Lemonade Pound Cake

A moist lemonade pound cake, with lemonade soaking syrup and pink frosting.

Source: Ummm… about that.  I found this on an apron site.  Weird but true.

When I was a poor college student, I used to make this simple dessert called Lemonade Pie.  It’s just vanilla ice cream, mixed with frozen lemonade concentrate, poured into a graham cracker crust and frozen.  It was one of the few items that I had the A) time, B) money, and C) knowledge to create.  It was a little tart, but very refreshing when it was hot, especially since my dorm was without air conditioning.

You wouldn’t think a person could screw up a dessert that easy, but I managed it.  I wanted to impress my dance date by making him this pie as an after-dance treat.  The problem was that someone ate some of the ice cream before I got around to making the pie.  Did I adjust my proportions accordingly?  No, I did not.  I used ALL of the lemonade concentrate, but did not have enough ice cream to dilute it.  My friends, a tarter lemonade pie there never has been.

My date tried to be kind.  But neither of us made it through that slice of pie.

Needless to say, I haven’t made that particular dessert in years.  When I ran across this lemonade cake, I thought it might be a fun throwback to the pie, without all the thawing and freezing and fear of tartness. And, as it turns out, I loved it every bit as much as I expected.

There were some disappointments, though.  Namely, that my cake had a bit of an over-done crust on the edges, although the inside texture was perfect.  I’m blaming this on my bundt pan, which is silicone.  I bought it so I could make 9-minute microwave cake, and it works beautifully for that job.  It was a small disappointment, and I managed to get over it rather quickly.

There are actually three parts to this cake.  First, obviously, you bake the cake.  Then you quickly turn it out onto a big dish, NOT your serving dish (I used a sheet pan.)  Then you poke holes all over it with a fork.  Go crazy with this.  Stab it to death.  Well, not entirely to death.  You still want it to look like a cake.

Once it’s sufficiently perforated, pour your soaking syrup over it.  I spent a few minutes spooning up excess syrup and pouring it back over the top and sides.  This really makes the cake moist and flavorful.  I think this syrup was really the key.

After getting it all soaked, I transferred it to my serving stand, and dropped frosting on it.  My husband was watching me work.  “Your frosting is going everywhere,” he warned.  “It’s supposed to,” I replied.  Okay, yes, I probably could have made it a bit prettier, but I kind of like this rough-and-tumble look juxtaposed with the pretty pink color.

Or at least that’s what I’m telling people.

If you enjoy this recipe, you might also enjoy:

Frozen Lemonade Pie in a Jar from Our Best Bites (a slightly more sophisticated version of the pie I described above)

Lemon Balm Infused Lemonade from Simple Bites

Lemon Crinkles from Jen’s Favorite Cookies

This post linked up at Gooseberry Patch; Something Swanky;