When I have a day off, I like to indulge my love of baking – and I worry about who will eat it later…. A few thanksgivings ago, I found this recipe for a lemon cranberry pound cake and it was wonderful. The recipe, from the Joy of Baking, said that you could also use dried cherries and since I happen to have some lovely cherries from Nuts.com, I’m going with that today. The end product is a beautiful cake, bright with the tang of lemon and either the dried cranberries or sour cherries. It’s wonderful for a buffet and lasts for days, with the flavors intensifying, if well wrapped. It’s so pretty that I like to display it in my domed cake stand. And while I do not have a freezer large enough, you could make this ahead, except for the glaze, and freeze it in preparation for the holidays. Yep, it’s almost that time already.

Lemon – Sour Cherry Pound Cake taken from the Joy of Baking

Yield: 12 – 14 servings

Ingredients       

Dried sour cherries or cranberries

1/3 cup lemon juice

2 Tablespoons brandy

1 cup dried cranberries or sour cherries

Cake

2.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

3 cups granulated sugar

6 large eggs at room temperature

2 Tablespoons lemon zest

1/2 Tablspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

Lemon Frosting (optional)

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

Directions

For Cranberries/Cherries

1. Bring the brandy, lemon juice and cranberries/cherries to a boil in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Cover the pan and remove from the heat. Allow the mixture to cool completely, reserving the cranberries/cherries and the liquid separately.

For the Pound Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter and flour a 10 inch bundt pan. If using a dark colored pan, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.
3. In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the lemon zest, vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, alternating with 1/2 of the sour cream, beating just until the batter is smooth.
5. Stir in the drained cranberries/cherries by hand.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth the top.  
7. Bake for approx. 60 – 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into themiddle of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
8. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool. After 5 minutes, lightly brush the top of the cake (it’s really the bottom) with half of the reserved liquid from the cranberries/cherries.
9. After 10 more minutes, loosen the sides of the pan with a sharp knife and invert onto a wire rack. Immediately brush the top and sides of the cake with the remaining cranberry/cherry liquid. Cool the cake completely before frosting or dusting with powdered sugar.

Lemon Frosting  

1. In a bowl, using a whisk, combine the confectioner’s sugar with the lemon juice. You want the icing to be thicker than a glaze but still thin enough that it will run down the sides of the cake. If necessary, add more lemon juice or powdered sugar accordingly.
2. Pour the frosting over the top of the cake, allowing the icing to drip down the sides. Allow the icing to dry completely before covering and storing the cake.