my birthday balls...

For my birthday, I decided to try and make a pound cake. I have never made one before but Lemon Pound Cake has always been one of my favorites! 

I knew right away who to get the recipe from! My step-sister in North Carolina! Last Christmas, she made us a pound cake and it only took one bite to realize that I had never eaten a "true" pound cake before that moment. It was so moist that it literally melted in my mouth. It was so dense that it bent my paper plate in half when I picked it up off the counter! That is the difference between a cake and a pound cake.

Lemon is my favorite so I altered the recipe slightly and it came out perfect! I decided to make it onto balls, cause it's easier to eat when you have a party! I love coconut, but I know some people don't, so I had some plain ones with just the lemon glaze.

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Pound Cake

Ingredients:
2 sticks room temp salted, sweet cream butter (margarine doesn't work, must be butter)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cups granulated sugar
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
5 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 tsp lemon extract
3 tblsp lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300. Grease 10" Bundt pan and lightly flour. Cream butter. Slowly add oil and sugar. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat till moderately fluffy. While beating at medium-low speed, slowly add alternating flour mixed with salt, eggs (one at a time), and milk mixed with all 3 extracts. Beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes. Pour into bundt pan and bake @ 300 for approx 1 hour and 25 minutes. Set on rack to cool for 15 minutes and turn upside down on cake plate.

Notes: Use pure not imitation extract. Put the top cover on cake plate within 30 minutes of inverting the cake onto plate to lock-in moisture.




Lemon Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel


Just mix all ingredients together until smooth. If its too thick, you can add some more lemon juice to thin it out.

And just because I am a dutiful blogger, I thought it was necessary to show you what the inside looked like. It was a rough job, but someone had to do it.