Zest of 4 small-ish lemons or 2 large(use a Microplane for best results)
½teaspoonlemon extract or 3 drops of lemon oil
Optional, for color 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
5large eggslightly beaten
13ozcake flour
¾teaspoonbaking powder
¼teaspoonbaking soda
8ozthick Greek yogurt(without gums or other additives) or sour cream or buttermilk
2ozfreshly squeezed lemon juicestrained
Instructions
Set your oven rack to one below the center and preheat the oven to 350F.
Spray a 12-cup Bundt-type pan thoroughly with pan spray, then flour your pan very well. Knock out the excess flour. If you only have a 10-cup Bundt-type pan, you'll have about 1 1/2 cups of batter left over. You can use this to make a 6" cake or maybe 4-5 cupcakes. Go ahead and prepare those pans if necessary. *Set aside.
Cream together butter, sugar, salt, zest, extract/oil and optional turmeric until very light and fluffy. Take your time here; it could take 8 minutes or more. You want your creamed mixture to be very pale in color (this lets you know that you've incorporated a lot of air into the mix) and very thick and fluffy. Scrape down your mixing bowl as necessary.
While the butter mixture is creaming, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and baking soda. If after whisking, the flour seems a bit lumpy, go ahead and sift the dry ingredients. Set aside.
Whisk together the yogurt/sour cream/buttermilk and lemon juice. Set aside.
Once the butter/sugar mixture is beautifully light, drizzle in the beaten eggs, a bit at a time, over a period of about 5 minutes. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
Alternately add the dry and wet ingredients, beginning and ending with dry, in this manner:
Add half the dry
Add half the wet
Add half of the remaining dry ingredients
Add the rest of the wet ingredients
Add the rest of the dry ingredients.
Mix on low for only about 5 seconds between additions. Scrape the bowl as necessary, making sure to get down to the bottom, but don't worry too much about completely mixing.
Once all your ingredients are combined, scrape the bowl and fold by hand for a few seconds.
Put the bowl back on the mixer and mix on high speed for no more than three seconds.
Scrape the batter into your prepared pan(s).
Bake for about an hour until the cake is well-risen, deeply golden brown, and has a crack running around the center of the top of the cake (pound cakes do this. It's okay). A thin knife or a skewer inserted into Said Crack should come out clean. This will take about an hour, give or take, depending on your oven.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes (10 minutes if you've made a small extra cake) then turn the cake out.
Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool. I promise this will not give you a soggy cake, just a very moist and wonderful cake.
Optional
When just barely warm, you can glaze the cake with a mixture of powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, just a pinch of salt.
Notes
Helpful Hints
Spend as much time as you need to on the creaming of the butter and sugar. This is what ensures a tight yet melting crumb. Make sure the mixture stays cool--under 70F. If it starts to warm up past that, refrigerate everything for 15 minutes and then cream until the mixture is almost white, very light, and fluffy.
Grease and flour your pan very well, first brushing in a liberal amount of melted Crisco and then adding flour. Tap the pan and angle it all around to be sure to get as full coverage as possible. Bang the excess out into the trashcan. You can also use "pan lube."
Allow your cake to cool for 20-30 minutes in the pan before turning it out onto a rack.
For the moistest cake, wrap the cake completely in plastic wrap while still warm. This will keep excess moisture from evaporating out of the cake.
Glaze is not necessary although it's often appreciated! A simple dusting with powdered sugar could be enough, especially if you're enjoying your lemon pound cake with a cup of tea or coffee.
The cake will keep, covered at room temperature, for a good 5 days. For longer keeping, freeze the whole cake, or freeze individual slices. Wrap in plastic wrap and then put in freezer bags for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature. Do not refrigerate the cake as refrigeration encourages staling, and we don't want that.