Greetings! I want to say thank you to everyone who has been commenting here and emailing me and chatting with me on Twitter. I love to hear from you about how these recipes are working for you. And I love getting requests. I’ve started a folder of the types of recipes people ask me to develop or adapt. Please know that I pay attention to all of your kind notes and comments and am thrilled that my work is helping people! That’s music to my ears. And food for my heart and soul. Thank you!
That said, I have to let you know: My name is Jeanne and I have a thing for pound cakes. Seriously. I may have to join a support group or something. Now, this is not new to any of you who’ve been following this blog. This is the 6th pound cake recipe I’ve posted on this site. I can’t get enough of them. Today’s pound cake is lemon sour cream. Delicious! It’s got such a bright and happy flavor and is incredibly moist. Just the thing for spring! It’s also got a more tender crumb than some of the other pound cakes–the amount of eggs it calls for (*cough* 6! *cough*) is responsible for that. I’m telling you, when you are a recipe developer/tester, having your own egg “store” (chickens) in the backyard is a definite plus! Now I need to figure out a way to put in a sugar cane field in our backyard (heh).
I adapted this recipe from an old issue of Victoria magazine. I love Victoria. It transports me to a different time and place where everything is pretty and we are all sitting in beautiful gardens, drinking tea from delicate china cups. Sigh. If you are a fellow Victoria fan, you will know that it stopped publication several years ago. I truly mourned the loss of it. Then, like magic, it reappeared a little over a year ago! My wonderful mother-in-law gifted me with a subscription to it and I’ve been the happy recipient of the bi-monthly issues ever since. Sigh–happiness.
{A little side note on the subject of my mother-in-law: my mother-in-law lost her father and my husband lost his grandfather last month. He died peacefully and with family around. He was in his eighties and still a spry and funny fellow. He was one of a dying breed: a farmer. He grew up on a farm and he then ran his own farm as an adult. By the time I entered the family, he and his wife had retired and had moved to be closer to my mother- and father-in-law. If you have the inclination to do so, please send some good thoughts my mother-in-law’s way. She works so very hard to make sure everyone is taken care of and I think good thoughts being sent her way would make a nice blanket of warmth to cover her during this tough time.}
One thing about this recipe–it makes a lot of cake! I’ve been making it in my trusty 12 cup Bundt pan and it always overflows a few drops onto the oven floor. Therefore, I put a cookie sheet on the lower rack of the oven to catch the drips. As I started writing this post, I realize you could also try baking it in a 9″x13″ cake pan or in 2 9″x5″ loaf pans. I haven’t done that yet, so I can’t tell you the baking time, but please feel free to experiment and use different types of baking pans on this. The only thing that will change will be the baking time.
Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake, Gluten-Free
-adapted from Victoria magazine
Special Equipment Needed
-a stand mixer is really helpful, but a hand mixer will do
-a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan
Ingredients
3 cups Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 extra large eggs, separated
1 cup sour cream (you can also use plain yogurt. I’ve even used vanilla yogurt–just reduce the vanilla extract to 1 tsp if you use this)
3 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
melted butter and extra tapioca flour for the pan
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using the extra melted butter and tapioca flour, butter and flour your pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat your butter until it’s light and fluffy–about 4 minutes. Add the sugar, and beat some more. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, and beat thoroughly after each addition. Add the sour cream, and beat some more. Add the lemon zest and vanilla extra and beat to combine.
Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.
In a separate large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter. Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Thump once on the counter to release any trapped air bubbles.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes (or until tester comes out clean). In my experience, there is always a drop or two of batter that overflows the pan. Therefore, I place a cookie sheet on the oven rack below the rack the cake is on to catch any drips. This will save clean-up time later.
Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!
PRINT FRIENDLY RECIPE
Hi Jeanne. As the others said, this cake is just wonderful. Have you tried freezing this cake. I have a request for it for Christmas dinner and I’d like to make it the day before.
Kathy: I haven’t frozen it, but if you are making it the day before, store it out on the counter (room temperature–not the fridge) with a paper towel over it and it will be fine the next day. (this is what I do).
I’m trying to reduce my refined sugars, can Coconut Palm Sugar be used instead?
Jacqueline: Yes, for the most part. Make it and see what you think!
I made this last Saturday for an Easter potluck I attended!!! It was perfect ( even with a minor goof which resulted in me having to return the batter to the bowl to add the missing dry ingredients I had left sitting on the counter..lol).
It was moist and dense and ultra lemony!! I chose to make a lemon glaze with the naked ( zested) lemons and drizzle it over the top once it had cooled. All the women raved about it at the dinner and not one of them believed it was GF. I substituted a non-fat yogurt for the sour cream which added an extra layer of tartness along with the addition of fresh ground nutmeg!!
Planning on making it again, without the goof in mini-bundt pans, which are perfect for afternoon tea for 2!!
Kai: Yay! I’m so glad! (sorry about the goof–I do that a fair amount myself, lol).
Thank you again Jeanne!
This is a wonderful cake! I can’t say enough good things about it. I made it because my husband likes lemon. Well, it smelled so good that as soon as it was cooled, I cut it. My sister was over while it was baking and so she helped me “test” it (she isn’t GF). We both went into raptures — it is that good.
FYI, in case it helps anyone. I used my pan that makes 4 mini-bundt cakes. I cooked them for 45 minutes and they came out perfect. Go ahead and fill each mini cake all the way to the top, that extra layer that cooked between the cakes came out perfect too.
Connie: I’m so glad you like it! And thank you for the instructions on using the min-bundt cake pan!
How do I line the pan so it won’t stick and still be gluten free since most pound cake grease and flour the pan?
Sherry: Brush the pan with melted butter and then flour it with tapioca flour (and shake out the excess). That will work perfectly.
What is sweet rice flour? I am in australia and have not used this or seen this ingredient before, is there a substitute? Am keen to try your recipe.
Pina: Welcome! Sweet rice flour is also known as sticky or “glutinous” rice flour (refers to the sticky quality) and is also sometimes sold under the name of “Mochiko.” I have had other Australian readers who have found it, so let me know if you find it!
Tears came to my eyes when I saw this recipe! A real southern girl can make a sour cream pound cake with her eyes closed. I grew up eating this cake at my grandmother’s house for holidays, then after she passed and my family grew, it was always served at my mother’s or my house for any special occasions (sometimes we would make one up)! Two years ago I was diagnosed with Interstistial Cystitis, meaning I really cannot eat much of anything really, but then was told to avoid Wheat! NO MORE MAMAW’S POUNDCAKE? Have they lost their ever-lovin minds? …..and then I stumbled upon your website. Low and behold there it was…every memory of family gathered together just waiting for Mother to slice the cake. Thank you for the “Sweet Memories Sour Cream Pound Cake” recipe. P.S. I have copied many of your recipes and for the first time in a long while I look forward to cooking again. I was wondering if you think I could use Pear Juice as a substitute for apple cider vinegar (that is one of the foods sure to put me in a horizontal position for about three days in pain)? ie: dinner rolls, pie crust for example.
SweetMemories: Oh, I’m so glad to give you back some memories–yay! Also, usually apple cider vinegar is used in baking recipes to add a bit of tartness. I would just remove it from the pie crust and the dinner rolls. Happy baking!
I made this last weekend for my daughter and no one knew it was gluten free. I made it in my large angel food cake pan, cooled it over night, cut it in half and filled it with the local bakery lemon filing. I also frosted it with butter cream (at my daughter’s sweet tooth request). I also added 2 TBLSP lemon juice to get more lemon flavor. It was a huge huge hit. My question, we have a family gathering and they want me to make this. Will it work to just simply substitute reg flour for the gf flour? I may just try and sneak it past them and make it gf.
Jan: Yay! And, yes I think it should be fine to make it with regular flour. Although, the folks at my coffee hour always swore that it was better gluten-free! 🙂
This is my first baked gluten free item and it was a huge hit. I served it to my neighbors and family and no one had any idea it was gluten free. I am so glad I found your blog. LOVE IT!!! Can’t wait to try the tres leche cake for Cinco de Mayo party. Funny part I won’t tell anyone it’s gluten free. hehe
Patty: Oh, I’m so happy! Yay! And the tres leches cake is to die for. Seriously. 🙂