When Life Gives you Lemons…Make Lemon Cake

Lemon-Buttermilk Pound Cake

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Ingredients

Cake
• 2 3/4 C. cake flour
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. kosher salt
• 3/4 C. buttermilk
• 3 T. lemon juice
• 5 large eggs (room temperature and separated)
• 2 C. plus 3 T. white sugar
• 2 T. grated lemon zest
• 13 T.(1 1/2 sticks plus 1 T.) (room temperature and divided-I used unsalted butter with a generous pinch of kosher salt)
Glaze
• 1 C. powdered sugar
• 1 or 2 T. lemon juice (to your taste)
• Coconut milk to thin the glaze to the consistency you want

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. and thoroughly grease a bundt pan with 1 T. of softened butter. (Use a pastry brush to help grease your pan by brushing the softened butter into the crevices on the pan.) Adjust the baking rack in your oven to a middle position.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Combine buttermilk and lemon juice. Set aside.
4. Using the whisk attachment on your stand mixer, whisk room temperature egg whites at medium speed for about a minute. You want the whites to be light and foamy. Keep the mixer running and slowly sprinkle 3 T. of sugar into the whites. Continue to whisk until the mixture turns thick and glossy and will hold soft peaks. This will take about 1 minute. Gently scoop out the egg white mixture and put it into a bowl and set aside.
5. Change the tool on your mixer to the paddle attachment. Put 2 C. sugar and lemon zest into the stand mixer bowl. Mix the sugar and the lemon zest for about 1 minute. You want to thoroughly mix in the zest and you want the mixture to begin to clump. Add the remaining 12 T. of room temperature butter and continue to mix until the ingredients are well-combined and begins to form around the paddle attachment. You should be using a medium-low setting on your mixer. Next, raise the speed of your mixer to medium-high and beat the mixture until it turns pale and is a bit fluffy. This will take 3-4 minutes.
6. Lower mixer speed to low and add egg yolks one by one, mixing and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Once the egg yolks are well-incorporated into the batter, slowly add about 1/3 of the flour mixture. Mix on low. Add 1/2 of the buttermilk mixture. Mix on low. Repeat ending with the last of the flour mixture.
7. Fold 1/3 of the whipped egg whites into the batter, mixing thoroughly. Then, add the rest of the whipped egg whites folding the whites carefully into the batter to keep from losing too much of the air in the whipped whites. Do not over mix. You only want the whites to be lightly mixed with the batter in this last step.
8. Pour the batter into your prepared bundt pan. Level the top of the batter with a spatula. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 50 to 60 minutes. Halfway through the baking, rotate the bundt pan in your oven to allow for more even baking.
9. When the cake is done (it should be firm when pressed and should spring back when pressed), remove it from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Next, run a knife around the outside of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Also, run the knife around the center tube of the bundt pan to loosen it from that part of the pan. Invert the cake onto a serving plate.
10. Prepare the glaze by combining powdered sugar, lemon juice and coconut milk. Drizzle with lemon glaze.
11. Cool cake completely before serving.