Lemon Bread more like a pound cake than bread

Dear Laura: My kids love the Lemon Bread sold at Huckleberry’s Natural Market. Do you have a recipe like it? — Carole, Spokane

Dear Carole: I’m not surprised your kids like the bread. I tried it recently, and it’s very tasty. My 7-year-old likes it, too. It tastes more like a pound cake than bread to me, definitely dessert material. Here are a couple of recipes to try. One is more muffinlike, not quite as sweet and moist as the store-bought kind. The other is a pound cake recipe that is definitely sweeter and moister.

Lemon Bread

Adapted from a recipe by Fiddler’s Green Inn, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, found at www.lanierbb.com

I increased the buttermilk by 1/4 cup because the original batter seemed too dry. I also increased the lemon zest from 1/2 to 1 teaspoon to give it more zing.

6 tablespoons butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Glaze:

Juice of 1 lemon (approximately 1/4 cup)

1/3 cup sugar

Have ingredients at room temperature. Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Mix the buttermilk and lemon zest, set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk, then the other half of the dry. Batter should be spoonable but not doughy. Spoon into a greased (you can use a spray shortening) 8 1/2 -by-4 1/2 -inch loaf pan.

Bake the bread at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Check the bread at 40 minutes since the bottom and sides brown quickly.

Remove the bread from the oven and poke all over with the cake tester or other thin, long tool. Whisk together the sugar and lemon juice, then drizzle the glaze gradually over the bread, stopping periodically to let it soak in. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the pan and allow it to cool completely before slicing.

Yield: 12 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 212 calories, 6.8 grams fat (3.9 grams saturated, 28 percent fat calories), 3 grams protein, 35 grams carbohydrate, 51 milligrams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 218 milligrams sodium.

Lemon Delight Pound Cake

Adapted from The Pillsbury Cookbook

The original recipe called for apricot nectar or orange juice, but I used milk to reduce the sweetness a little. The original glaze used powdered sugar, but I used the same granulated sugar glaze as in the above recipe because it more closely matches the sticky glaze on the bread at Huckleberry’s

For the cake:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup cooking oil

2 teaspoons lemon extract

4 eggs

For the glaze:

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup sugar

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease and flour a 12-cup fluted tube pan (or use two loaf pans). In large bowl, combine cake ingredients. Blend on low speed until ingredients are moistened; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven. Prick deeply every inch with a fork or toothpick. In a small bowl, blend glaze ingredients. Spoon glaze over cake, allowing it to seep into the holes. Repeat. Allow cake to cool, then cut and serve.

Yield: 16 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving (from the cookbook): 300 calories, 12 grams fat (36 percent fat calories), 4 grams protein, 45 grams carbohydrate, 70 milligrams cholesterol, 1 gram dietary fiber, 140 milligrams sodium.