Vanilla Lime Pound Cake.
Pound cake is a funny thing.
In all honestly, it’s never really been my thing. I’ve waxed poetic about my love for rich desserts that make my teeth hurt. Pound cake just isn’t one of those desserts.
But a few years ago, I had a client bring me a homemade pound cake. It was the first homemade pound cake I had ever tasted. My mom often bought it when we were younger, but never made it from scratch.
After my first bite, I was hooked. It was so… buttery!
That was years ago, and I vowed I would try my hand at homemade pound cake. Clearly, I don’t stick to my resolutions very well.
Since I can’t seem to do much traditionally, I add some extra vanilla and lots of lime to this poundcake. With a vanilla lime glaze. Limes are for more than just tequila, you know. I didn’t.
Turns out I was doomed from the start.
One by one, the thick, cakey slices started to disappear.
Mr. How Sweet claimed that he wasn’t even going to taste this cake since pound cakes aren’t his thing either. But then he saw my eyes glaze over after each bite. He had to join in on the fun.
And that is how we spent our Sunday afternoon. On the couch in big lumps, swimming in sweatpants and stuffed to the gills with pound cake. Perfect way to start a New Year’s diet, don’t you think?
Vanilla Lime Poundcake
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lime zest, about 3-4 medium limes
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- contents of one vanilla bean
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
Vanilla Lime Glaze
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 3/4 -1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a small bowl, combine eggs, vanilla extract, vanilla beans, lime zest and lime juice. Whisk together.
- In the bowl of your electric mixed, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined. Add butter and mix until batter starts to come together. Add half of the egg mixture and mix on medium for 30 seconds. Add the remaining egg mixture in two parts, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing on medium speed for about 30-45 seconds each.
- Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of your loaf pan and butter it. Spray the entire loaf pan with baking spray and lay the parchment paper down, buttered side up. Pour the batter in the loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes. If cake gets too brown on top, lightly tent it with foil. Let cool before glazing.
Vanilla Lime Glaze
- Whisk all ingredients together to form a glaze. Add more liquid or sugar to get desired consistency. Pour over cooled pound cake.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
Now if only my thighs liked the pound cake as much as I did.
153 Comments on “Vanilla Lime Pound Cake.”
Looks awesome, lady! Joy of Baking is one of THE best recipe sites. Great job!
I love the stories that go along with your recipes – makes the food item much more appealing than just a straight recipe. Not to mention – it puts a smile on my face. Thanks! :-)
Thank YOU!
That poundcake looks like it has the perfect crumb! Beautiful and perfectly baked. I’m jealous. :)
Oooooh, that drizzle on the pound cake is mesmerizing.
I’m obsessed with pound cake!! Its my absolute favorite :)
I love pound cake! That looks incredible!
For some reason I don’t think pound cakes are an ubiquitous in Australia as they are in America. Whyever not, I’d like someone to tell me! Particularly as putting lime into desserts functions as catnip to me..
I want to try a butterscotch pound cake.
That sounds divine.
This cake looks dang good! I adore a hint of lime in a cake. Great recipe!
This looks incredible! Vanilla + lime makes me think of summer (and a Florida vacation?!).
I always felt the same way about angel food cake–my mom occasionally purchased it from the store and served it with strawberries, but I never liked it…UNTIL I made a homemade one last year (Ina Garten’s recipe). I now LOVE it!
Glad you found your love for pound cake :)
Same here too! My mom also bought angel food cake a lot. I made one last year (it was a lot harder than I thought) but it was SO much better.
Could you please share that recipe some time?! I’d love to find a good recipe for an angel food cake :)
Yes I will!
This looks like the perfect way to spend a Saturday! That glaze…omg!
I’m like you, I never really go for cake. I would MUCH rather have cookies or ice cream. I love how different this is, I want to try!
The dripping glaze has really got me distracted right now. I’m notorious for using my fingers to wipe up all the extra runny glaze :) Love it!
Me too.
I have never made a pound cake. The amount of butter that goes into it always scares me :) Not that I don’t put that much butter in certain batches of cookies…but there I can see the butter divided out into tinier servings. haha…if that makes any sense. Regardless, pound cake is super delicious. And yours looks awesome with that drizzle.
I used to think the same… but the thing is, there is less than a cup of butter in this recipe! Granted it is still a bit, but I know I’ve made cookies with 2 whole sticks of butter. Not sure why I also thought pound cake had pounds of butter in it!
Originally, pound cake did have a pound of butter, sugar,eggs and flour, but that made a cake that was too big for the average family to eat. Most recipes scale the amounts down to make an averaged size cake.
I am not a big fan of citrus in my desserts, but that pound cake looks amazing!
Ah! Thanks for the info. :)
I love this — because I actually do love pound cake! My favorite is cream cheese pound cake. I make one flavored with lemon, instead of lime, and it’s divine! http://bridezillabakes.com/2010/03/lemon-cream-cheese-pound-cake-with-very-berry-coulis/
Okay, it sounds like cream cheese takes pound cake to a whole new level. That looks delicious!
Seriously… it’s awesome. And like any pound cake, the possibilities are endless. It’s like a blank canvas for any other flavor!
Those photos are GORGEOUS! I want to take a bath in that glaze.
Thank you so much!
Pound cake is my all time favorite! I grew up with it and I absolutely love it! This looks delicious!
Any recipe with lime is a winner in my book!
Ooo, pound cake. I used to love the Sara Lee kind, lol! I don’t think I’ve ever had it from scratch, either.
Homemade pound cake is the best! I even had it as my wedding cake!
Wow! You must really love it then. :)
You have outdone yourself once again, Jessica! This pound cake looks delicious!
That looks so amazing!!!!!! Thanks for posting the recipe!
How do you get your comments on first so often on so may blogs(especially ELR)?
I am quite amazed and I somehow have a vision of you waking up in the middle of the night to answer first to a blog!!
Pretty impressive :) but how on earth do you do it at work?
Haha! I definitely do NOT wake up in the middle of the night to comment… lol. But I am up around 5:30 or so (EST) and do my work on the computer with my google reader open. If a blog pops up and I want to comment, I comment. Sometimes I am first, sometimes I’m not.
And my blog is my work – I don’t work in an office anymore! But when I did, I sat at a computer all day – that also made commenting easy. I had nothing to do at work.
Ah ha!Interesting to hear “behind the scenes”!Do you ever worry about
commentating “too much” on other blogs?Any thoughts?
Thanks for reply!
Not at all. I think when everyone begins blogging they tend to leave comments all over the place, but that is because they just don’t know any better. I’ve been blogging for over 15 months and now comment on posts I love + friends I’ve made blogs. It’s all about supporting other bloggers and showing them love.
Nicely put.
I just have found that a lot of comments people seem to make on the big blogs really seem pointless and I feel a lot of people are just putting comments as a “promo” to their blog(basically an ad,since it shows a link to their blog).
Basically I feel a LOT of people comment just to get more readers.
Guess there’s nothing wrong with that and it’s a free world,but I have found it overall pretty pointless to read comments unless an interesting
or controversial topic where people really have something interesting to say!
A lot of people definitely do, and it is even encouraged by some as a way to grow your blog, which I think is fine. But I also look at it as a way of supporting others, however that could simply be because I don’t get my traffic anymore from leaving comments being that I’ve been doing it for so long. Now, if someone goes bananas leaving comments, grows their blog and then stops commenting… that’s another story. I hope that I will always have time to show other bloggers support, but I know once kids/family come into play that may not be possible. Everyone’s situation is different!
I also think that it’s easier to understand the whole commenting thing when you have a blog yourself and leave/want comments. I’ve really enjoyed this little discussion. I love to hear others’ opinions and have often wondered the same myself!
I’m not normally huge on pound cake either. I have had it once or twice before where it tasted very dense and richer. I liked that one. We apparently share taste buds. In a non-tongue-interlocking way.
Haha!
OMG, pound cake is probably my favorite cake ever and I love lime. I need to go to the store now cause this is getting made ASAP.
I love pound cake. But it definitely took making my own homemade stuff before I was convinced. This, with the addition of limes, looks absaloutely deadly!
love,
cathy b. @ brightbakes
WOW! That looks incredible and I could use some sweet yumminess this am!!!! I’m officially addicted to your blog!
Is it called “pound cake” because it helps you to put on some pounds?
(Sorry, couldn’t resist…)
Everything always tastes better homemade. Or glazed with cream…
This looks awesome and would be nice served with some berries…and more cream drizzled on top…
I was thinking the same thing! Or else maybe because it was made with “pounds” of butter? ;)
That is beyond dreamy!
Oh yum. I haven’t had pound cake in AGES, since one of my best friends in HS had a mom that would make it with an entire pound of butter. So stinkin’ good!
Um, hello, limes are a fruit. Therefore, this is a health food.
You are so wise my friend.
Ooo that looks delish! Paula Deen’s Southwest Georgia pound cake is the BEST traditional pound cake I’ve ever tried. You might want to check it out!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/southwest-georgia-pound-cake-recipe/index.html
I definitely will. Thanks!
I was always under the impression that pound cake got its name because each slice should weigh a pound. Ooh, is that not right? Too bad that’s how I eat it!
Hahah really? That may be right, I have no idea!
I like pound cake but not plain…it has to have a flavor…like lemon flavored or poppyseed or almond…so this sounds wonderful.
I’ve made a cake very similar to this that has lemon and yogurt– it’s so good and moist, and I bet this one is too!
I will pretty much eat anything you put lime on, especially if it’s cake :) A friend of mine had a key lime wedding cake that I have dreams about!
Sounds yummy! Wonder how keylime juice would spin this receipe! Little tart to the sweet…?!
I think it would be delish.
That pound cake looks FABULOUS. :)) Maybe it would be good with other citrus fruits like orange…but I’m thinking lime is best for this.
oh, and I was being weird and read that long conversation you and M had about commenting on blogs (I always have to read long conversations), and I think you had a very good point! Good for you :)
Thanks love!
i’ve been craving pound cake! this looks fantastic!
I dare you to try this cake (perhaps without the lime?) but browning the butter first! You have got to try it, is incredible! And maybe not a vanilla glaze but chocolate…hmmm..Okay im going off point here, just try it, I have a good recipe for brown butter pound cake if you’d like.
Thanks for this! My dad loves limes and I think he’ll die for this ;)
-Amalia http://buttersweetmelody.wordpress.cpom
I’m all over that! I love anything with browned butter. Now you’ve got my wheels turning. You are awesome.
The recipe from Gourmet is pretty well known around the internet and I loved it when I made it! Just type in google Brown Butter Pound Cake Gourmet and You’ll get tons of results ;)
Aw thanks! You’re awesome-er!
I love pound cakes! I’m all about the dense desserts.
i don’t know how i still manage to eat veggies and read your blog in the same lifetime… :)
Love lime desserts! This is going on my must make list!
Mmmm poundcake. I don’t think I’ve ever said no to that (nor to any other cake). If you add some rum to this recipe it would make it absolutely perfect ;)
Oh, oh my that looks…that looks so good.
The last time I made a pound cake it was from a box and topped with a homemade blueberry sauce.
This one’s a keeper :-)
I could make sandpaper for dinner and Ryan would shovel it in with no thought. It’s super funny that Mr. How Sweet is sorta picky. Did he have some lime chicken with that pound cake? :)
He might have. :)
Again, can I live inside your camera? That last shot is so beautiful.
Our neighbor made a cream cheese poundcake over Christmas and I am not ashamed to admit that was my breakfast several mornings in a row. It may have also been my snack later those days. I can neither confirm nor deny.
You said vanilla, lime, and pound cake all in one title—-some of my most very favorite things! Not only does this look fab, but I’m sure it’s delish. I think lime in pound cake would be even better than lemon :)
~Lisa
I’ve mostly been of the same opinion of the rich desserts, too, so I guess you’ve convinced me to try this. :) Thanks!
Pound cake is one of those things that I can’t really let myself near. It’s in the same category as Smartfood white cheddar popcorn…I just can’t stop when it’s near and my stomach finds this wonderful, incredible power to just keep expanding :)
Ohh… white cheddar popcorn is addicting.