Anne Byrn, known as the Cake Mix Doctor to a generation of home bakers, has done it again. Her latest cookbook, Baking in the American South, is a treasure trove of the recipes and stories that constitute Southern baking’s history. This book, stuffed with 200 delectable recipes, is Anne’s “love letter to Southern baking, a legacy built by grandmothers, modern chefs, and Black women and men who pioneered these flavors.” A meticulously researched cookbook that is as much fun to read as it is to cook from! Grab an apron, a wooden spoon, and your electric mixer—”this rich and lemony quick bread or cake slices and keeps well for several days!”
Malinda Russell’s Lemon Drizzle Loaves
From Anne Byrn in Baking in the Amercian South—One of the earliest mentions of lemon cake in a Southern cookbook is in A Domestic Cook Book (1866), thirty-nine pages of recipes by Malinda Russell. It was the first US cookbook authored by a Black woman, according to the late Jan Longone, a University of Michigan historian and an antique cookbook collector. Russell, born and raised in East Tennessee, had been trained in the kitchen by a formerly enslaved cook in Virginia and ran both a boarding house and a pastry shop prior to the Civil War. She baked professionally in a distinctive English style, flavoring cakes and pastries with lemon, brandy, rose water, and almonds. In this recipe based on one of hers, I have made only slight adjustments for the modern kitchen, adding a little sour cream to lighten the loaf and using fewer eggs because eggs are larger now than they used to be.
BREAD
Makes 2 to 3 loaves Prep: 20 to 25 minutes Bake: 55 to 62 minutes
1 pound (4 sticks/454 grams) unsalted butter, soft but cool to the touch, plus 2 teaspoons for greasing the pans
3 1/2 cups (420 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus 1 teaspoon for sprinkling the pans
2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sour cream, plain full-fat yogurt, or heavy cream
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
GLAZE
2 cups (216 grams) sifted confectioners’ sugar (sift before measuring)
4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice or half lemon juice and half milk
Lemon zest, kumquat slices, and edible flower blossoms for garnishes
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the oven to 350F, with a rack in the middle. Using the 2 teaspoons butter and the
1 teaspoon flour, grease and flour three 7 1/4- by-3 1/2-inch loaf pans or two 9-by-5-inch pans and set aside.
Place the 1 pound butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until the mixture lightens in color and texture, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue beating, adding the eggs one at a time until combined. Stop the machine.
Stir together the 3 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add half to the butter mixture and beat on low until just combined. Mix in the sour cream, yogurt, or cream, along with the lemon zest and juice, and beat until combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until incorporated.
Turn the batter into the prepared pans and bake until the cakes are golden brown and the tops spring back when lightly pressed in the center, 55 to 60 minutes for the smaller loaves or 58 to 62 minutes for the larger. Remove to a wire rack to cool in the pans for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the glaze: Place the sugar in a small bowl and whisk in the zest and juice until smooth.
Run a knife around the sides of the pans and invert the loaves into your hand and place them on the rack right side up. Spoon the glaze over the warm loaves, allowing it to run down the sides. Top with the garnishes, if desired. Let cool completely before slicing, about 1 hour.
Thank you, Anne! Congratulations on your beautiful book!
Taken from Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories by Anne Byrn. Copyright © 2024 by Anne Byrn. Photographs © 2024 by Rinne Allen. Used by permission of Harper Celebrate.