Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

by Martha

FOR THE CAKE

• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
• 4 cups sifted cake flour, plus more for pans
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 3/4 cups sugar
• 8 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup milk, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
• FOR THE GLAZE
• Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
• 2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more if needed
• 1/4 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pans and set aside.

Sift the flour with the salt and baking powder two times and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter until fluffy. Add the sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Stir only until thoroughly blended.

 Gently fold in the zest.

Pour batter into the prepared pans and level tops with an offset spatula. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, until a cake tester comes out clean. 

Let the cake cool in the pan about 10 minutes; then remove to a wire rack to cool thoroughly.

Make the glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk all glaze ingredients to combine.

 If necessary, add additional confectioners' sugar to desired consistency.

Pour glaze on top of cakes.....

...... and serve

I watched Martha (Stewart) bake this the other night in her show, "Martha Bakes".  Well, I was smitten immediately.  I love sweet lemon in just about anything, anytime and I couldn't wait until the weekend to start baking these babies so decided to bake them the following day!  Meyer Lemons peaked my curiosity as well as I'd never heard of them.  Martha said to try to use them but if they couldn't be found, regular lemons would work.  I had to google to find out what a Meyer Lemon was and it's a good thing I did because otherwise, I would not have recognized them at the grocery store.  Here is the definition for a Meyer Lemon according to Wikipedia:  

The Meyer lemon (Citrus × meyeri) is a citrus fruit native to China thought to be a cross between a true lemon and either a mandarin or common orange. It was introduced to the United States in 1908 as S.P.I. #23028^[1] by the agricultural explorer Frank Nicholas Meyer, an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture who collected a sample of the plant on a trip to China.^[2]

So the following day, I made sure to stop by the store to buy my Meyer Lemons as well as some other items.  I almost overlooked the Meyer Lemons only because I first thought that they were tangerines, color shape and all.  I was still skeptical at the checkout counter as well as when I got home. So, I got home, grilled some burgers (a quickie dinner) and soon after excitedly started on my pound cakes.  As soon as I cut that Meyer lemon open, WOW!!!  The strong, lemony smell permeated my kitchen and I was then convinced that these were definitely lemons and not tangerines.  It took me a couple hours from start to finish and I'm content to say that, I have not one but two freshly baked Meyer Lemon Pound Cakes in my refrigerator waiting for me at home, at least I think I do, unless someone else got into them!  ~isavortheweekend