Poundcake {glazed lime poundcake}
Around these parts, I’m known for a few things. I am the white girl who walks the pug around the block. I am the lady who gets into her car from the passenger’s side because the other side might have been the receiving end of half of a spider web. But most importantly, and probably most noteworthy too – it’s rather well-known that I play a mean air-keyboard.
I’m talking seriously mean.
There are two songs that really highlight the extent of my skills: Good Vibrations by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch and Jump by Van Halen. For argument’s sake here, let’s just go ahead and lump synthesizer into the air-keyboard category, please. Although the piano is heavily featured throughout Mark Wahlberg’s anthem, it’s at around 4:06 when I really get into the zone and start looking for the edge of a coffee table or counter upon which to tickle my faux-ivories. And Jump, well, that’s an exercise in stamina as the whole song merits zen-like concentration in order to maintain focus while also kicking your foot in the air when necessary (often).
While I’ve repeatedly tried – to no avail – to figure out how I can attach the microphone, guitar and drums to my person at home in order to play Rock Band by myself, I have managed to master the art of switching from air-keyboard, to air-drums and occasionally to air-power-drill/guitar on to dessert. Take, for example, the purpose of my rambling – Van Halen’s 1991 chef d’oeuvre, Poundcake.
While many of you will remember For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge as being the album from which “Right Now” was taken for use in Crystal Pepsi commercials, I most closely affiliate the album with my brother trying his best not to explain to me what the name of the album meant – and with actual pound cake. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it? (Does it?)
I have recently been craving a particular pound cake from Food Glorious Food in my hometown and decided that rather than head south in the car, I ought to try to recreate it at home. Cue the incessant loop of Poundcake in my head and the trusty America’s Test Kitchen cookbook. This may be strange, but I have never made a pound cake before, even though I love it, and as with many of my new endeavors, I thought I’d try the ATK recipe first. I tweaked it so I ended up throughly addressing the craving for lime pound cake with lime glaze.
I’ll share:
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and hot
- 2 tablespoons lime zest
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
Let’s get crackin’. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Get your eggs out of the fridge if you haven’t already so they can warm up. Grease and flour a 8.5″ x 4.5″ loaf pan. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Zest some limes.
Had I ever made a pound cake before, this would be the part of the recipe where I would extol the virtues of the America’s Test Kitchen book for having found a trick that makes this recipe so much easier than the others. But I haven’t made one before so you’ll have to tell me. Grab your food processor, fitted with the blade, and put the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in.
And let her rip for about 10 seconds.
Add the lime zest and lime juice to the processor. Make sure your butter is freshly melted and available for pouring and turn the processor back on. Let it go for about 30 seconds while you slowly drizzle the butter in through the top opening. Something about emulsification. Pour the egg mixture into a large bowl and in three steps, add in the flour mixture and gently whisk until just combined. Pour the batter into your prepared pan.
Bake for 45 – 55 minutes or until a knife/toothpick/very small and smooth twig inserted comes out mostly clean but for a few moist crumbs. The recipe said 50 – 60 minutes. I did 52 and should have done 48. Hindsight.
While that’s in the oven, I will now give a nod to my second musical influence, my sister, and to Top Authority, Flint, Michigan’s breakout circa 1993 rap duo by offering you…
Something to glaze to:
- 1 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
- pinch of salt
Whisk everything together and let sit for 20 minutes or so before you use it. Once your cake is done, pull it out of the oven and let rest in the pan about 10 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack. While it was hot, I took the liberty of brushing the top with some straight up lime juice, in the hopes of punching things up a bit.
Let cool completely before pouring the glaze over the cake. (I’ve never let anything cool completely before doing something, by the way).
And serve. The only problem with a citrus dessert is that it doesn’t go great with coffee in the morning. And as you know, I think dessert for breakfast is important.
I so love my baby’s pound cake.
