Suzy’s Lovely Lemon Pound Cake

My SIL Suzy is a proficient baker and in fact, is the one who went with me to the special baking course (we had such fun together!) and whenever we used to go to her or she came to us, we knew if a baked good was offered to grab it since it was always awesome.

She actually gave me this recipe many years ago and I made it once or twice but I would cheat and not beat the marg/butter and sugar as long as I was supposed to. So it never achieved that amazing texture that her cake would. I am older and wiser and a more exacting baker and I tell you all this so that you learn from me. Beat it for the whole 13 (yes, thirteen!) minutes as it stipulates in the recipe and you won’t be sorry. Whipping the air into the sugar/butter mixture (which is what you are doing by beating it) is part of the leavening process, i.e. helps it to rise, since you don’t use much baking powder in the recipe. This is what makes it so luscious and not too dense at all despite being a pound cake. And hey, no separating eggs this way. Win!

So preheat your oven to 350 F and whip out your mixer and put in the sugar and super soft marg/butter. Start beating.

This is the fluffy stage. Good. Keep going.

It’s starting to smooth out and get lighter in color. Keep going. You’ve timed it and after the 13 minutes, add the eggs ONE AT A TIME. Really. Put one egg in, beat until incorporated and it starts forming a mass as below.

Only add the next egg once completely mixed in and so forth till all the eggs disappear into the batter. It’s 6 eggs, so it takes some time. Since your mixer is doing the work and not you, it shouldn’t be too much of a bother. But no shortcuts, promise me!

For this you also must use fresh lemons or just skip the whole thing since you need the peel and juice both, bottled juice won’t do in this cake. Now I use the peel of 2 lemons, not one and it makes a world of difference. The juice is only from one of the lemons (use the juice of the second lemon in some techina if you wish My darling eggplant with lucious tehina dressing or pop back into fridge for another time but use within about 3 days or the lemon hardens). Use a microplane or zester and zest the yellow part of the peel, not the bitter white pith and add that and the juice to the batter.

Next add your flour, salt and baking powder on one side of the mixer and the milk/soy milk and vanilla on the other side, mixing just till incorporated.

Note the nice thick batter? It’s a bit fluffy too. Prepare two loaf pans with parchment paper and evenly divide the batter into the two pans.

Smooth the tops.

Yes! you get 2 loaves of cake out of this. Freeze one for later if you’re a small crowd.

Place on parchment lined rimmed baking sheet (to prevent spills) and bake in preheated oven for approximately one hour, checking with wooden toothpick after 50 minutes. The top should be a lovely golden brown and it’s a beautiful lemony color inside. Serve with your favorite tea or coffee or as the end to a beautiful meal. Thanks again Suze! it’s a great cake.

Suzy’s Lovely Lemon Pound Cake

7/8 cup margarine or 200 grams super super soft
2 2/3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk/soy milk
Juice of one lemon
Grated peel of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon vanilla
Yields 2 9 X 5 loaf pans
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Beat together the margarine and the sugar for 13 minutes until very light, almost white in color. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in each one separately till incorporated between each addition.

Add lemon juice and lemon peel and beat.

On one side add in the flour, baking powder and salt, and on the other side add vanilla and the milk or soy milk. Mix all together just till smooth and creamy do not over beat.
Take two 9 x 5 loaf pans and line them with parchment paper. Pour the batter evenly divided into the pans and smooth the tops. Bake for approximately one hour, or till golden brown and when checked with a wooden toothpick it comes out clean with no crumbs sticking to it.