Author: Susan Murray, www.awomancooksinasheville.com
Ingredients
For the Pound Cake
½cchopped fresh basil
Zest of two large lemons
1cbuttersoftened
3eggs
2 ¼csugar
3cflour
½tspbaking soda
½tspsalt
1cbuttermilk
2tbspfresh lemon juice
½cchopped freeze-dried strawberries
For the Glaze
¼lbfresh strawberries
1tbspmilk
2cpowdered sugar
1tspvanilla
Instructions
Make the cake.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8” x 5” loaf pans with baking spray. Line the bottoms with parchment paper and lightly spray the paper.
Put the sugar, chopped basil and lemon zest in a small bowl and use your fingers to massage the basil and lemon into the sugar.
Put two sticks (1 cup) of butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugar mixture and beat on low for one minute until it is blended together. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue beating until it is very light and creamy, 5 to 8 minutes. Scrap down the bowl once or twice during the mixing process.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the lemon juice to the buttermilk and stir together.
Add one-quarter of the flour to the batter and beat it in on low. Add one-third of the buttermilk and lemon mixture and beat it in. Continue with one-quarter of the flour followed by one-third of the milk, ending with the flour, until everything is mixed in.
Stir in the chopped strawberries.
Split the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and bake 55-60 minutes until done. Let the cakes cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the strawberry glaze.
Clean the strawberries and remove the green tops. Cut them into small pieces and puree them with the milk in a blender or with an immersion blender. It does not have to be a smooth puree.
Add the powdered sugar and vanilla to the strawberry puree. You should have a thick but pourable icing. If necessary, add a drop or two more milk.
Pour the glaze over the cakes, letting it drip down the side.
Let the glaze set before cutting into the cake.
Recipe Notes
Note: If you have no buttermilk make a substitute by stirring a teaspoon of vinegar into a cup of whole milk. Let it thicken for five minutes before using.
The cake(s) can be frozen for up to a month.