I love tart lemon and lime bars and other citrus desserts. Along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, sweet and tangy desserts are the perfect way to end your meal. I was looking for a recipe that included sour cream. I had exactly 1 cup that I wanted to use up and voila! I found this in my recipe box tucked away behind the “cake” section. I wish I could remember who it belonged to so I could thank them.
Besides the sour cream, the recipe includes 1 full cup of lemon/lime juice. Part of the juice goes into the cake and the other half in the syrup that you drizzle over the cake when it’s done baking. Not enough zing? There’s citrus zest too.
Citrus Sour Cream Loaf
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup each, fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice
1 teaspoon each, lemon and lime zest
1/2 cup melted butter
Citrus Syrup
1/4 cup each, fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon citrus zest
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with waxed paper. Butter the pan (or spray with Pam).
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, briskly stir the sugar with the eggs. Whisk in sour cream, citrus juice and zest. Whisk gently to combine. Fold dry ingredients into wet, then whisk in melted butter. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for about 50 minutes or until done (check at 45 minutes).
While the cake is baking bring the lemon and lime juice to a simmer in a small saucepan. Mix in the sugar and zest and simmer for about 4 minutes until slightly thickened.
Cool loaf in pan for 15 minutes then remove to a cake rack and pierce the top of the loaf thoroughly with a long skewer. Drizzle the warm syrup over the cake letting it soak up the citrus syrup.
***The original recipe calls for an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan. After pouring the batter into the pan and seeing how little space there was at the top of the pan I was afraid that it might overflow so I switched it out for a 9 x 5 inch pan.
***For lactose free recipe use Green Valley lactose free sour cream and Earth Balance buttery sticks.