Friday, February 12, 2010

Lavender/Lemon Sour Cream Poundcake


I was getting impatient-a whole jar of lavender sugar that hadn't been used yet. I didn't want to waste it on just any old cake. Actually, why ever make any old cake? You know?

This is a really heavy cake, and there's quite a bit of folding at the end-you'll need your upper arm strength for this. Too bad I don't have any (well, not much). Don't say I didn't warn you.

The decorations are simply egg white and confectioner's sugar with food colouring. I didn't think I had the patience for piping them out, so I moulded them from sugar paste. Cute, I guess. Danny was amused. The icing is confectioner's sugar and water-very simple.

I did go ahead and refill the lavender jar with more sugar-the sachet seemed to still have quite a bit of life left. This could turn out to be a great discovery.

You Will Need:

3 cups AP flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 cups lavender sugar
Grated zest of a lemon
6 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and lightly flour a 10 inch tube pan. Sift together flour and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until very light. Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition. Add flour and sour cream, alternating-do this with a rubber spatula and fold, rather than stir. This is heavy work, I know. I'm sorry.

Stir in vanilla, and pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until it tests done-about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack.

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