Thank you to All You Magazine and Pollinate Media Group for sponsoring this post.
A delicious lemony cake punctuated with those preserved lemons we’ve been raving so much about lately. This cake adds bits of chewy candied ginger and gets a double dose of lemon in the form of a sweet-tart lemon glaze. A perfect cake for Springtime or any time of the year!
If you’ve been following my blog you’re already aware of my love affair with lemons. And you’re even more aware of my latest love affair: Preserved lemons. Yes, yes, I know, I’m beginning to sound like a broken record and I keep bugging you to make them. But I promise, you’re going to thank me once you do. They’re so wonderfully versatile and you’re going to find yourself using them in your cooking and baking on a regular basis. And you’re going to keep finding news ways to use them. That’s what happened with today’s cake. While picking up some groceries at Safeway I snagged the April edition of ALL YOU magazine. I love cookbooks and cooking magazines (yet another love affair of mine) and enjoying thumbing through them for inspiration. As I flipped through the pages of All You I immediately honed in on one recipe in particular: Lemon Ginger Pound Cake. And what do you think popped into my mind? You got it – Preserved Lemon Ginger Pound Cake! (How’d you guess?)
So I began tweaking the recipe a little here and there. Preserved lemons have a much stronger lemon flavor but are less sour and tart, so I wanted to mellow out the cake overall. The original recipe calls for white sugar and I substituted a cup of brown sugar. I also added a pinch of allspice for a touch of “exotic”. Instead of a cup of butter, I used half a cup plus a half cup of coconut oil. I love the flavor of coconut oil, but I also added it to make the cake more tender and moist. And, of course, I minced up almost an entire preserved lemon. For the glaze I also added some finely minced preserved lemon. I love the appearance of that beautiful citrus rind and it adds extra “oomph” to the already lemony glaze.
This cake is buttery, tender and moist, and is studded with those heavenly bits of preserved lemon and candied ginger. My mom popped by shortly after I made it and, after tasting it, was more than happy to leave with a plateful to take home to enjoy later. My husband came home from work and immediately dove into a slice, as did my kids. Let’s just say that a cake of this size that should have lasted at least a day ended up lasting a few hours.
Let’s get started!
Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, allspice and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the white and brown sugar, butter, and coconut oil. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to combine.
Cut up that glorious preserved lemon peel. Be sure to discard the pulp and to rinse the peel thoroughly to remove any excess salt.
Chop up the crystallized ginger.
Toss the chopped crystallized ginger in a little flour. This will prevent it from sinking to the bottom of the cake pan.
Add the preserved lemon, ginger, and vanilla extract to the batter. Beat on low just until combined.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat on low just until combined.
Add half of the buttermilk and beat on low just until combined. Repeat (flour, buttermilk, and remaining flour).
Butter and flour a Bundt pan.
Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan.
Bake in an oven preheated to 325 degrees F for about 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Now for the glaze: Whisk together the powdered sugar, buttermilk, lemon juice, and minced preserved lemon. If too runny, add more powdered sugar. If too thick, add a little more buttermilk.
Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and let it sit for 20 minutes before slicing.
Enjoy!
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup coconut oil (it's solid, do not melt it first)
- 2 cups white granulated sugar
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- ¾ preserved lemon, pulp discarded and peel thoroughly rinsed and then finely minced
- 6 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup minced crystallized ginger, tossed with 2 teaspoons flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- For the Lemon Glaze:
- 1½ cups confectioner's/powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2-3 tablespoons buttermilk (start with 2 and add more if needed)
- ¼ preserved lemon, pulp discarded, peel thoroughly rinsed and then finely minced
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10-inch non-stick Bundt pan.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, allspice and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, coconut oil, and white and brown sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined. Add the preserved lemon, ginger and vanilla extract, beating on low just until combined.
- Add ⅓ of the flour mixture and beat on low just until combined. Add ½ of the buttermilk and beat on low just until combined. Repeat (flour, buttermilk, flour).
- Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan and bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the glaze: Whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, preserved lemon, and buttermilk - adding the buttermilk one tablespoon at a time as needed. If the glaze is too runny, add more powdered sugar, If it's too stiff, add more buttermilk. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and let it sit for 20 minutes before slicing.
Preserved lemons, amazing, it adds a nice salty kick too right?
Hi Maria! No, not too much because the lemon peel is always supposed to be thoroughly rinsed before using it to remove excess salt. Preserved lemons are absolutely marvelous in any dish in which they’re added!
I love all you for all the awesome coupons, and the great frugal recipes & ideas.
Definitely, Amber! And it’s totally possible to eat fantastic meals even on a shoestring budget.
This sounds so good!
Thank you, Melissa – my whole family loved it!
Question re: the amounts of preserved lemon – I just bought a jar of preserved peels from Trader Joe’s – not sure how much I would use in this recipe (eg, how many tablespoons or ?). I would appreciate your guidance – thanks! (I want to try making preserved lemons from scratch sometime but couldn’t resist trying the TJ’s product once I learned that they sell it.)
Hi Juli! I’m trying to visualize it in my mind – it’s the equivalent of 3/4 of a lemon with everything discarded but the peel, which is then chopped up. My guess is 3-4 tablespoons for the batter and then another tablespoon for the glaze. Happy baking!
I preserved lemons according to directions then after cleaning and rinsing them. I used my stick blender food processor attachment to chop the rinds. This worked well but I was wondering how much to use. Maybe a tablespoon in the cake and a teaspoon in the glaze
oops i just saw your response from 2/15 although that seems like a lot
I just came back from Phoenix with a 1/2 bushel of Meyer lemons from my daughters neighbor. I didn’t want to lose them all and there was no way I could use them fast enough. So of course I found your website and immediately made preserved lemons! I can’t wait to try them! I’ll let you know what I think when I make your lemon ginger pound cake. My husband and I love anything lemon and the candied ginger is a plus since it is another of our favs to add to dishes. Thanks so much for your advice and help. It would have broke my heart to lose these lemons!
That’s perfect, Caren! I had a friend in California bring me some Meyer lemons from her tree and that’s exactly what I did with them as well. They are perfect for preserving, such a great flavor. I’m excited for you to be able to try them in sweet and savory dishes when they’re done 🙂
I had to wait until my preserved lemons were ready (much cheaper than buying them). Once they were done, I made the cake. The flavor was amazing. I will be making my own crystallized ginger next time.
Fantastic, Linda, I’m so thrilled to hear it – thank you!
A friend of mine brought some very ripe key limes to a get together. They were yellow and had a most marvelous smell. So I preserved these. Thought they might work in this recipe as well. Can’t wait to try them in this cake.
That sounds wonderful, DG. I preserved some limes a couple of months ago myself though they weren’t key limes – that sounds even better!
I’m back ! I tried my preserved lemons on some homemade lemon pepper chicken. It was great! The preserved lemons and fresh ground pepper made an amazing sauce. I’m making the ginger pound cake now so you’ll hear from me again soon.
After using my preserved lemons in my chicken I don’t know why anyone would use the lemon-pepper seasoning. There’s no comparison!
Thanks again for turning me on to preserved lemons🙂
Fantastic, Caren!! The chicken sounds wonderful, I’ll be the sauce was amazing indeed. Thanks so much for the feedback! Happy baking! 🙂