This week I’ve been obsessed with baking Bon Appetite’s Almond-Lemon Pound Cake with limoncello. It’s in the most recent issue next to the editor’s note. The cake sounds fabulous, but I can’t justify buying two tubes of almond paste ($12) and a bottle of limoncello for a cake which we’ll eat a few pieces of and get rid of.
Enter Taste of Home’s Almond-Lemon Pound Cake. This cake is similar to Bon Appetit’s, but does not call for any limoncello. It’s smaller, uses more practical ingredients, and the directions are more streamlined.
Fuzz and I made it this morning. It’s excellent! Extremely moist and flavorful even on the first day. Pound cakes always taste better the second day. I haven’t made the topping yet, but here’s a picture of the cake.
Almond-Lemon Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon plus 3/4 cup butter softened, divided use
- 2 teaspoons confectioner’s sugar
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
Topping
- 1 cup each – frozen unsweetened raspberries strawberries, blueberries
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Grease bottom and sides of a 9 inch round baking pan with t teaspoon butter. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar; set aside.
- Place almonds and sugar in a blender or food processor; cover and process until finely ground.
- In a small mixing bowl, cream remaining butter; beat in almond mixture until combined. Add eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition. Stir in sour cream and lemon peel. Combine flour and baking powder; add to creamed mixture alternately with lemon juice. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack to cool.
- For topping, in a heavy saucepan, combine the berries, sugar and lemon juice. Cook and stir over medium low heat for 10 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Sprinkle cake with confectioners’ sugar. Serve with berry topping.
- servings
Anna
Samantha, I STILL haven’t made that one. What happens is, I put a recipe on the backburner and then 100 new ones come and get in the way.
Here are some things I’ve learned about pound cake baking….
1) Recipes made with cake flour or pastry flour or White Lily flour often work out better
2) Recipes that call for sifted flour are usually better. Measure the flour carefully — spoon and sweep gently, don’t scoop.
3) Dont skimp on the creaming of the butter and sugar. If the recipe says to cream for a full 5 minutes, do the full 5 minutes because this helps dissolve the sugar and contributes to the structure.
4) Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each egg. The eggs capture a lot of the air that the cake needs to rise. This is especially important if the recipe doesn’t use chemical leavenings (baking powder/soda)
5)Recipe calling for buttermilk or cream cheese or sour cream are usually moister and yield better results.
6) Have all ingredients at room temperature
Samantha
I LOVE the sound of this cake and I batch my own limoncello for drinking and baking. I’ll have to try it.
Do you have any tried and true tips for pound cake baking? I’m pretty good in the kitchen and my desserts always get raves but the one thing I can’t do it pound cake. It always tastes good but never sets up the way a pound cake is supposed to. I have my grandmothers recipe which is amazing when she makes it. It always looks just like your lemon cream cheese one…perfect…when SHE does it. Mine just end up crumbly!
Anna
Hi Janet,
Thanks for the review! I need to make that one again soon.
Janet
I just made the Cold Oven Pound Cake and it was the best pound cake I have tasted! Texture was great and flavor was perfect. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Randi
have you been following the best poundcake thread on egullet? There are some good looking cakes on there.
Michaela
Limoncello is worth buying. Very versitile. Recently poured it over passion fruit sorbet as a palate cleanser.Delicious.
Michaela
Anna !!!”MY” cake looks better when YOU make it! Please that you liked it.
Michaela
Anna!!!”MY” cake looks better when YOU make it! Pleased that you liked it.
Anonymous
Anything lemon,I love.Definately have to put it on my “to try” list.Emilyhttp://madmommychronicles.typepad.com/biscuits_and_blues
zinnur
Anna, your cake looks wonderful. Sour cream does wonders for cakes, I can imagine how moist and tasty it must be.I’ve recently been tagged by a new meme, and I would like to pass it on to you. Would you like to share “your 5 kitchen challenges for 2006” with us?
Sylvie
Looks yummy. I also saw the article in Bon Appetit and instantly wanted to make it. This is a good alternative. Special occassion, I might splurge for the almond paste.
Amy
Now that’s a good idea! 🙂
Anna
Holy Guacamole, Ivonne. I wish I DID live closer. What the heck are you going to do with all that limoncello.I decided that the best thing would be to make this cake and drink the limoncello with it.
Ivonne
If only you lived closer, I’ve got about 12 bottles of limoncello and some almond past to boot!Great post and the cake looks lovely!
Culinarily Obsessed
Yum!! Anna this cake looks soooo good. I will definitely try it. So glad you found this recipe as I’m with you in not wanting to spend $12 for almond paste.
Alicat
woooo I wanted to make that limoncello cake too!! My mom has a bottle of that, that i tried around christmas time. it was yummy! 🙂
Anna
Wow! I’ve never tried limoncello. I think the recipe only calls for about 1/2.Why don’t you make it since I made this one.I’m going to bring you a piece of this cake so we can compare.
Amy
Anna, Anna, Anna! I brought home a bottle of limoncello from Italy that we have never opened! Don’t you think this would be a perfect opportunity? How much do you need?