Lemon Pound Cake

Finally decided I'd make an Instructable for my famous Lemon Pound Cake. There are 3 great things about this particular cake that are different from others.

1) You can change the type of extract flavorings to make other types of pound cake. I'll even add the instructions to make it a delicious chocolate pound cake at the end of the Instructable.
2) It's totally addictive and not good for you in large quantities but you won't care because you'll be enjoying the cake too much.
3) Share it with others and you'll make new friends who will love you for your personality and good looks and definitely not because you give them free cake. :)

Lets move on to the ingredients shall we.

Step 1 Ingredients

So you're gonna need something to cook so here's a list of ingredients.

1 Cup of butter/margarine (2 sticks)
1 Cup of Vegetable Shortening (aka Crisco)
3 Cups of Sugar
6 Large Eggs
1 Cup of Evaporated Milk
3 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon of Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract
3 Tablespoons of Lemon Extract (or whatever extract you're gonna use)

For the Glaze you're gonna need:

2 Cups of Powdered Sugar
2 Fresh Lemons (or 2 Tablespoons of concentrated lemon juice and a bit of water)

On to the next Step -->

Comments

[dnutts]

Will it work with all butter and shortening?

[bigwhitebear18]

That's what it calls for. Although I may be misinterpreting your question.

[mdeblasi1]

What if one were to take 2 sticks of butter and use them as prescribed, then take 2 1/3 sticks of butter melt them and pour off the water and solids, and use that instead of Crisco. Because of those hydrogenated fats, alot of people have an aversion to using Crisco. Myself, I'd rather use lard than vegetable shortening---but just try finding real lard if you don't have a personal butcher. Yep, I think it's worth trying with the butter; but you've got to clarify it, there's just so much water in butter that your cake might not raise properly if you don't.

[kissiltur]

I'm quite intrigued by your observation that lard is better for you than vegetable shortening. Veg shortening is a manufactured product, but lard is pure saturated fat which I thought meant it has broadly the same properties vis a vis cholesterol, digestion, and so on. I'm not saying you're wrong, I just haven't encountered this idea before and I want to know more.

[mdeblasi1]

kissiltur:
If lard were pure, saturated fat it would be rock hard at room temperature. Suet, beef fat, is more saturated than lard (pork fat) and is like wax room temperature. Chicken fat, the least saturated of the three is almost liquid.
(I know I read an article explaining the physiology of these things in the New York times, but I couldn't find a link.)
The next piece of the puzzle is that vegetable shortening, in order to be made sold at room temperature, is partially hydrogenated. Hydrogen atoms are added to stabilize the carbon chains so that they are not fluid at higher temperatures. When this is done industrially, the fat chains develop kinks in them, called trans fats, that literally become stuck in ones arteries. Trans fats are found only rarely in nature, so that an artificially saturated fat is more dangerous than a naturally saturated fat.
Finally, if we are to use animal product, the more we can glean and the less waste the better off we are. Rather than putting tons of pork fat in industrial land fills, it would be better to make delicious pastry, and have the Unilever people figure out how they are going to meet share holder demand.

[5kittens]

Excellent answer! A growing number of people are finding that they are soy sensitive/allergic, like myself. This makes a shortening alternative a must.

[kissiltur]

Thank you. That is a splendid and comprehensive answer. As it happens, I don't eat meat so I'd be very unhappy if pastry everywhere suddenly started to be made with lard, but I am glad to know more about how things fit in. Thank you again.

[mamasboi]

Looks yummy, can't wait to try it!!!! Do you think it would change the texture of the cake if I added some sour cream to the recipe? Would it be too heavy? I'm gonna try it and let you know how it turns out.

Oh, the last time I try to make a pound cake, the cake came out kinda congealed in the middle, like it was under cooked. Not sure why. I have an electric oven and I even bought an oven temp. gauge. What did i do wrong??

[bigwhitebear18]

Please tell us how the sour cream comes out.
As for the coagulated middle; more than likely it wasn't cooked long enough. This has happened to me before. I learned that every oven is a little different, so add some cook time to yours. I too use an electric oven.

[mamasboi]

Thanks so much. I'll be sure to post my results and a pic

[happymami]

this looks awesome. i can't wait to taste it but i don't have lemon extract. will fresh lemon juice work?

Also, I found a vegan non-hydrogenated shortening at whole foods for those cocerned about the hydrogenated fat. not sure it it will work the same but worth looking into if you are really concerned about that.

[bigwhitebear18]

I'm pretty sure the fresh lemon juice will turn out fine, you might even add a little zest for extra flavor just in case.

[bigwhitebear18]

I posted a new cake Instructable:
Triple Chocolate Brownie Cake
www.instructables.com/id/Triple-Chocolate-Brownie-Cake/

[Xandergust]

The recipe looks awesome!! A local bakery here in Philadelphia makes pound cake cupcakes and I was thinking about using this recipe for that purpose.  Have you ever heard of this being done? Do you think I'd have to change the recipe at all?

I almost hate to gamble with a recipe that seems a sure thing!

[bigwhitebear18]

Lemon Pound Cupcakes do sound delicious. I've never tried it that way.
With this recipe you'll be making a lot of cupcakes. The cooking time will be the biggest factor to play with.

[autumn2793]

I am making it right now, hopefully it turns out fantastic. Which based on how the batter tastes it will be :]. Awesome recipe :] :]

[anamarie81]

ahhhh...so i tried to hurry the process up of bringing the butter to room temperature and stuck it in the microwave (i know i know, i shouldn't have tried to cut corners)...but now the butter is melted...can i put it in the fridge and still use it for the recipe? help please?

[bigwhitebear18]

If you use melted butter your cake won't rise as well. I have used cold butter/margarine but I beat the crud out of it when creaming it and adding the sugar in order to provide maximum air bubbles. A great explanation I found on Yahoo! Answers: TNGal: "Butter adds flavor and texture to your baking and helps to keep it fresh. The temperature of the butter is very important in baking. When room temperature butter is used in your recipe this means your butter should be between 65 degrees F (18 degrees C) and 70 degrees F (21 degrees C). This temperature allows the maximum amount of air to be beaten into your batter. This creaming or beating of your butter or butter and sugar creates air bubbles that your leavener (baking powder or baking soda) will enlarge during baking. Most experts recommend 4 to 5 minutes of creaming the butter for maximum aeration."

[anamarie81]

thanks! good to know...it's baking now, so we'll see how it turns out!

[Mr. Brownie]

I made this for my B-Day(yesterday), and It was AWESOME!

[watermelonhead]

om nom nom....

[knexfan100]

that looks good the problem is that I have to ride my bike to the nearest store (a total of 8 miles) so its hard to make it

[knexfan100]

that looks good!!!! the only hard part is buying all the ingredents!

[bigwhitebear18]

Buy in bulk! It's cheaper in the long run and you can make many many more.

[zoneykid]

...Is there any way to use something else instead of sugar like honey? Since i take an aversion to sugar due to the fact that it's so unhealthy... Also i'm curious to mdeblasi1's idea of using all butter(some regular and some clarified)

[mdeblasi1]

Zoneykid I have no trouble imagining how white sugar is bad for the environment, it’s highly processed, and because of this takes a great deal of energy to make, but how do you figure that it is any worse for our bodies than fructose, or lactose, or any of the other sugars? Incidentally, in re. brown sugar; here in the United States it is created by taking fully refined white sugar and adding molasses back into it, not by stopping the refining process early. With regard to Honey, in the US it is sold as a liquid, it will add ridiculous amounts of moisture to anything you cook with it, completely changing the ratios in the recipe.

[zoneykid]

I know what honey does with baking and cooking. And about the sugar, Sucrose(table sugar) is a chemical and that in an of itself is enough reason for me(It's also combustible)

[mdeblasi1]

Zoneykid,
Without trying to sound glib, everything is a chemical. Everything is made of molecules. Sucrose is made, by plants, of the molecules glucose and fructose, as a means of storing energy. What our "refining" does is rid the sucrose of all the plant bits keeping only the energy bits.

In re, combustibility; everything is combustible, you and I included. The more firmly the molecules are bonded together, the higher the combustion temperature. Even diamonds will burn.

If you do know how to substitute honey for sugar in a recipe would you mind sharing your method? How much liquid do you have to subtract for water? If the liquid in the recipe is milk, egg white, or some other source, how do you make that substitution, (altering them will change your protein to carbohydrate ratio)? Finally, have you read the cooking manual Ratio ? It might help us answer all these questions. Any questions you should have about chemistry and cooking, (for that is what it is, truly, domestic scale chemistry), will be beautifully answered by On Food & Cooking , the gold standard for culinary science books.
Cheers
Marya

[zoneykid]

At this point i see that i cant win in the scientific factor of not consuming refined sugar. :\ But my experience in substituting honey for sugar is that in cooking it's easy to fix, but in baking i generally start a new recipe with honey as it's a big hastle to convert everything to use with honey because not only does it have more water it's also hygroscopic(it attracts moisture rather than drying out.) Though the one time i tried making cookies with honey intead of sugar they came out more like little bready cakelets than stereotype cookies.(still delicious) I would highly recommend using honey instead of sugar in Pie recipes(as they pie filling water content is generally more controllable and less important as flavor) because the times i made pumpkin pie with honey it came out friggin delicious... Now i want pumpkin pie. :0~

[mdeblasi1]

Um, if you make that pumpkin pie, could you post an Instructible? I love pumpkin pie and will eat it all year long. BTW, the environmental cost of refinement is reason enough to avoid white sugar.

[bigwhitebear18]

I have to say that I have no idea but would love to hear the results if you go ahead with it. I'm sure google has some info on how to substitue honey for sugar. Tell us all how it works out.

[Jayefuu]

Great ible! Nice pictures and detailed instructions. 4/5. Would be 5/5 if you included metric measurements, most of the world use grams not cups.

[smartroad]

Is there anychance of the ingredients in weight rather then cups? Never have understood the need to use cups for weights, as sugar, flour etc can settle and you actually end up with more (or less) then you need (no offence meant!!)

[bigwhitebear18]

I'm not sure of the weight conversions but I'm sure there are some websites that could help you convert it.
Like this one:
http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/flour_volume_weight.html

[violetu]

I made this over the weekend and it lasted exactly 2 days. 100% awesome cake.

[bigwhitebear18]

I'm glad it you enjoyed it. I think I'm going to do a apple spice cake with caramel glaze next.

[Sox]

I am curious. Where do you live that you can't buy lard? I had a choice of two brands when I went shopping at a regular grocery store this morning.

[daisygirl]

I have a hard time finding real lard, unfortunately. There are a couple of brands available at the grocery stores around here but all but one of them (the hardest to find, of course) are a mixture of lard and vegetable shortening.

[ALISTAIRELLIOTT]

this looks good im going to try this GREAT INSTRUCTABLE

[leannayer]

I've got Lemon Cake that is easier and has less ingredients! 1 Cup Oil; 3 Eggs; 2 Cups Sugar; 3 Cups Flour; 1 Cup Milk; ½ tsp. Salt; 1 tsp. Baking Powder; 1 oz Lemon Extract; 1 Lemon – Zested & Juiced Glaze: Mix equal amounts lemon juice and sugar. Combine all ingredients and stir in lemon zest. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake 350æ for 1 hour or until pick comes out clean. Cool cake on rack and poke top of cake with fork or pick and pour glaze over top. And you can change the flavors too!