3 large eggs, separated
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter (2 1/2 sticks)
cut into 12 pieces,
room
temperature
1 cup sour cream (room temperature)
2 tablespoons Cointreau
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup pecan halves [or other nuts
of your choice], toasted
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Lemon Syrup (see below)
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
Position rack in center of
oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter
12-cup Bundt pan. Dust with flour; shake out excess.
In
food processor fitted with steel knife, process egg whites until foamy,
about 8 seconds.
With machine running, pour lemon juice through feed
tube; process until whites are
stiff and hold their shape, about 2 minutes.
Transfer to small bowl using rubber spatula.
Process zest with sugar until
zest is fine as sugar, about 20 seconds. Add yolks and
butter and process
2
minutes, stopping once to scrape down sides of work bowl.. Add
the
sour
cream, Cointreau, vanilla and lemon extract and process 10 seconds.
Combine flour, pecans, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium
bowl. Spoon flour mixture in circle atop batter. Blend using 5 to 6 on/off
turns.
Run
spatula around inside of work bowl. Blend just until flour is
incorporated and nuts are
coarsely chopped, using 1 to 2 on/off turns; do
not overprocess batter. Transfer batter to
large bowl. Thoroughly fold in
1/4 of whites to lighten. Gently fold in remaining whites.
Spread batter in
prepared pan.
Bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to
45 minutes.
Cool in pan 10 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead and stored at
room
temperature or 1 month ahead, double-wrapped in plastic
and
frozen. Thaw in plastic at
room temperature.) Invert cake onto rack.
Place piece of waxed paper beneath rack under cake.
Brush warm
syrup over top of cake. Sift powdered sugar over cake. Transfer to
platter and
serve warm.
Lemon Syrup
Cook 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar and 3 tablespoons
fresh lemon
juice in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until
smooth
and
syrupy, swirling pan occasionally, 1 - 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Mix
in 2 tablespoons
Cointreau.
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