Stone fruit gets tipsy with Tuaca & served up over Lemon Pound Cake. Finish it off with a flourish of Cream Chantilly. Simply omit the Tuaca for a non-alcoholic version.

Serves 6-8. makes 1 loaf

Lemon Pound Cake

• 2 cups pastry flour

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 2 sticks butter, at room temp.

• 2 cups sugar

• 6 large eggs, at room temp.

• 1/4 cup whole milk

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 cup fine lemon zest

• 1 tsp. vanilla

• coconut oil for brushing (optional; see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 325f. Prepare a bread pan with non-stick spray. Sift flour, baking powder & salt into a bowl. Beat the butter & sugar until pale & fluffy. Add 1 egg at a time mixing between additions. Using a wooden spoon, fold in 1/2 of the flour mixture followed by milk, then remaining flour mixture followed by juice, zest & vanilla. Pour into prepared pan & bake until golden brown on top or until a tooth pick inserted the center comes out clean (about 1 hour). Allow loaf to cool 20 minutes before turning out of pan. Let it cool completely before slicing or cutting into cubes.

Chef Notes: If you are serving this lemon pound cake alone (without the drunken stone-fruit) then I recommend glazing with 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice & just enough powdered sugar to make it drizzle consistency. Once the loaf is turned out, poke the top of the cake with a toothpick in 1” intervals & pour over citrus glaze allowing it to run down the sides.

You can easily turn this into a traditional pound cake by replacing the lemon juice with additional milk & increasing the vanilla to 1 1/2 tsp. A straight forward buttery pound cake would pair nicely with grilled apricots. Drizzle with warmed apricot jam.

You can also do an almond version by replacing the lemon juice with additional milk & substituting almond emulsion for vanilla. Make an almond glaze with 1/4 cup water & enough powdered sugar to get a nice drizzle consistency, add a couple drops of almond emulsion & toss on a handful of toasted sliced almonds. This pairs well with peaches. Finish with a dollop of Cream Chantilly & a bit of toasted almonds.

Drunken Nectarines

• 8 nectarines halved (you may use any stone-fruit here, nectarine, peach or apricot)

• 1/4 cup Tuaca (you may substitute dark rum but increase maple syrup to 3 tbsp.)

• 2 tbsp. pure amber maple syrup

Marinate the nectarine wedges in Tuaca & maple syrup for an hour (or overnight if you wish.) Skewer nectarine halves on a stick alternating with large cubes of lemon pound cake. Brush with coconut oil (or other neutral flavored oil) & toast over an open fire until pound is lightly browned & nectarines are caramelized. Alternately, you can saute the stone fruit in a bit of browned butter & serve them over thick slices of pound cake instead. Top with Cream Chantilly (whipped cream.)

Chef Notes: To make brown butter; melt 1 tbsp. of butter in a saute pan over medium heat until the butter foams up, turns slightly brown & gives of a nutty aroma. Browned butter has divine flavor with many applications.

The images above give some different versions of this recipe. The first image (left to right) is an almond pound cake version with peaches. The second image shows sautéing nectarines in brown butter & maple syrup finishing with a splash of with Tuaca. In the last image an electric Habachi was used to toast the pound cake & nectarine skewers rather than over an open fire for an indoor version.