Lighter Lemon Pound Cake #BundtBakers

This lighter lemon pound cake has less butter the original version but with the sour cream and lemon, you won’t miss it at all. Made with Swerve, everyone can enjoy it! For a little extra innocent richness, serve it with a dollop of lightly sweetened low fat Greek yogurt and berries. 

For this month’s Bundt Bakers, our host chose “angel or devil” as the theme.  I interpreted this as healthy cake (relatively speaking) vs. decadent cake so I put on my thinking cap and started to Google search lighter pound cake. 

I came across all sorts of “lighter” pound cakes! Apparently it’s a thing. Who knew? Many of them claimed to be lighter but had a whole cup of butter and an equal amount of sugar. Umm, no. That’s regular pound cake. 

Lighter Lemon Pound Cake

I used “brown sugar” Swerve to bake these cakes to make them more diabetic friendly and I baked the batter in a Nordic Ware Duet pan, which has a capacity of 5 cups. It’s perfect for making one cake to keep and one to share. Which is the best “lighten up” option! Sharing is caring. If you bake yours in a 6-cup Bundt pan, it might need just a little longer in the oven. This recipe was adapted from one on Just a Pinch. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup or 180g cake flour, plus extra for pan

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 tablespoons butter, softened, plus extra for pan

3/4 cup, packed, or 75g Swerve or light brown sugar

1/2 cup or 120g sour cream

Zest 1 lemon 

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 egg, at room temperature

1 egg white, at room temperature

2 tablespoons milk

Recommended for serving: 

Greek yogurt lightly sweetened with Swerve or sugar

Fresh berries

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 5- or 6-cup Bundt pan by greasing it with butter and coating it with flour.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside.

In another bowl, beat the butter and Swerve/sugar until creamy and lighter in color.

Add sour cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, egg,  egg white and milk to the butter mixture. 

Beat 2 minutes on high speed.

Add flour mixture. 

Beat on lowest speed, no more than 10 seconds, until just combined.

Spoon the cake batter into your prepared Bundt pans.

Place on one rack above middle in the oven. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Cool for about 7 minutes on a wire rack then use a wooden skewer to loosen the sides and middle then turn the cakes out of the pan. Cool completely. 

This cake is wonderful plain or if you want to fancy it up, with a dollop of Greek yogurt, sweetened with a little more Swerve or sugar, topped with fresh berries. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the third Thursday of the month so welcome to Bundt Bakers! As mentioned above, our host chose angel or devil as our theme. Check out how our bakers interpreted that theme below. Many thanks to Rebekah of Making Miracles for hosting!

• Sneha’s Recipe: Black & White Pound Bundt
• Passion Kneaded: Chocolate Overload Bundt Cake
• Patyco Candybar: Dark Angel Bundt Cake
• Magical Ingredients: Devil's Black Forest Bundt Cake
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Devil's Bundt Cake
• All That's Left Are The Crumbs: Devil's Food Cake Bundt with Chili Caramel Sauce 
• Food Lust People Love: Lighter Lemon Pound Cake
• Making Miracles: The Devil's Mini Bundt Cakes 

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

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Spicy Ham Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

These Spicy Ham Pimento Cheese Sandwiches are a welcome savory treat that is perfect for parties or picnics. Like ‘em even spicier, add more jalapeño!

A couple of weeks ago, my husband made a dish that called for eight ounces of roasted red peppers aka pimentos. Younger daughter was dispatched to the store and came home with a 12-ounce jar. Now you or I might have just hummed the whole thing in but my husband is still quite the recipe rule follower (although he is getting better with experience) so he weighed out 8 ounces and put the rest in the refrigerator. 

Fortuitously, my pimento cheese recipe calls for exactly four ounces so it did not go to waste. To change things up a little, I added eight ounces of diced ham as well. Delicious!

Spicy Ham Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

For this sandwich spread, I used a pack of ready diced ham but this would also be an excellent use for some of your leftover baked ham from Easter or Christmas. If you don’t have leftover pimentos, there are 4 oz jars available at most grocery stores. 

Ingredients 

1 (4 oz or 113g)) jar pimentos, drained and chopped

1-2 teaspoons finely grated onion, plus any juice

8 oz or 227g extra sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated

1 fresh jalapeño, minced

8 oz or 227g diced ham

1/2 cup or 120ml mayonnaise

10 slices sandwich bread, crusts removed

Method

Grate the cheddar finely into a large bowl with plenty of room for mixing. Use a microplane to grate the onion right in top of the cheese so that any onion juice will also drip in. 

Add in the minced jalapeño and the pimentos. Use a fork to mix them thoroughly with the cheese and onion.

Add in the diced ham and mix again. It’s easier to mix thoroughly when the ingredients are dry so make sure to do this before adding the mayonnaise. 

Now, add in the mayonnaise and mix well.

Spread on bread for sandwiches. Be generous! Put it on thick. No one likes skimpy sandwich filling.

Or if you want to get fancy, cut the sandwiches into three. These will be very popular on a party table.

If you make them ahead, refrigerate the sandwiches covered with slightly damp paper towels and then cling film. This keeps the bread from getting dried out and stale. 

Enjoy!

Happy Easter to my readers who celebrate today! It’s Sunday FunDay and my friends and I are sharing creative ham sandwiches. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Keto 2-Minute Protein Bread & A Ham Sandwich from Sneha's Recipe
• Peameal Ham and Egg Breakfast Sandwich from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Spicy Ham Pimento Cheese Sandwiches from Food Lust People Love
• Grilled Ham, Cheese and Tomato Sandwich from Palatable Pastime
• Ham & Pickle Sandwich from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Croque Monsieur from Making Miracles

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Artichoke Tuna Bean Salad

This tasty Artichoke Tuna Bean Salad is easy to toss together but it’s full of flavor and makes a wonderful starter or light meal. 

One pantry staple we are never without is tuna in a can. Many an afternoon I hear the snick-snick of the can opener and either my husband or daughter is opening a can to eat with fork, straight from the can. It’s one of my favorite things to eat as well. 

That said, often of a morning you will find me boiling eggs in the Instant Pot, just to make my southern-style tuna salad. Where I come from, tuna salad has to have boiled eggs in it! I love to eat it on soft sandwich bread or piled high on Triskets. 

Back in my college days, what I called tuna surprise was one of my favorite meals. It required just three ingredients: noodles, cream cheese and a can of tuna. 

Bonus Tuna Surprise recipe: Just boil the noodles and drain. Add the cream cheese to the hot pot of pasta and stir till melted. Add tuna and stir again. This is seriously delicious and a relatively cheap, warm bowl of comfort food. If you want to get fancy, pour the whole pot in a casserole dish and bake till browned on top but that step is not really necessary.

Artichoke Tuna Bean Salad

This recipe is adapted from one in New York Times Cooking. According to the original author, it’s a mainstay in her house since it uses ingredients she usually has on hand for an easy light meal. I added a few ingredients but would still wholeheartedly agree.

Ingredients – Serves 4-6 as a starter

1 jar (6.5 oz or 185g) marinated quartered artichoke hearts, drained and 1/4 cup or 60ml marinade reserved

1 small or 1/2 medium red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced 40g

1 small red chili pepper, minced

2 teaspoons cider vinegar 

1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 (12-oz or 340g) can water-packed albacore tuna, drained

1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans or borlotti beans, drained through a strainer and rinsed

Several sprigs Italian parsley leaves, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Baby spinach to serve, if desired

Method

Place the onion and chili pepper in a bowl and add the vinegar. Leave to marinate. 

Pour the vinegar into 1/4 cup or 60ml of the reserved artichoke marinade and then whisk in the Dijon mustard and yogurt. Add a pinch of fine sea salt and a few good grinds of black pepper.

In a large bowl, combine the artichoke hearts, beans, onion and chili pepper.

Add the tuna and pour on the dressing. Toss gently to coat. Garnish with parsley. 

Serve as is or put a small handful of baby spinach on each plate then top with the artichoke tuna bean salad. 

Enjoy!

It’s the second Friday of the month which means it’s time for my Fish Friday Foodies to share recipes. Today’s theme is Fish from a Can. I love this theme! Canned fish is tasty and convenient. I always have sardines, tuna, anchovies, smoked oysters, salmon, etc. in my pantry so I can’t wait to see all the other canned fish recipes. Check them out below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Food Lust People Love: Artichoke Tuna Bean Salad 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Keto Tuna Melt Chaffle 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Smoked Clam Dip 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Spicy Salmon and Potato Croquettes 
• Palatable Pastime: Tuna Melt
• Culinary Cam: Growing an Appreciation for Tinned and Jarred Fish + an Anchovy-Artichoke Egg Salad Recipe

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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