Perfect Pound Cake

My husband who is not a big fan of sweets as I am, loves pound cakes. In fact, when I had started baking frequently few months back, it was the only thing he requested me to make. It was a big surprise as in matters of cakes, he only eats to taste it. So when the Sweet Punch for July was announced to make Perfect Pound Cakes, I was excited . It is my first bake as a Sweet Punch participant.
The term Pound cake was coined as it was traditionally made of one pound each of the 4 ingredients, flour,eggs,butter and sugar . However the recipe that the Sweet Punch chose was a different method. The recipe is from Cake Bible.  It is called Perfect Pound Cake and indeed it is perfect and addictive.  

 I have done a slight modification to the recipe. I added some lemon zest and "tried" to make a white chocolate and lemon glaze. "Tried" as I burnt half of whatever little white chocolate I had. 

Ingredients:
3 tbsp Milk
3 large Eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups cake flour (150gm) 
3/4cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
 zest of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon salt
13 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (184 gms)

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F/175C. 
2. Butter an 8 inch by 4 by 2.5 inch loaf pan, or any six cup loaf or fluted tube pan.  
3. Lightly whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.
4. Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix on low speed for 30 seconds, until blended. 
5. Add the butter , lemon zest and half the egg mixture, and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. On medium speed, beat for one minute. This will aerate and develop the cake’s structure. Scrape down sides.
6. Add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds between each addition. Scrape down sides.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth surface with a spatula. 
8. Bake for 55-65 minutes (35-45 minutes if baking in a fluted tube pan), until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minuets before inverting onto a greased wire rack. If using a loaf pan, flip the cake over so the top is up.

For making cake flour at home - Take one cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 tbsp from it.Replace the 2 tbsp flour with cornflour and sift together 2-3 times. Cake flour is ready to use.