[georgia]

Herewith...finally...two recipes in response to Gingerpale's search for Patricia Wells' orange-lemon cake. The first is my own tried and true sour cream poundcake, which I've made for years. It's a great base for any kind of fruit and is just fine on its own. Makes a big cake, so it's good for a crowd, and it can be made the day before you plan to serve it.
I haven't made the Wells cake, so can't vouch for it personally. Her instructions are certainly more thorough, but I am struck by how similar these cakes are. Mine needs to bake longer, for some reason, but I must try her version soon to see how they compare.



SOUR CREAM POUNDCAKE

1 cup unsalted butter
6 eggs, room temperature
2-3/4 cup sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dairy sour cream
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10" tube pan.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating thoroughly. Add eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after each one. Sift or stir together dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Add grated rinds and vanilla extract and blend.

Bake approximately 1-1/2 hours (80-90 minutes) until golden brown and cake tester comes out clean.

Allow to rest 10 minutes in the pan. Turn out onto a rack and allow to cool completely.


AND


PATRICIA WELLS' "FRAGRANT ORANGE AND LEMON CAKE"
(from Trattoria, Wm. Morrow & Co., 1993)

Unsalted butter and all-purpose flour for preparing the cake pan
3 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup whole milk
16 Tablespoons (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/1/2 cups vanilla sugar
5 large eggs
confectioner's sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175C; gas mark 4/5)

2. Evenly coat the interior of a 10-inch (12 cup; 2.5 l) bundt pan with butter. Dust lightly with flour, shaking out the excess flour. Set aside.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the orange and lemon zests.

4. Combine the orange and lemon juices and the milk, and set aside to "sour" the milk.

5. In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at high speed, beat the butter and vanilla sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. One at a time, beat in the eggs, mixing well after each addition. The mixture will look curdled--don't worry. Alternating in thirds, add the flour and milk mixtures, beating well after each addition, and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the center of the oven. Bake until the cake is an even golden brown and a toothpick inserted in thecenter comes out clean, 45-55 minutes. (Don't worry if the cracks in the top of the cake don't look dry--use the toothpick test to test for doneness.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto a serving plate. If desired, sift confectioner's sugar over the top of the cake. Slice iinto wedges and serve for breakfast, as a snack, or for dessert.[/u]

[gingerpale]

Thank you, Georgia, got 'em both captured in ink now!
They are very similar. I love the texture of pound cake, but in the past usually vanilla or almond flavored the batter.
I appreciate that you did this for me, I'll have some sweet meals soon!

[georgia]

You are most welcome.

PLEASE NOTE: sight typo in the Wells recipe. The sugar amount is 1-1/2 cups (one and one-half cups)...not 1/1/2 (whatever that is!)