Thursday, July 2, 2009

Supermoist Sour Cream Lemon Cake

I mentioned here before that I have more lemons in the fridge and would like to make something out of it. I was pretty excited as I had borrowed Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito and the sight of their oh so beautiful Lemon Lemon Loaf on page 41 got me hooked. However, the recipe calls for 8 large eggs and I thought "wow! that's a lot of eggs for 2 loaves of cake!" thus I decided not to use this recipe. I usually do not mind using so much eggs but the recent baking I did used quite a lot of eggs and I really should watch the cholesterol levels in this household. I want to give my family pleasure and tickle their tastebuds without compromising their health either. As it is, most of my bakes are discounted on their sugar if at all possible.

Anyway since I could'nt get the thought of fragrant, tangy and moist lemon cakes out of my head, I decided to scour the ever reliable internet for a similar recipe which use lesser eggs and I found this gem. Yippee it uses only 3 eggs and that's very acceptable to me and the end result was a smooth and moist cake which was reminiscent of a cheesecake, only with crumbs. Even my younger sister who is a cake-hater and a cheesecake-lover said she liked it. So this recipe is definitely a keeper!

Sour Cream Lemon Cake (adapted from Southernfood.about.com)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 cup sour cream

Lemon Glaze:

(Mine didnt turn out white and pretty cos I was scared of using so much sugar. So it became a clear syrup instead)
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar


Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325°. Generously butter and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
Into a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a mixing bowl with hand-held electric mixer, cream 1 cup butter and granulated sugar; beat at high speed until mixture is very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down side of bowl frequently. Blend in lemon zest.

Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, adding each in 3 additions. Scrape sides of bowl frequently. Pour batter into prepared cake pan; bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden pick inserted near the center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine lemon glaze ingredients in a bowl, blending until smooth. Carefully turn cake out onto a platter; drizzle evenly with glaze.Serves 12 or more, depending on size of servings.

4 comments:

Jackie said...

oh wow your lemon cake looks out of this world. It's early in the morning and I wouldn't mind a cup of coffee with a slice of your delicious coffee cake. It looks incredibly moist and fluffy

Jackie @ PhamFatale.com

Kiara S said...

Any cake that uses sour cream gets a gold star in my book, haha.

I'll definitely have to try this for myself, once I'm done baking for everyone else. XD

Lisa said...

OMG!!! that lemon cake looks like the best lemon cake ever made! So moist, and your photos are incredible! Beautiful job! Must try your recipe!

Jess said...

looks delicious!