Sara’s Kitchen: Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake
Usher in Spring With This Classic Dessert
Midwestern winters can be tough. They’re cold, often gray and seem to go on forever. During the winters, I tend to focus my cooking on stews, roasts and fruit pies with warming spices. In the spring, however, when the temperature begins to rise and the sun comes out, my mind always wanders over to the citrus family. I forget all about shoveling snow, heavy sweaters and hearty comfort food. Instead, I think about the sunny days to come, and to me, using citrus in my cooking and baking is one way to speed up this most welcome of seasonal changes.
One of my favorite ways to use citrus is in desserts, especially ice creams and cakes. The tang and brightness offered by citrus can completely change a dish for the better. Take a sour cream pound cake, for instance. I love baking with sour cream because it also offers a bit of tang to the final product. But when paired with citrus – such as lemon – well, that’s when the magic really happens.
Cakes baked with sour cream tend be a bit more dense with a tighter crumb, yet will stay moist longer than cakes baked with milk. And the tang provided by sour cream is subtle. However, as I said, pairing sour cream with lemon juice and zest is a match made in heaven.
So, let’s celebrate the changing of the seasons by baking a classic: Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake!
Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake
Makes one cake in 16-cup tube pan.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) Hiland Dairy Unsalted Butter, room temperature, plus more for tube pan
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 cup Hiland Dairy Sour Cream
- Powdered sugar, for dusting top of cake
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 325ºF. Using room temperature butter, thoroughly butter entire inside surface of 16-cup tube pan. Dust pan with cake flour; tap out excess flour. Sift together cake flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat 1 cup room-temperature butter until light and fluffy. Add granulated sugar and beat on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Lower speed to medium and add eggs, one at a time, beating just until each is incorporated. Add lemon zest and juice, beat until incorporated. Turn mixer to low and carefully add dry ingredients and sour cream. Mix just until combined, making sure all flour has been incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Remove from oven and place pan on cooling rack; allow to cool for 15 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around pan, turn out cake. Gently turn cake right side up on pan, cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
~Sara, Sara’s Kitchen
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