Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

I can never figure out where time disappears to. It’s today, and then I blink, and it’s days, or weeks, or months later. So here I am, months later, not being able to figure out how I let so much time go by, without posting anything here. I’m not going to go into the reasons. I am just going to start posting some of what I have written and not posted, as well as write posts that have been swirling around in my head. Frightening isn’t it?!

So here is what is coming first. An intensely lemony, buttery, creamy, fabulous cake. It really does need all of those adjectives. I should mention, that I do not really care for cake. If I am going to have something for dessert, or make a dessert, a cake would be the last thing I would think of making. I have never really liked cake. Cake is layers of sponge-y stuff separated by awfully sweet icky frosting, both without much flavor. Sugar, sugar, and more sugar. I never wanted the piece of cake that was passed my way at a birthday party. Why didn’t someone just pass me a cookie? (I won’t digress by mentioning how selective I am about my cookies.) I won’t try to rank the wonderfulness of a strawberry rhubarb crisp, a lemoncello panna cotta, or a biscotti.   Each has its strong points. I have never been one to pick a favorite of mostly anything. There are too many things that are good.

When we got together with other Leite’s Culinaria recipe testers in Charleston, S.C., Jenni Fields, a lovely person and excellent pastry chef, made one of her amazing pound cakes for us. http://pastrychefonline.com/2011/05/20/brown-sugar-cinnamon-pound-cake/  It was one of the only times that I can remember, saying yes to the offer of a piece of cake. Something whispered in my ear, to give it a try. And so I did. Good decision. It was quite delicious. I came home with visions in my head, of making that cake at some point soon. Jenni talks on her site about how versatile the recipe is. You can make adjustments for what suits your fancy. Have I ever mentioned how much I love all things lemon? If I haven’t, it’s about time that I did. I love lemon. I love it in so many shapes and forms, sweet and savory, that I wouldn’t/couldn’t even begin to list them. What I love even more, is when Meyer lemons are available, and living in California, they are available quite often. So there I was with a bowl of Meyer lemons. I wrote to Jenni asking her about changing her recipe to a Meyer Lemon Pound Cake. She so graciously wrote back to me, and sent me this link. http://pastrychefonline.com/2013/03/08/dueling-pound-cakes-or-using-the-creaming-method-to-make-pound-cake/ Not only does it give you the recipe for a lemon pound cake, it also tells you about her excellent Van Halen Pound Cake, and, as a bonus, has a link to a great tutorial on the creaming method for a pound cake. Do yourself a favor, and watch the video. Then do yourself another favor, and make the lemon pound cake. I had enough batter to fill a bundt pan that is a bit smaller than most, as well as a Pyrex ramekin. Being smaller, the ramekin, of course, came out of the oven earlier than the cake did. About 5 minutes after that, I inverted it onto a plate, and within a few more minutes, the knife that I used to cut just the tiniest wedge of cake, (for purely experimental and educational purposes only, of course), well, that knife kept cutting the miniature cake, and then it somehow found it’s way into our mouths, and before the cake in the bundt pan was done, the little cake was done. As in gone. As in, we had eaten the whole thing. This really is one delicious cake!