Every Baker has her (bad) day…

I have been craving a pound cake lately.  One in particular – my great-grandmother's lemon pound cake.

Last night, I remarked to my husband that I couldn't understand why my overwhelming desire to have a slice of pound cake hadn't caused a cake to materialize on my kitchen counter.  He looked at me like I'd lost my mind and gently suggested maybe I should just make one. (duh)

So, that's what I did this afternoon… at the same time I helped one kid with her homework, waited on the other princess perched on the couch "feeling wotten" and watching cartoons… and answered emails, IM's and kept up with what was going on in the world of work.

I guess, then, that it should've come as no surprise when my cake was a little onery when it came out of the oven. I mean it's not like it had my undivided attention while it was being created.  Heck, I'm not even sure it had much of my attention at all. I have made this recipe so many times I think I could make it in my sleep.

We were dashing out the door to go to Girl Scouts when I thought I'd better at least turn the cake out of it's pan.  It didn't release right away so I left it upside down on the cake plate and off we went.
Three hours later when we finally returned home…. the cake hadn't budged. 

In case you didn't realize this already, this was a bad sign. Uh, oh.  Time to dig out the plastic spatula of doom and prise the cake from the pan.  (I really hate doing that because I'm always afraid I'm going to ruin the cake  – ruin? hah!)

I prodded.

I poked.

I shimmied.
(the cake)

I shook.

I pounded.

Nothing.

sigh.

I got a chopstick out and ran it around the insides of the pan. 
Flipped the cake again. 

I heard that soft "whump" you hear when the cake falls.  Okay. Now we're gettin' somewhere.
But the pan still felt heavy…
What the heck?
I turned the pan over.
ACK!
Half of my cake was still in the pan!
OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!!

I don't think I can remember the last time this has happened.  FOREVER.  And that is saying something considering I probably bake 2-3 cakes a month at least.
My darling, sweet, loving husband asks, "Did you remember to spray the pan, honey?" smirk, smirk, chuckle, chuckle.  <grrrr>

"YES, I did."  And I'm sure I did. I remember the can of spray oil giving out its last gasps as I greased the pan.
I have no clue what happened. Maybe I let it sit too long. Maybe not long enough. Maybe not enough oil.  Who knows?
But I do know one thing for sure.  I'm really, really, really glad that this wasn't a cake I was making to give to someone.
It's one ugly cake.  Seriously ugly.

But, on the bright side?  It tastes awesome.
Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try. Once you do, you will be spoiled for all other pound cakes.

Grandma Achord's Lemon Pound Cake

3 cups white sugar                         1 cup sour cream
2 sticks butter
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 eggs             3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla extract                       1 tsp lemon extract

1 tsp almond extract

Cream sugar and butter. Add sour cream and extracts.  Add eggs, one at a time. Add flour and baking soda slowly. Beat only long enough to get flour mixed in well.
Pour into greased tube or bundt pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour 20 min.

We usually don't ever get around to it because we gobble up the cake so quickly, but Grandma always made a glaze by mixing a few teaspoons of lemon juice with some powdered sugar (about 2 cups) and drizzled it over the cake.