Gaby and I made this the same day as the Lemon Curd. It was a bit of an experiment for both of us, and definitely a learning experience. I have a list of things I would do differently next time. Neither of us had ever made a pound cake. Turns out there’s a reason that pastry/cake flour exists, and All Purpose flour does not serve all purposes! Also, we learned from her dad, later, that lemon juice tends not to be used in the batter of cakes because it doesn’t mix very well with dairy products, and can cause curdling. Fortunately no curdling occurred, but, anyway, the cake turned out absolutely delicious, but I wouldn’t describe it as “pound cake,” I’d call it “bread.” This is another Joy of cooking recipe. I’ll post the original recipe, and my modifications.

Ingredients

3 large eggs
3 tbsp milk (here’s where we used lemon juice instead because I had no milk)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (we used all purpose, which I don’t recommend)
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp grated lemon zest (we used probably 3-4, which turned out great!)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
13 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick, plus 5 tbsp)

Have all your ingredients at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

pro tip

Joy suggests to grease and flour your 8″ loaf pan, but Gaby taught me to make a parchment paper sling, shown below (that way you don’t have to wash your pan, and you can pull the loaf right out without breaking it!). And there’s another quick tip for you!

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk (lemon juice, in our case) and the vanilla.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, poppy seeds, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt, and whisk together thoroughly. (I’ve still got “flour sifter” on my kitchen supply shopping list, so here’s the makeshift version)

Add half of the egg mixture into the flour mixture along with the butter. Beat on low until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the speed to high and beat for exactly 1 minute. (in baking, science is a must). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gradually add the remaining egg mixture in two parts, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.

Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly.

Bake at 350°F until a toothpick comes out clean, about 50-65 minutes. (if the top of the cake starts to be brown enough before the inside is fully cooked, cover with foil and continue to bake until done)

Since you’ve baked it in the sling, you can easily remove the partially cooled cake from the pan to continue cooling on a rack.

Pictured with a simple lemon glaze.