Limoncello Pound Cake
I made Limoncello pound cake yesterday. It is a moist, lightly-sweetened cake soaked in a Limoncello syrup, and blanketed with a Limoncello icing. Perfect for spring, but hey, a girl can dream, can’t she? As soon as the cake came out of the oven, I took my boys to the Museum of Natural History in New York City. Here’s the proof:
See that look of excitement on my face? That’s 10 years of acting lessons right there, baby (4 in high school, 4 in college, and 2 at a NYC acting conservatory). What am I doing now? Eating lots of cake, keeping two tiny humans alive, and pretending to see dinosaurs when needed. I was asked recently if I missed the theater. Yes, I do. I loved performing, but if I had been successful, or had simply stuck with it longer, I would never have known Cameron and Wesley. Let’s eat this cake, shall we?
I adapted Nick Malgieri’s lemon-buttermilk pound cake recipe from his delicious cookbook Perfect Cakes. Limoncello pound cake is not made using the normal creaming method (creaming butter and sugar until light and fluffy before mixing with the rest of the ingredients). This is a high-ratio cake, which means it has a higher ratio of sugar and liquid content to the flour content. Therefore, it is mixed using the two-stage mixing method (the dry ingredients are beaten with the fat, and then the liquid ingredients are mixed into the flour/fat mixture in portions until combined).
Let’s do it. Start by blending the dry and ingredients and softened butter. When finished it should resemble bread crumbs.
Now add the combined liquid ingredients to the flour/butter mixture in portions. Pour the batter into a well greased bundt pan.
Bake for about an hour in a 325 degree F. oven.
After it has baked, let the cake sit in the cake pan for 10 minutes, then carefully invert the cake onto cooling rack.
Brush the cake with a Limoncello syrup. Do this slowly to allow every bit of sweet syrup to seep in.
Then drizzle the Limoncello icing all over the top.
- 2 1/2 cups (312.5 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 2 cups (400 g) Sugar
- 2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Salt
- 2 sticks (226 g) Unsalted Butter, softened
- 4 Large Eggs, at room temperature
- 3 Large Egg Yolks, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (150 ml) Buttermilk
- 1 TBS Lemon Zest
- 1 TBS Lemon Juice, strained
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 cup (150 ml) Water
- 1/2 cup (100 g) Sugar
- 1/3 cup Limoncello Liqueur
- 1/2 TBS Lemon Extract
- 1 1/2 cups (171 g) Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp. Sunflower Oil
- 2 tsp. Limoncello Liqueur
- 2 tsp. Lemon Juice
- 2 TBS Hot Water
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease a a 10-cup bundt pan.
- Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low for 2 minutes. Add the butter, and continue beating on low for about 2 minutes, or until the ingredients appear coarse like bread crumbs.
- Meanwhile, whisk all the remaining batter ingredients together in a mixing bowl until well combined.
- Increase the mixer speed to medium, add one-third of the liquid and mix for 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and beater Add another third of the liquid, beat for 2 minutes, and scrape again. Finally, add the remaining liquid and repeat.
- Use a rubber spatula to give the batter a final stir, then scrape it into the prepared bundt pan, and smooth the top.
- Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto the rack to finish cooling.
- Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the Limoncello, and lemon extract. Using a pastry brush, moisten the cake evenly with the syrup. Gradually brush until it is all absorbed.
- By hand, mix the powdered sugar, oil, Limoncello, and lemon juice. Add the hot water a teaspoon at a time until the mixture is creamy, but not too runny. Mix vigorously for a couple of minutes.
- Pour icing over the cooled cake, allowing it drip over the sides.
- Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and then foil to ensure it doesn't dry out, and serve within a few days. For longer storage, wrap and freeze; defrost loosely covered at room temperature.
- 10-cup Bundt pan
- Electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment
- Wire cooling rack
- Pastry brush
- Rubber spatula
- Zester
