Pounding the Pavement and Getting Lemons

My job search goes on, still with no real success. I seem to attract lots of recruiters, but the jobs I'm either not qualified for or nothing seems to pan out. It's all been lemons!

Don't get me wrong though, I love lemons. So I thought in honor of me still "pounding the pavement", I thought why not take all the lemons from my job hunt and make Lemon Pound Cake (It's too cold for Lemonade)!

I am a "pound cake" newbie, so there are no alterations to the recipe I chose. I picked this one from a Bon Appétit Mag-July 1993 by Darren DiPietro: State College, Pennsylvania. The instructions are very well done, but I do have a bit more advice.

Now, I have a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer (These last forever!) and I would not recommend using a general electric mixer, but if that's all you have then make sure you use a very large bowl. Also, make sure your Mise en place is within your reach, it will make your life so much easier. Plan this recipe to ensure your eggs and butter are at room temperature.

So all went well, but I would have liked a heavier lemon flavor and I think the pan that I had was a tad too small or I just needed to add a bit less batter than what was yielded. I also think for my oven, I will need to drop the temp to 300 degrees vs. 325 degrees as recommended. The end result was that the cake baked with a slight overflow on the edges of the pan and got a little darker than I would have liked. But that can all be fixed anyway. Note that this recipe makes 12 Servings, I do know that Pound Cake does freeze well. So if you can’t use all of it, freeze the rest-Just cut in slices beforehand.

 

Sour Cream and Lemon Pound Cake

Bon Appétit: July 1993; by Darren DiPietro: State College, Pennsylvania. Yield: Serves 12

• 3 cups cake flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 3 cups sugar

• 6 eggs, room temperature

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

• 1 cup sour cream

Cooking Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease 16-cup tube pan. Dust pan with cake flour; tap out excess flour.
• Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and beat 5 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined after each addition. Beat in lemon juice and peel. -Using rubber spatula, mix in dry ingredients slowly. Mix in sour cream. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
• Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Cut around cake in pan. Turn out cake.
• Carefully turn cake right side up on rack and cool completely. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Wrap in foil and let stand at room temperature).