Tara’s Old-Fashioned Lemonade Pound Cake

My mother doesn’t ask for much. Scratch that. She doesn’t ask for anything. The only thing she does ask for is my world-famous lemonade pound cake.

Yes. LEMONADE.POUND.CAKE.

I’ve been making this cake for her for the past three or four Mother’s Days. It’s heavy and moist and delicious, with just the right amount of zing from the lemon juice, lemon extract and lemon glaze. (My mom doesn’t really like glaze on her cakes, so I tend to leave it off if I’m making it for her.) But a simple lemon glaze takes it over the top!

Now, I’m sharing my secret recipe for a cake that is designed to be a “special occasion” cake. You’re not going to make this cake on a regular ol’ Tuesday. This is a Christmas cake, a Mother’s Day cake, a Thanksgiving cake…maybe even a Fourth of July cake. It’s not for those on a diet (it takes four sticks of butter!). This is why it’s a special occasion cake…you’re meant to make it when there are a ton of people present so you eat small(er) slices. The more you know….

Ingredients

3 cups cake flour

1/2 cup self-rising flour

1 package vanilla or lemon instant pudding

3 cups sugar

2 cups (yes, this is four sticks) butter, softened

9 large eggs

1 1/3 cups sour cream

2 small lemons

2 teaspoons lemon extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Heavily grease and flour a Bundt pan.

2. In a mixing bowl, stir together the first three ingredients (cake flour, self-rising flour and pudding mix). If you don’t have self-rising flour, here is a recipe for it using regular flour, baking powder and salt.

3. In a larger bowl (use the biggest bowl you have), cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs. (If you are not that good at cracking eggs, crack them in a separate bowl first, then add them to the sugar/butter mixture.)

4. Add 1/2 flour mixture to the sugar/butter/egg mixture. Mix until no flour is visible. Add in the sour cream, mix until no sour cream is visible. Then add the rest of the flour. Mix until no flour is visible.

5. Add in the juice of one lemon and then the lemon extract.

6. Pour it in the Bundt pan and bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 2 hours, then remove from pan.

Lemon Glaze

1. Mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons lemon juice, adding one tablespoon at a time. Add more lemon juice for a thinner glaze. If you want the glaze to soak into the cake, glaze it while it’s still hot and make it thinner. If you want it to adorn the cake, glaze the cake while it’s cool and make the glaze thicker.