pie bird | vents while baking ~ ~ ~: December 2010

Fine, so these little babies aren't exactly in season, but I tend to think that doesn't matter when you take into account the deliciousness factor. After I picked up these mini bundt pans at World Market, I couldn't resist taking them for a test drive and decided to go with my gut on the recipe choice... citrus!

These iced sour cream lemon cakes originally come from the glazed lemon cake recipe in The Silver Palate cookbook (one of my favorites!), found here on nigella.com, and were absolutely yummy. Add a little lime zest to the batter and glaze for an extra tangy kick! Mini bundts are great gifts for teachers, neighbors, and coworkers, as if you needed any more motivation to give these a whirl...

You'll Need:

1/2 pound sweet butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

2 tightly packed tablespoons grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Glaze/Icing:

1 lb confectioners sugar
8 tbsp butter
3 tbsp lemon zest
1/2 c lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour your mini pans or a 10-inch tube or Bundt pan
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternately with buttermilk or sour cream, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Add lemon zest and juice.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes (or an hour and 10 minutes for a regular pan), or until cake pulls away from sides of pan and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool cake in the pan, set on a rack, for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and spread on icing at once, while cake is still hot.

To make the icing: Cream sugar and butter thoroughly. Mix in lemon zest and juice; spread on warm cake.