7-Up Pound Cake

My husband does not like chocolate desserts. In fact there are very few he will even try, so I always look for recipes that appeal to him as well. Looking through one of my old Cook's Country magazines I came across a recipe that I just knew he would love, 7UP Pound cake.

Except for the 7UP most of the ingredients mirror traditional pound cakes. The addition of 7UP provides citric acid (it tenderizes) and carbonation (which lifts) to the cake which in turn makes the crumb of the cake tight but light; where a normal pound cake can actually be quite dense. Another difference in this cake is the play on the 7UP flavors with additional lemon juice, lime juice, and the zest of both which are added to the batter.

In most pound cakes the eggs are creamed with butter and sugar, but with the addition of the extra acid from the fresh fruit it would curdle the batter and turn the finished product into a gummy mess. So Cook's Country figured out a method to use melted butter which will coat and protect the gluten. Another difference in this recipe is that it is almost made exclusively in the food processor rather than a stand mixer which ensures the emulsification. 

All of this along with a fantastic glaze (powdered sugar, lemon, and lime juice) turned this into a big, buttery cake, that had a forceful lemon-lime flavor worthy of the 7UP name. Best of all, my family and especially my husband enjoyed this pound cake very much.

7-UP Pound Cake

(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup 7-UP, at room temperature*

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated lime zest

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

3 1/4 cups cake flour

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

*Instead of 7-UP other lemon lime sodas like the following may be used: Sprite, Mountain Dew or Sierra Mist. Just make sure it isn't Diet as that will turn the cake pale and tough.

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12-cup non-stick tube pan. Process sugar, eggs, 7UP, lemon zest and juice, lime zest and juice, and salt in food processor until smooth. With machine running, slowly pour in butter and process until incorporated. Transfer to large bowl. Add flour in tree additions, whisking until combined.

Spread batter in prepared pan. Gently tap pan on counter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely, about 2 hours.

Whisk confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and lime juice in bowl until smooth. Pour glaze over cooled cake. Let glaze set 10 minutes. Serve. (Cake can be stored wrapped or in a cake container for 3 days at room temperature).