. And I was quite excited about the lemon glaze as I imagined it to be sweet and sour with loads of lemony aroma. A pound cake is baked in a loaf pan but I wanted a round cake. So a round cake it was. Pound cakes are expected to crack in the middle so I will say that this deep crevice on my cake is excusable :)

I reduced the sugar to make allowance for the lemon glaze which is very sweet. My cake took an hour to bake, with the cake tented at the last 10 minutes to prevent over browning. The smell of lemon and butter was so good! Really a new experience for me and it looks like my partner will have to buy more lemons for me.

I kept the cake aside for one day before icing it. I was quite excited about making the lemon glaze because this is also my first ever lemon glaze. It is very easy, just whisk 1/2 cup of icing sugar with 1.5-2 tablespoons of lemon juice. And what you get is a white runny glaze which is sweet, sour and lemony. And it had me licking my spoon afterwards because it was so nice.

Look at that lemony goodness dripping off the sides of the cake. I cut a small slice for tasting and mmm....this is a really good lemon pound cake. The sweetness of the cake was just nice, very mild and that balanced out the sweet glaze. I reckon that most of  my family members would prefer the cake plain without any glazing. With that in mind, in my next bake, I would increase the amount of sugar slightly and do without the glaze (which I happen to like very much).

It looks like I have found a new favorite ingredient for baking. I guess you will be seeing more lemony bakes from me from now on. Please go to Ivy for the original (and healthier) recipe!

Canadian Lemon Pound Cake
Recipe source : Adapted from Simply Beautiful and Healthy Living

Ingredients :

For the cake :
- 250g butter, at room temperature
-150g sugar (I will put 170g if without the lemon glaze)
- 250ml sour cream, at room temperature
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbsp lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
-250g self-raising flour, sifted (I sifted 3 times)

For the Lemon Glaze
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice

Method :

For the cake :
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs one by one and beat until incorporated.
3. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract. And continue to beat until well mixed.
4. Add flour and sour cream alternately with the flour in 3 additions and sour cream in 2 additions.
5. Transfer batter into a greased and lined 8" round pan.
6. Bake at 160C for 1 hour or until skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (If you find that the top of the cake is already browned before the cake is done, tent it with aluminium foil to prevent over browning).
7. Remove from oven and cool the cake for 10 minutes before unmoulding the cake and allowing it to cool completely on a cooling rack.

For the Lemon Glaze:
1. Whisk icing sugar and lemon juice until you get a smooth white glaze.
2. Pour the glaze over the cooled cake and spread using a spatula.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Diana of Domestic Goddess Wannabe.