Pint-sized pound cake

Recipe name: Lemon cream cheese pound cake
source: no idea
servings: 8-12
Cookbook date: May 20
Date prepared: May 21


1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (2 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
4 tbsp butter, room temperature
3 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
pinch of salt
1 cup flour

lemon syrup
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup water
remaining lemon juice from lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bundt pan and dust with flour.
Blend cream cheese and butter with a mixer until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue beating for 4 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Add the lemon peel and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Stir in flour and salt using a spatula. Bake for 1 hour.
Remove cake from oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Poke several holes in the cake with a toothpick. Drizzle the lemon syrup over the holes and let it absorb. Serve.

To make the lemon syrup, combine 2/3 cup sugar and 2/3 cup water and remaining lemon juice in a saucepan. Heat until mixture is thickened.

First, know my substitutions: I substituted 4 tablespoons of applesauce for 4 tablespoons of butter. I might recommend doing 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp applesauce so you get more of a butter flavor, but I was feeling especially lazy tonight. We also use whole wheat flour, so your overall look (and taste) would turn out differently using white flour.

I followed the directions more or less, even though I found all the time I had to spend mixing in between ingredient additions to be stupid. But I suspect that there is a reason for these steps, so I would say that I used the mixer for about 75% of the recommended time.

Let me show you what this cake looked like when it was done:


I'm going to assume that you feel very disappointed, just like I did when I pulled this mofo out of the oven. It is true that when I put it in the oven I thought, "Hmm...there doesn't seem to be a lot of substance in this here bundt pan. But wait, this is a POUND cake; it will not let me down. What a fool I am to question its might!"

Nope, it is obvious from the picture that this caked failed to rise to the occasion (heh heh). Perhaps that is because it didn't call for any baking powder (or soda....I never know which ones makes stuff rise). Does anyone know if that is standard for a pound cake?

Ok, so as a person of slight stature myself, I realized that I needed to let the size thing go. After all, good things come in small packages, right? So I poured the lemon syrup (and by syrup I mean sugary water) over the bundt cake, and watched a lake of syrup gather in the middle. This was strike two against this cake. And for the taste? Well, it tastes like wet, dense, slightly burnt cake. While I have fairly low standards for what is and is not acceptable to eat, this one just won't be making the cut. In my opinion, if you are going to eat something loaded with calories, don't settle for mediocre, wet cake!

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