I have been trying to find ‘the’ pound cake recipe for a while. I’ve had as many errors as trials, and just felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere with it. Last week, when I just wanted to play in the kitchen for a while, and not have to experiment with figuring out the flours, starches, and liquids, I just simply adapted a recipe from Simply…Gluten-Free. Carol is a genius in the gluten-free kitchen. I’ve admired her work for years already, and have had success with all the recipes of hers that I’ve tried. That said – I had high hopes for this pound cake.
And let me tell you, it did not disappoint! This was seriously the best lemon-anything I’ve had in a while (well, since the doughnuts at least), but it was so good, and seriously got better each day after baking it. The first day it was good, but letting it sit on the counter, the second, third, and fourth day, it was even better. So moist, and lemony, purely delightful. I’m sure that this recipe could be adapted as well, to create more delicious pound cake recipes.
Yields one 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf
Adapted from Simply…Gluten-Free
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons superfine white rice flour
- 4 Tablespoons sweet rice (glutinous) flour
- 5 Tablespoons potato starch
- 3 Tablespoons tapioca starch
- 1/4 cup dry instant lemon pudding mix (OR an additional tablespoon of each sweet rice flour and potato starch)
- 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest (zest of one large lemon)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line loaf pan with parchment paper, so that the paper comes up both sides (making it easier to remove the loaf after baking).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the rice flour, sweet rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, dry pudding mix, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. The colour should be a very pale yellow. This takes about 5 minutes.
- With the mixer running on low, add the eggs, one at a time, being sure the egg is completely blended with the sugar before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl between additions to make sure everything is getting fully incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
- With the mixer on low, add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Once that is incorporated, add the milk, lemon juice, and zest to the batter. Finish by adding the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until all ingredients are fully combined.
- Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon.
- Bake in preheated oven for 65-70 minute, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. If the loaf seems to be browning too quickly, lightly cover with a sheet of foil. Allow loaf to sit in baking pan for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Cool completely before pouring a glaze over the top.
- Keep loaf wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
Glaze:
- 1 cup confectioners’ (icing) sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- lemon zest to garnish
Mix ingredients together and drizzle over cooled pound cake.
For the dry lemon pudding mix, did you use the instant or cooked variety?
Good question, Darlene, I’ll add that to the recipe. I used instant pudding mix.
Is it ok to use almond or rice milk instead of cow’s milk? I cannot wait to try this recipe! Thank you!
Yes, I think any dairy-free milk should work just fine as well.
What brand of pudding mix do you use that’s gluten free?
Jell-o brand instant lemon pudding mix. Kraft labels all allergens very clearly, and if anything would be derived from wheat, rye, barley, or oats, it is clearly labelled (I’m in Canada).
http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/products/s-u/snacks/jell-oproducts3.aspx
Ahh Jeanine..lemon..I’m a softie for that one.. Mmm, I like that this loaf uses a fair bit of lemon. I need to stock up on lemons soon!
Ah, I knew you’d love this one, Betty!
I just bought another bag of lemons..hmm…what to make now…
Is there anything that can be used in place of sweet rice flour? If not, where do you find it ??
I’m not sure what you could substitute for the sweet rice flour. Sweet rice flour, also called “Glutinous Rice Flour” can be found with other gluten-free flours, or in asian markets. It is made by grinding a sticky rice into a flour, so it is more starchy than regular rice flour.
Thanks for the information… I will have to stop by one of the asian markets and see if I can find some. Your recipe looks amazing.
Thanks, Stephanie! You can find sweet rice and white rice flour at asian markets (or even in the asian section of your grocery store) for MUCH cheaper than anywhere else.
Could you use superfine brown rice flour instead of white rice flour?
You could try, I didn’t because I wanted to make sure that the yellow colour came through nicely. If you attempt it, please let me know how it worked!
Looks wonderful, is this the picture of the one you made? I love looking at all your recipes, I just have to decide what to make haha!
Yes, this is the one I made.
Deciding what to make is the hard part!
Jeanine, your recipes are amazing !! I just made this lemon pound cake, and oh my simply delicious!!! I have also made your cinnamon rolls, monster cookies, and pizza crust all a success!! We live in Norway House, Manitoba , I have been on the gluten free diet(celiac actually ) for about 2 years now , but I love baking, you have given me the joy of baking back!! Thank you , thank you, thank you!!!
My pleasure, Claire! Thanks for letting me know that you’re enjoying the recipes, it’s what fuels me to keep going!
this looks simply amazing! I do have a question though, am I able to substitute the starches for anything else?
Thank you for sharing!
I’m not sure, Szasza, I’ve only made it as written, but if you experiment with it, please let us know how it works!
Hey! This pound cake was great! Just made it and am sampling it now. I live in the country and the stores nearest me did not carry potato starch or tapioca starch (even went to the local Health Food Store) but I wanted to try this recipe with what I had on hand as pound cake is one of my feel-good favorites. Forgot to even look for the Rice Flour, so just used my xo Baking Co. GF All Purpose Flour Blend. Substituted cup for cup, and used this flour substitution for the tapioca starch too. For the potato starch I just used corn starch. The pound cake is superb! Thanks for the recipe.
Glad to hear that, Linda! Thanks for letting us know that you were able to make those substitutions successfully!
Just wanted to say ‘thanks’ for this recipe! I made a double batch tonight in anticipation of Easter weekend visitors. It is delicious, and my gluten-loving husband can’t get enough. I also tried your cutout sugar cookie recipe at Christmas and it was a huge hit! Thanks!!
Do you think I could substitute Better Batter? Looks like it would be 1 3/4 cup + 2T…
You could try, Louanne, it might work. I’ve never played around with all purpose flours. If you try it, please let me know how it worked!
Everyone loved this at Easter dinner! Thank you, Jeanine!
Yeah!! Glad to hear that, Lois! thanks for sharing!
looks amazing! I have a question regarding using a gluten free flour blend which is what I have been using(I am new to the gluten free world and trying to navigate the jungle of gluten free baking,lol). Would I still use the potato starch in addition to the flour blend or would I add an extra 5 tbsp. of the flour blend in place of the potato starch. Thank you. Can’t wait to try it.
Hi Susan, I haven’t tried this recipe using any all purpose blends, but if you were wanting to try to sub it, I would sub 1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons of all purpose blend for the white rice, sweet rice, potato and tapioca starches. Also, check to see if your all purpose already has xanthan gum or not. If it does, you can eliminate that as well. Let me know how it works for you – as written it’s amazing, but I haven’t tried any other way.
thank you! I do not have any sweet rice or white rice flour so wanted to try it with my all purpose mix. I live in a very rural area and the closest store that has anything worthwhile driving for gluten related is at least 60 miles away so have kind of tried to make do as I can. Gluten free baking is so very different from regular baking…but, I keep plugging along,lol. Your recipes look amazing and can’t wait to get started on trying some of them
Susan, did your all purpose flour blend work? I know what it’s like to live rural too – it’s not easy when you need multiple ingredients just to bake.
This recipe was incredible. I love it. It got rave reviews from guests I had over this weekend – even though I didn’t use the glaze. I’ve also tried it with the glaze in a previous attempt and that was amazing, too. I used coconut milk and coconut oil in place of the milk and butter since one of my guests was allergic to dairy and it worked very, very well.
Great tips on making it dairy-free, Jennifer! Thanks so much for sharing what worked for you, I appreciate it!
I made the lemon gf pound cake this morning.
It looked beautiful when it first came out of the over.
I had tested it to make sure that it was done, and the tester came out clean.
As soon as it was starting to cool, it fell.
When I cut a piece after cooling, it was doughy.
The flavor was good, but that was about all I could say about the cake.
I was so disappointed.
I’m sorry to hear that, Peggy! A few questions that might help me figure out what went wrong – Did you make any substitutions? Do you have an oven thermometer? What kind of bakeware did you use (silicone, glass, non-stick metal, etc)?
It really is a great cake, sorry it didn’t work well for you though.
I didn’t make any substitutions and I used a metal loaf pan.
I do not have a oven thermometer.
The cake really smelled good and had a good pound cake flavor.
Very odd – I wish I had an answer for you, Peggy. There are so many factors in gluten-free baking, it’s hard to pin-point exactly what it could be. Sometimes, it’s as simple as 5 more minutes of baking.