Lemon Thyme Pound Cake - Butter Cake # 2

Recipe tried in March 2011

As usual, buy first think later.

When I saw lemon thyme at Jusco, I was curious about how different it’ll taste from the usual thyme. It looked much less woody and I just threw one pack of it into my trolley. Lemon thyme is supposedly to smell like lemon when rubbed in your hands and they really do, something like lemongrass too, but less pungent. It smelled more lemony than thymey to me.

When I got back, I was wondering what to do with it. Wondering if there is something called a lemon thyme cake and indeed there is. Found 2 recipes and I decided to go with Martha’s as I like the syrup thingy. I do not have any Muscat (which is a white wine) or any other white wine on hand, so I made up my own syrup with lemon juice and citrusy liqueur. The cake only called for the zest, so by using the up the juice, I shall waste no part of it.

Lemon Thyme Pound Cake

Recipe source with personal adaptations: Martha Stewart

250gm butter
200gm sugar
5 large eggs (Grade A 65gm each, weighed with shells)
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
225gm all purpose flour
1 Tbsp lemon zest (I used 1 large Sunkist lemon)
1 Tbsp lemon thyme leaves
1 portion of Lemon Thyme syrup for drizzling

1. Sift flour and mix with lemon zest and thyme leaves. Set aside.
2. Butter and flour a few small bundt pans (I used a medium sized one and a loaf pan). Preheat oven to 160(fan)/180C
3. Cream butter on low speed for 3 minutes, then add in sugar and cream for another 4 minutes until pale and fluffy.
4. Put in eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
5. Put in half of flour mixture. Beat on low speed until well combined and scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Put in remaining of flour and beat until combined.
6. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes or until golden and skewer inserted comes out clean.
7. Let cake cool for 10 minutes(I just left it for 5 mins). If using bundt pan, invert cake and drizzle syrup over very warm cake. If the cake is baked in a loaf pan, then just drizzle syrup on the top. Let cake sit for at least 15 minutes before cutting so that the syrup can be well absorbed into the cake

Lemon Thyme Syrup
Recipe source: WendyinKK

50ml lemon juice (from 1 Sunkist lemon, it's more tangy than some other lemons)
50gm sugar
1 large sprig of lemon thyme
1 Tbsp citrus liqueur (I used Grand Marnier, or maybe you can use Limoncello or Cointreau or Bacardi Limon or just skip it)

Put lemon juice, sugar and lemon thyme sprig into a small saucepan. On medium low heat, bring to a boil and lower to lowest heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Turn of heat and let it cool. Mix in liqueur.

Verdict:
Yummmmy. The cake’s texture was soft and slightly spongy which was actually very nice. Crumb was tight, but not dense. The syrup moistened the cake well, but not making it soggy. I cut the loaf while it was still very warm and each cut was clean and crumb free, unlike usual butter cakes when it could be crumbly(when warm). I’ve never liked a lemony cake as much as this. With the 20% cut of sugar from the cake, it was just nice when moistened with the syrup, sweet, but still tangy with lemon. Well balanced, I’d say. But I can’t taste the thyme, just the lemon. Or the lemon thyme really does taste like lemon? Haha, I don’t know for sure, but it sure does make the cake taste good.