Luscious Lemon Apple Yogurt Pound Cakes
Luscious Lemon Apple Yogurt Pound Cakes
Pound cakes are one of the easiest things to bake. You don't even need a recipe to make one because the recipe lies within the name: a pound of flour, a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, and a pound of eggs. That's it! The original recipe dates back to the 1700s in England, but today you can find many variations of this simple cake.
People have begun adding leavening to make it less dense; orange zest to give it a burst of flavor; and chocolate to make it more, well, chocolatey! That's the beautiful thing about pound cake: it's a blank canvas that's pretty much foolproof, for whatever your heart desires!
Happy & Healthy Cooking,
Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills
- chop :
to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.
- knife skills :
Bear Claw (growl), Pinch, Plank, and Bridge (look out for trolls).
- measure :
to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).
- pour :
to cause liquid, granules, or powder to stream from one container into another.
- wet vs dry :
to mix wet and dry ingredients separately before combining them: dry ingredients are flours, leavening agents, salt, and spices; wet ingredients are those that dissolve or can be dissolved (sugar, eggs, butter, oils, honey, vanilla, milk, and juices).
- whisk :
to beat or stir ingredients vigorously with a fork or whisk to mix, blend, or incorporate air.
- zest :
to scrape off the outer colored part of a citrus fruit's rind (skin or peel) using a metal tool with small sharp blades, such as a zester, microplane, or the small holes of a grater (avoid the "pith," the white, spongy lining of the rind that can be bitter).
Equipment Checklist
- Oven
- Zester (or grater with small zesting plate/side)
- Citrus juicer (optional)
- Cutting board + kid-safe knife
- Medium mixing bowl
- Dry measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Large mixing bowl
- Liquid measuring cup
- Whisk
- Muffin pan
- Paper cupcake liners (optional)
- Toothpicks
Ingredients
Luscious Lemon Apple Yogurt Pound Cakes
- 1 lemon, zested + juiced (1/3 C lemon juice)
- 1/2 Granny Smith apple (1/4 C chopped apple)
- 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour **(for GLUTEN ALLERGY sub gluten-free/nut-free all-purpose flour)**
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 eggs **(for EGG ALLERGY follow Dairy & Egg-Free recipe)**
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract **(for GLUTEN ALLERGY use certified gluten-free pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla flavor—check label)**
- 2 T butter, softened to room temperature **(for DAIRY ALLERGY sub dairy-free/nut-free butter, like Earth Balance, or follow Dairy & Egg-Free recipe)**
- 1 C sugar (or 1/2 C sugar + 1 tsp stevia for less sugar in your cakes)
- 1/4 C vegetable oil **
- 2 T plain yogurt **(for DAIRY ALLERGY sub dairy-free/nut-free plain yogurt or follow Dairy & Egg-Free recipe)**
Food Allergen Substitutions
Luscious Lemon Apple Yogurt Pound Cakes
- Gluten/Wheat: Substitute gluten-free/nut-free all-purpose flour. Use certified gluten-free pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla flavor.
- Dairy: Substitute dairy-free/nut-free plain yogurt and dairy-free/nut-free butter, like Earth Balance, or follow our Dairy & Egg-Free recipe.
- Egg: Follow Dairy & Egg-Free recipe.
- Soy: Substitute canola oil or other nut-free oil for vegetable oil.
Instructions
Luscious Lemon Apple Yogurt Pound Cakes
preheat + zest + juice
Preheat your oven to 400 F. Zest the outside of 1 lemon (only the yellow part—it has all the flavor, and the white "pith" is bitter). Squeeze out the lemon juice and set it aside for this and other recipes.
peel + chop
Peel and chop 1/2 Granny Smith apple into very tiny bits, or use your grater.
measure + whisk
In a medium bowl, measure and combine the dry ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and whisk together until combined.
crack + add + whisk
In a large bowl, crack 3 eggs and then add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons yogurt, 1/4 cup of the apple, and the lemon zest. Whisk until well mixed and smooth.
pour + combine
Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and whisk until smooth.
bake + cool + drizzle
Fill the wells of a paper-lined or greased muffin pan 3/4 full with batter and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool. Once cooled, drizzle Yummy Yogurt Glaze (see recipe) over cakes and enjoy!
Hi! I'm Lemon!
“I just love the sun, don't you? That's because I'm a lemon, and we grow so much better in sun and warmth. My skin is a lovely, sunny yellow color. I'm a citrus fruit, but I'm not sweet like an orange. So if you bite into me, your mouth might pucker! But if you squeeze out my juice, then add water and sugar to it, you'll enjoy the sweet and sour taste of lemonade! My zest and juice can bring a wonderful brightness to many dishes."
History
- Lemon trees are small evergreen trees thought to be native to Asia. Sometime in the first century, they came to Italy and the Mediterranean region. Although the trees were widely distributed throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean countries between the 8th and 11th centuries, they weren't cultivated to a great extent until the middle of the 1400s in Italy. Spanish explorers brought lemon seeds with them to the Americas later in the 15th century. By the 19th century, you could find lemon trees in Florida and California.
- Today, California and Arizona produce 95 percent of the entire lemon crop in the United States.
- During the European Renaissance, fashionable ladies used lemon juice as a way to redden their lips! Today you might find people with naturally blond or light brown hair using lemon juice, diluted with water, to lighten their hair. This method is subtle and requires exposure to sunlight to see results, so be sure to put sunscreen on your skin!
- Lemons were once so rare that kings would give them away as gifts.
Anatomy & Etymology
- There are two different types of lemons—acidic and sweet. The most common acidic varieties include Eurekas and Lisbons. The acidic types are grown commercially, and the sweet types are grown mainly by home gardeners. Lemon trees bloom and produce fruit year-round. Each tree can produce up to 500 to 600 lemons annually.
- Lemons are hybrids of bitter or sour oranges and citrons, another type of citrus fruit.
- Lemons are technically berries. All citrus fruits are berries!
- Lemons are protected by a rind or peel and a lining of spongy, white tissue called the "pith." When zesting lemon peel for a recipe, you want to avoid including the pith, which is bitter. Lemon flesh is plump, full of juice, and studded with seeds.
- Common types of lemons include Eureka, Lisbon, and Meyer. Meyer lemons have a sweeter, more floral taste and aroma. They are a combination of a lemon and a sweet orange. Eureka lemons are the most prolifically grown lemon in the world. They have pointed, tapered ends.
- The word "lemon" is from the Middle English "lymon," from the Old French "limon," which is from the Arabic "līmūn," a collective term for citrus fruits.
How to Pick, Buy, & Eat
- To choose lemons with the most juice, look for those with thin peels and are heavy for their size. There are about three tablespoons of lemon juice in one lemon and about eight seeds.
- Lemon juice is sour by itself, but you can add lemon juice and zest from the rind to bring an acidic balance to a sweeter recipe, like cakes, cookies, and curds. It also brightens up vinaigrettes, marinades, and risottos. Lemons can be squeezed over grilled, fried, or roasted chicken, fish, or vegetables. You can make lemonade with the juice and tea from the lemon leaves.
- Lemon juice keeps cut pears, apples, bananas, and avocados from turning brown because the acid helps keep the fruit from oxidizing.
Nutrition
- Vitamin C! The rind of the lemon has the most vitamin C. Since lemons are high in vitamin C, they have been used throughout history to prevent scurvy—a disease that causes bleeding gums, loose teeth, and aching joints. To this day, the British Navy requires ships to carry enough lemons so that every sailor can have one ounce of lemon juice a day. The demand for lemons and their scurvy-preventing properties hit a peak during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Miners were willing to pay large sums for a single lemon. As a result, lemon trees were planted in abundance throughout California.
- Lemon oil, extracted from lemon peel, cannot be ingested. However, when diluted and applied to a person's skin, there is evidence that it acts as an antibacterial and antifungal. Diffused in the air or added to bath water as aromatherapy, it can ease anxiety and stress, lift mood, and sharpen brain function.
- Citrus fruits, like lemons and limes, have citric acid, which can help prevent kidney stones from forming.
History of Pound Cake!
- When created in the 1700s, pound cake was made with one pound of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs, and this simple convention made it easy to remember the recipe when many people could not read. However, a cake made of one pound of each ingredient would have been quite large, serving multiple families. So, as the years went by, the portions of the ingredients were adjusted to make a smaller, lighter cake. However, the name of the cake stuck.
- A variation on pound cake in the 1800s used cornmeal to replace some of the flour and was called "Indian Pound Cake."
- In France, they call pound cake "quatre-quarts," meaning "four quarters," because each of the four quarters of the cake weighs the same. The French sometimes use beaten egg whites in place of whole eggs, creating a lighter batter. They may also add chocolate or lemon juice for flavor.
Let's learn about England!
- England is ruled by a Monarch, a Prime Minister, and a Parliament. Windsor Castle is the oldest royal castle in the world that is still being used by the royal family.
- England is on the island of Great Britain, along with Wales and Scotland. It is also part of the United Kingdom, which consists of those three countries and Northern Ireland.
- Did you know that there's no place in the UK that is more than 70 miles from the sea?!
- Stonehenge is a construction of immense stones that the early inhabitants of what's now Wiltshire, England, began building around 3100 BCE. The final sections were completed around 1600 BCE. Scientists are still not sure how or why they built it. One theory for its purpose is an astronomical observatory. It is very popular with tourists.
- Other popular tourist spots in England include the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament (Palace of Westminster), the Roman Baths and the city of Bath, and the Lake District.
- London, the capital city, wasn't always called that. In the past, its name was Londonium.
- England took part in the briefest war in history. They fought Zanzibar in 1896, and Zanzibar surrendered after just 38 minutes!
- There have been several influential English authors, but perhaps the most well-known is William Shakespeare, who wrote classics such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet.
- English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web.
- The British really like their sandwiches—they eat almost 11.5 billion a year!
What's It Like to Be a Kid in England?
- Most schools in England require students to wear a school uniform.
- Sports kids play include football (soccer), cricket, rugby, tennis, netball (similar to basketball), and rounders (similar to baseball). They also play video games, watch the telly, and ride bikes or skateboards.
- Boxing Day is a unique holiday kids celebrate in England the day after Christmas, December 26. The official public holiday is the first weekday after Christmas if Boxing Day falls on a weekend. When the English created the holiday, it was the day to share the contents of alms boxes with the poor. Today, it is mostly a day off from school and work, although some small gifts may be given out to family and employees, or collected to give to the poor.
- English kids may have different names for everyday items also found in the United States. For example, a kid will call his mom "mum." Their backyard is a "garden." A big truck is called a "lorry," and the trunk of a car is a "boot." Biscuits in the US are closest to the British "scones," and cookies in England are "biscuits." A TV is usually called a "telly." Bags of chips are referred to as bags of "crisps." French fries, like those from a fast-food hamburger place, might be called "fries," but if they are thicker, like the ones typically served with batter-fried fish, they're called "chips" (fish and chips). Finally, kids call the fish sticks they might have for lunch "fish fingers.
THYME for a Laugh
What did the lemon say to the cake?
"Sour you doing?"
Lettuce Joke Around
What kind of apple has a short temper?
A crab apple!
Lettuce Joke Around
Why did the students eat their homework?
Because the teacher said it was a piece of cake!
THYME for a Laugh
Why did the apple cry?
Its peelings were hurt!
That's Berry Funny
What do you give an injured lemon?
Lemon-aid!
That's Berry Funny
What is a giant's favorite kind of birthday cake?
One Million Pound Cake!
THYME for a Laugh
Why was the cake as heavy as a rock?
Because it was pound cake.
Lettuce Joke Around
Why did the pound cake go to the doctor?
Because it was feeling crumby!
Lettuce Joke Around
What reads and lives in an apple?
A bookworm.
