Pound cake is one of my favorite desserts from childhood. Whenever we’d visit one of my great aunts, she always had a pound cake ready for us in the kitchen. Nothing fancy, just a good ol’ vanilla pound cake. Sometimes, simplicity can say a whole lot.

This recipe is not my great Aunt’s, but given to me by my Aunt-in-love, and I made adjustments. It’s perfect all by itself or with vanilla ice cream topped with strawberries… oh my, I’m getting hungry. HAHA. Don’t judge me,  I’m just love dessert. 🙂

Instead of the usual cake flour, I use Unbleached Ultra Fine Pastry flour by Red Bill Mills.

I use it for everything I bake now.   It has a much lighter texture than all purpose flour and doesn’t have an aftertaste. Although, it can be hard to find at the grocery stores because it’s often sold out. Since I’m baking a lot more these days, I need to buy more at a time or in bulk from somewhere.

I like to use lemon zest and mix it with the sugar. Then, cream the butter and sugar until it’s fluffy.

Here, I used vanilla extract, however, I have also used my homemade Madagacsar Vanilla and Orange Bourbon extracts. You can also use other flavored extracts and alcohols to change it up in a simple way.  When doing this, I often omit the lemon zest if it doesn’t match the flavor profile I’m looking for.

The last thing I do to lighten it up, although you don’t have to, is the addition of plain greek yogurt. The traditional pound cake can be very dense, so just a small amount will make it lighter. I’ve also used sour cream or heavy cream as opposed to greek yogurt. Whichever I have on hand is what I use.

You can see the recipe below. Are you going to try it? I hope you do.

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Peace and Love!

Yasmin

P.S. If you’d like to add a glaze on top, the one I used for the Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake would be a great option.

Lemon Vanilla Pound Cake

Credit: Yasmin  for BloomingAugust.com

Ingredients

zest of 1 lemon

2 cups of granulated sugar

1 pound of salted butter (4 sticks)

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

6 large eggs

3 cups Ultra Fine Pastry Flour (or Cake Flour, or All Purpose flour)

2 tablespoons of greek yogurt

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F

1. Use a cheese grater with small holes and rub the lemon over it to remove the rind. Be careful not to remove the white part of the lemon.
2. Place sugar and lemon zest in a bowl and mix together.
3. In your main mixing bowl, beat the lemon sugar and butter for about 5 minutes or until it is light and fluffy.
4. Pour in vanilla extract.
5. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix well after each.
6. Alternate the addition of flour and greek yogurt in 2 parts.
7. Use your favorite non stick spray on your bundt pan.
8. Scoop batter into the pan until pan is 3/4  full.
9. Bake for 50-60 min. until golden brown and the cake testing stick comes out clean.
10. Let it cool completely, and serve.

Enjoy!