Lemon Pound Cake -- The Recipe the Book Remembers

The book is being reviewed. A review in the Charleston Post and Courier called it "a love letter to a mother written in the only language the daughter had left." I cut the review from the paper and taped it to the kitchen wall, next to the photograph of me and Mama cooking, and the review and the photograph are now neighbors on the wall of a kitchen that holds everything: the cooking, the writing, the love, the loss, the review that says the love letter was received.

Southern food blogs have picked up the book. A bookstore in Savannah ordered copies. A church in Beaufort — Tabernacle Baptist, Daddy's church — requested copies for their bookshop. The request from Tabernacle Baptist was the one that made me cry, because the church that formed Mama and that Mama served for forty years now holds the book that preserves Mama, and the holding is the circle completed: the church to the kitchen to the book to the church.

I signed books for three hours at the library event, and the signing was the work — not the glamorous work of a best-selling author but the humble work of a woman with a pen and a book and the willingness to write "With love, Naomi Blackwood" two hundred times because each writing was the giving, and each giving was the purpose, and the purpose did not diminish with repetition.

Mama's recipes are being cooked by strangers. A woman in Atlanta posted a photograph of Mama's shrimp and grits on Instagram, made from the book's recipe. The photograph was imperfect — the grits too thin, the shrimp overcooked — but the imperfection was the attempt, and the attempt was the honor, and the honor was a stranger in Atlanta standing at a stove and following the instructions of a woman she never met and producing food that tastes like Charleston and Beaufort and the Lowcountry and Mama.

I made Mama's shrimp and grits — the perfect version, the Sunday version, the version that no stranger from Instagram can replicate because the perfection requires the hands and the hands require the teacher and the teacher is gone. But the book remains. And the book is the teacher now.

The Sunday Mama made shrimp and grits, there was always a lemon pound cake cooling on the counter by the time we sat down to eat — her way of saying the meal was complete, the circle closed. I couldn’t share her shrimp and grits recipe here without thinking of that cake, the one that meant the kitchen had done its full work. Now that the book is out in the world and strangers are standing at their stoves trying to follow her instructions, I find myself coming back to the pound cake — the one recipe that needs no photograph and no perfection, only patience and butter and the willingness to try.

Lemon Pound Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 60 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• For the glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Instructions

1. Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan or two standard 9x5-inch loaf pans thoroughly, making sure to coat all the ridges.
2. Combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter on medium speed for 2–3 minutes until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating for another 3–4 minutes until light and airy.
4. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix until fully incorporated before adding the next egg.
5. Add sour cream and lemon. Mix in the sour cream, fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract until just combined. Do not overmix.
6. Fold in dry ingredients. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing just until no dry streaks remain. A slightly thick, glossy batter is what you’re looking for.
7. Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 55–65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is golden. If the top browns too quickly, tent loosely with foil after 45 minutes.
8. Cool. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn out carefully and allow to cool completely before glazing.
9. Make the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled cake, letting it run down the sides naturally.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 61g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 175mg