Lovin' Me Some Lemon Pound Cake

Last night was one of my first free nights for quite some while! No tests, no meetings, no get-togethers. Just me, myself and I. Was planning on studying all night... and I'm sure you know how that went. Instead, decided to pull out the old (okay, it's actually almost brand-new) KitchenAid and make pound cake. I discovered a juicy lemon that's been sitting in the fridge for a while, and decided to spice things up! Lemon juice and lemon zest, yes please!

A little more about the KitchenAid: If you know me even a teeeny bit, you probably know I've wanted a KitchenAid since I was probably 5 (maybe exaggerating a little...). I just love the idea of a big, shiny machine that's completely dedicated to baking! Now that I have one, I have to emphasize the BIG part of that statement. A KitchenAid is truly a real-estate investment... of your counter space. It takes up a good portion of your counter, vying for space with the rice cooker, hot water dispenser (how Asian am I???), coffee maker, and slow cooker. I end up storing my KitchenAid in a box on the ground (won't fit in any cabinets either!). Aaaand, the thing is heavy! I dread having to heave the huge thing up, up, and up onto my counter, and back down when I'm done baking. Ah... I miss the days when I can stick my handy hand-mixer into a drawer and call it good!

However, life isn't all terrible with a KitchenAid. It's perfect for making pound cake, where you have to beat the batter to death! One definite plus- now, I can just turn the mixer on and... it's hands-free! I'm free to go dig out other ingredients, squeeze some lemons, crack an egg (or 5) into the batter while the mixer is going, the possibilities are endless! Perfect machine if you don't want to spend 5 minutes holding a mixer in your hand.

Recipe below! (Note: I found the cake not quite sweet enough, so I may increase the sugar next time to 1.5 cups.) The syrup adds a delicious lemony infusion. However, I did not make the glaze, but I'm sure it would be yummy as well! I love lemony anything! No pics today... cake was devoured too ravenously for me to get a decent shot!

Lemon Pound Cake
Cake Batter
1 cup butter, softened but not melted
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar (next time, I will increase sugar to 1.5 cups)
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon zest
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tbsp. lemon juice
5 eggs, room temperature

Syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Glaze
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:

1. Batter: Preheat oven 325 degrees F. Grease 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and dust pan with flour, tapping out excess flour. Mix (or sift) flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Stir lemon juice and sour cream together in another bowl. 
2. Toss sugar and lemon zest together in large mixing bowl. Add butter, and beat at medium-high speed until smooth and light, about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs while mixer is on low-speed, scraping down bowl after each addition. Continue on low-speed and add one-third of flour mixture, followed by one-half of sour cream mixture. Alternate flour and sour cream additions, until all is added to batter. Scrape down sides of bowl. Mix on low until smooth, about 30 seconds.
3. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, and smooth top with spatula. Gently tap pan on counter to release air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown and toothpick test comes out clean, 55 to 75 minutes. (I baked my cake for almost 70 minutes). 
4. Syrup: Stir sugar and lemon juice together in saucepan over medium-high heat, until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 2 minutes, remove from heat, and set aside. 
5. Glaze: Whisk confectioners' sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, until smooth. 
6. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes, then remove cake from pan. Using a toothpick, poke holes in the top of the cake, and pour glaze over tops and sides of cake. (Alternately, you can simply brush glaze on if you don't want holes. I find that poking holes allow more of the glaze to seep into the cake.) 
7. Cool cake completely before drizzling glaze over cake.

The Marvel of the Slow Cooker

I cannot believe it took me this long to discover The Slow Cooker. It probably is one of my favorite kitchen tools already! It churns out good food without you inputting lots of time! Definitely win-win! (Favorite quote from Letters to Juliet... anyone recognize it?)

I found the perfect slow cooker recipe weeks ago, but have been too busy/lazy/too-much-leftovers-in-fridge to make it until today. Today was perfect, since my first class began at 11:30 (and I finished at 12:30!). Before class, I opened up a few cans, chopped up an onion and a few cloves of garlic, and then dumped (not an elegant word, but pretty much described the process) everything into the crock pot. And that's it! When I got home in the afternoon, lunch was waiting! Plus, Ben just said I have "some serious talent in cooking" while chowing down on the soup. My life is complete!



Chicken Tortilla Soup in a Slow Cooker

2 frozen chicken breasts (I used Costco frozen chicken breasts- so they were pretty large)
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce (I used green enchilada sauce)
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 can (4 oz) chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
1/2 tsp chili pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cup frozen corn

Sour cream
Avocado, sliced
Lime juice

Directions: 

1. Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, garlic, and corn into slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, then add chili pepper, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook on high setting for 3-4 hours (or low setting for 6-8 hours). 
2. After 3-4 hours, remove chicken breasts. Roughly shred chicken breasts. (I simply cut into chunks.) Toss shredded chicken back into slow cooker. 
3. Garnish soup with dollop of sour cream, avocado slices, and lime juice to taste. Serve with tortilla chips, if desired.