Lemon Pound Cake with Honey Balsamic Glaze
I love nothing more than to take a classic and tweak it a little and come up with new play on the recipe. Since I bake so frequently for my household and for all of the meetings that the hubby attends I have lots of opportunities to play. On one occasion I had decided upon a pound cake as it is the kind of cake that you can make the day before and not worry about it drying out. I wanted to dress it up a little so I thought a glaze would do the trick but what kind of glaze? After much thought honey and balsamic vinegar were the perfect complement to a rich, moist lemon pound cake.
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Lemon Pound Cake with Honey Balsamic Glaze
Makes one pound cake that serves 10 – 12
*the photos show two cakes. I doubled the cake recipe. The glaze recipe is sufficient for two cakes.
2 cups all purpose flour or 2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 oz) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp lemon extract
1 TBS lemon juice powder (I keep this on hand as lemons are so expensive.) or 1 TBS lemon zest
For the Glaze:
(This will glaze two cakes with some leftover for other purposes. I think this would be delicious on shrimp.)
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1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
4 TBS honey
Preheat oven to 325°
Grease a loaf pan, either 9 x 5 or 8 1/2 x 4 1/2. Set it on an insulated baking sheet or two baking sheets stacked together. This will help the cake not burn on the bottom.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a stand mixer with the paddle attached cream the butter, sugar and lemon juice powder until light and fluffy – let it beat for a good 5 minutes. Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing for one minute after each egg. Add the lemon extract and mix in well. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides as necessary.
Add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until blended. It’s very important not to overmix the batter.
Add the batter to the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Place on the baking sheet(s) and bake for 70 – 75 minutes for the 9 x 5 pan and 90 minutes for the smaller pan. Check the cake at around 45 minutes and it it’s getting too brown place a foil tent over the top.
When a tester comes out clean remove the cake to a cooking rack and let rest for 30 minutes. Slide a butter knife around the edges and remove the cake from the pan to cool completely.
Make the Glaze:
While the cake is cooling you can make the glaze: add the balsamic to a small saucepan. Warm over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until it reduced by half. Remove from heat and stir in the honey.
Be sure you have wax paper or foil under the cooling rack. Drizzle the glaze over the cake.
How Was the Lemon Pound Cake Recipe?
There was a little leftover from the meeting so I actually got to taste this cake! This is a true pound cake so it’s a bit on the dryer side. It was good the first night but even better the second day. The glaze was a delight. At first I thought it might be a little too syrupy but it worked perfectly on the cake. It added a nice touch of floral sweetness to a buttery pound cake. The lemon flavor was mild but delicious. I found the basic pound cake recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, a cookbook I turn to often for baked goods. I just added a couple of extras to get my lemon flavor. If you are looking for a fancier dessert based on a pound cake check out this cheesecake filled poundcake with strawberry jam.
