The Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Cake

Since I used the Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt cake pan last week for The Whipped Cream cake, this week I decided to employ a small Lemon Loaf pan from Nordic Ware that I have never before used. Since it has lemons and lemon leaves in relief on the top, I thought it would be pretty for this lemon poppyseed cake.

I knew there would be excess batter, so I readied the Lekue muffin pan for whatever was left over from the loaf pan.

Now, however, it became obvious that I had put too much batter in the loaf pan and too little in the muffin pan. The muffins were barely to the cavity top, and the loaf caught up very quickly. After baking, their bottoms were syruped after being pierced with a wooden skewer. I leveled off the cake with some chagrin.

Ultimately the cake released dutifully, and inverted, revealing a pretty browned color, with its lemons intact from the mold. After piercing and syruping the top, the cake was cooled. I then wrapped it well, and put it into the fridge over night. The muffins were devoured immediately-before refrigeration.

Mis en place for this cake was not at all complicated. Fortunately, in this area, the only thing I almost forgot this time was to wash the lemons with soap and water, and dry, to prevent bitterness from the zest, per Hector's reminder. I realized just in time. I enjoyed the way the Beater Blade worked with the batter. And next time I will be more careful in filling the pans. I just may have to get better at weighing in!

The flavor of the muffins was lovely, and lemony. The crumb moist and fluffy -they never made it to the fridge. The cake married well in the refrigerator and when brought to room temperature the next day, it was fabulous with its slight lemon glaze on the outer crust. I found myself on midnight refrigerator raids. My family enjoyed this cake very much, and I am sure it will be a hit whenever I make it again. As most of our other 'bakers' remarked, it is a favorite.

*I was ready to post the picture of the pretty loaf with its lemon encrusted top, but it had disappeared. I called my friend, who laconically remarked this situation is the bane of a photographer's existence. Hence - no picture.

Hanaa: Here is the lemon loaf mould by Nordic Ware.

It holds about 4 cups.