Meyer Lemon Pound Cake with Coconut Oil

My lemons went quick   I was afraid that they might “go bad” and be forgotten on my cabinet  after the harvest.  I juiced them all.   (There is nothing worse than lemons “gone bad.”)

Now that I had taken care of my near-delinquent lemons, I needed some more recipes.   Taking a break from smoothies, I made another dessert.   What else could I do?

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I tried making another lemon cake with much better results this time.   I did not have a fallen mess but I did have two beautiful and delicious loaf cakes as the result.

 

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
based on Lemon Pound Cake from The Gourmet Cookbook (the yellow one)

2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. fine sea salt
1/8 c. Meyer lemon zest
1 c. coconut oil (in solid form)
2 c. sugar
6 farm fresh eggs
1 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. fresh Meyer lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Spray the ends of two loaf pans with cooking spray.   Cut two strips of parchment paper, wide enough to cover the bottom of the pan and long enough to hang over the sides.   Line the bottom of the pans with the paper leaving enough on the sides so that the finished cake can be easily lifted out.   (Basically, the long sides and the bottom of your pan will be covered with parchment paper while the ends are sprayed with cooking spray.)

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and zest.    Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat together coconut oil, and sugar until fluffy, 1-2 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.  Beat in vanilla.   Place mixer speed on low.   In three alternating batches, add flour first then milk and lemon juice start and end with the flour additions.   Beat until just combined.

Divide batter and spoon into the two lined loaf pans.   Bake until cake is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean about 45-55 minutes.   Cool cakes in pans.

Optional Lemon Drizzle for one cake:   Stir together 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice with about 1/4 cup sugar.  (You can adjust for your own sweetness level.)   Stir will until sugar is dissolved.   When cake is removed from oven, poke holes in the top of cake with a wooden skewer.   Pour drizzle over warm cake and let cool.   Lift out cooled cake and slice and serve.   This makes a pretty moist cake super moist.

2014-02-04 19.41.21No fallen ooey-gooey mess this time, thank goodness.   This time we had two beautiful cakes, one with this decadent lemon drizzle and one without.  This cake freezes beautifully so one went straight into the freezer for later.

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This is a cross section of the “drizzled” cake.

I love my Gourmet cookbook.   I adapted the recipe just a bit by replacing the butter with coconut oil and decreasing the amount of zest from 1/4 cup to 1/8.   I also used a lemon drizzle instead of the called-for glaze in the original recipe.   The coconut oil just gives a hint of flavor that compliments the Meyer lemons.

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Please keep sending good thoughts to my lemon tree which really may have bitten it in the cold weather.

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