Lemon Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake

Do you ever get those cravings you just can't shake? As if your body is desperately crying out for a hot fudge sundae from Dairy Freeze...or you just can't continue on without brie on a baguette. Anyone? Bueller? Ok, maybe it's just me.


I've been craving pound cake. Real, honest pound cake, filled with eggs and butter. The tender crumb melting in my mouth, the glistening glaze cracking as you cut yet another slice. I realize I have issues, but who doesn't like pound cake? The husband said he didn't like pound cake, but somehow managed to eat 2 slices at home and at least 1 at work. He has issues, too.


Check out those luscious swirls encased in lemon-scented cake...yum.



You may have noticed that my photography has improved. Confession- these pictures are lovingly brought to you by the husband. He actually knows how to use his fancy camera and had quite the photo-shoot with this cake. At one point, this cake was balanced upon two stockpots and at another it was on top of a table on top of the living room chair. Oh, the places cakes will go!


Now that my craving is satiated, it's time for a new one.

What are you craving?



Lemon Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake
This recipe is thoroughly adapted from the queen of pound cake, Ms. Paula Deen

For the pound cake:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature (leave out ~30 minutes)
2 tsp lemon zest (~1/2 a lemon)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla

For the raspberry filling:
1 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup raspberry jam
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup powdered sugar

For the glaze:

1/3 cup powdered sugar
~1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a bundt pan generously.

For the raspberry filling:
Do this before making the cake so it has a chance to cool. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Break up any large raspberry chunks. Once the mixture has come to a bubble, remove from heat and let cool.


For the cake:

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl.

In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until well-incorporated. Then add the buttermilk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Blend until well-mixed.

Add the dry ingredients, one third at a time, until just mixed. Don't overmix- if you do, your batter will be tough.

Assembly:

Into the bottom of your bundt pan, add 1/4 of the batter. Smooth it out so that it evenly covers the bottom. Spoon in 1/2 of the cooled raspberry filling. Attempt to keep in it the middle, but it's hardly a capital offense if it spills toward the sides.

Top the filling with 1/2 the remaining cake batter. Smooth so that the raspberry filling is completely covered.

Spoon the rest of the filling over the batter. Top with remaining batter. Smooth out batter as best as you can so that the raspberry filling is completely covered. You should have two separate raspberry layers running through your gorgeous cake!

Bake in oven for 1 hour. Check and bake for an additional 15 minutes if batter is still wet. Check is multiple places to be sure.

Cool cake in pan for 10-15 minutes and then invert on a cooling rack. Cool cake completely before glazing.

For glaze:

Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Irish Soda Bread

With St. Patrick's day rapidly approaching, it's time to get into the spirit. Now, I'm about as Irish as green beer, but I have been introduced to the joys of corned beef & cabbage and other Emerald Isle delicacies by my part Irish in-laws. My father-in-law gave me his Irish Soda bread recipe which is originally from a King Arthur flour advertisement circa 1978. They still had the original newspaper!

Cast of characters: Unbleached all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, raisins, buttermilk, canola oil, eggs



Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium-sized bowl.

Add the raisins and stir to combine.

Measure out 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.


Drop an egg on the floor. Cry a little bit while you clean it up because this is the third time you've done that this week.


Whisk the egg and canola oil into the buttermilk.


Create a well in the dry ingredients.


Add the buttermilk mixture and stir to combine.




Shape into one loaf.


Then divide into two small loaves and place on an oiled baking sheet.


Bake until perfectly golden. The outside crust is crispy and the inside dough is soft and dotted with plump raisins. Enjoy warm with some butter and a cup of Irish tea.

Irish Soda Bread

4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup raisins
1 egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the raisins and stir. In a measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk, canola oil, and egg together. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk mixture. Stir to combine. Mixture will be a bit shaggy. Form two small loaves and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake 40 minutes or until golden brown and completely done.

Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Muffins

The husband went to a local Irish bakery last week and came home with 4 tender blueberry scones (1 of which I promptly ate before dinner) and a story about a chocolate chip muffin. But not just any chocolate chip muffin...a buttermilk chocolate chip muffin. Something about the tang of the buttermilk gave this particular muffin a certain something...or so the story went.

I was enchanted by this tale and felt sure that I could recreate this beautiful muffin experience. And, as luck would have it, I had some buttermilk in the fridge that needed using up. It was leftover from making the best chocolate sheet cake ever. The Pioneer Woman does not lie- this cake is magical.

Because this recipe contains only 1/2 cup of sugar (I am obviously not including the kisses in this assessment- do so at your own risk), I consider this healthy. You should, too.

2 cups AP flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter (I used unsalted)
1 cup of mini Hershey milk chocolate kisses

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a regular-sized muffin tin with 9 muffin cups.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a medium sized bowl. Whisk it around to combine.

Melt the butter on low and let cool. Whisk butter, buttermilk, and eggs together and just use the same whisk you used for the flour. This is being environmentally friendly because now there is one less dish to wash- check you out!

Add the wet to the dry and combine gently- I used a wooden spoon. They make me feel rustic. Stir in the mini kisses.

Fill each of your muffin cups with ~1/4 cup of batter. This recipe gives you 9 good-sized muffins. If you want to be a scrooge with the batter, you could probably squeeze out 12 small muffins. Before you do this- ask yourself: Does anyone EVER want a small muffin? Chew on that before you make a bad choice.

Bake at 400 for 22-25 minutes- they should be lovely and golden like this:
















I can't leave well enough alone and topped mine with a smidge of unsalted butter like this...
















One quick note- these were perfect when enjoyed fresh out of the oven, but they were a bit dry when devoured the next day. Might I suggest a quick nuke in the microwave-if you're into that sort of thing- OR a toast under the broiler with some butter?

You could also be like me and eat half of them before they are cooled- I had help! This eliminates some of those hard decisions you might have to make later.

Lemon buttermilk pecan pound cake

I have an affinity for naming things.
I'll name anything- plants, cars, outfits, recipes.
I especially enjoy including all the important elements in a name- see title for example.

I was going to take pictures of the entire process- from ingredients to finished product. But in true tunnel vision fashion- I took one picture of the ingredients and promptly forgot to capture any of the other moments in this pound cake's creation.

So here's the recipe and a picture of the ingredients. I'd take a picture of the finished product, but after I ate a fourth of the loaf by myself, I sent the rest to work with the husband.

Lemon buttermilk pecan pound cake
*One note- this is totally not a real pound cake, but it weighs at least a pound and is cake-like. Technicalities be damned!

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a large loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the following:

2/3 cup white sugar
zest of two lemons
2 1/2 cups of AP flour (I used unbleached from Trader Joe's)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

In a large glass measuring cup, combine the wet stuff:

3/4 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk (I used large eggs)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 stick butter, melted and lightly browned & cooled (P.S. Don't do this in a black bottomed pan- 'cause then you can't see how brown it is- DUH!)

Add wet stuff to dry stuff- mix completely but gently. Fold in:

1 cup toasted pecans, chopped but not too small- you want to know what you're eating (toast them in the leftover drips of butter in the pan 'til fragrant)

Spread batter- it'll be kind of stretchy looking- into the greased loaf pan.

Bake 45 minutes- test with wooden skewer or chopstick to make sure middle is set.

As another side note, I have an affinity for gilding the lily- I just can't leave well enough alone. This is what led me to glazing the top of my golden loaf with a lemon juice and agave nectar reduction.

DON'T BE LIKE ME!

It was sticky and sour and added approximately no enjoyment to the loaf.

If you truly need to glaze, make a buttermilk/powdered sugar glaze or some such nonsense.

Oh yeah- here are the ingredients...