The Holiday Baking Begins

When Dan and I worked in Sharonville, I organized a "baked goods" silent auction to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It was a fun twist on a traditional bake sale. People donated a baked good and the bidding started at $1.00. One of the donations was a lemon pound cake from our co-worker Kellie who worked with me on the conversion in Greensboro, NC. Kellie's cake went for something like $35. I couldn't imagine what made so many people bid on it, and what made it go for that much money (I mean, isn't a cake just flour and sugar?). Well, after having had some of the cake when the generous winner shared it, I understood.

I have asked Kellie for the recipe at least five times, and have always misplaced it, or deleted the e-mail she sent. She sent it again when I was on bedrest and I finally wrote it down for my little vintage recipe box. I made it for our neighbor Dave's birthday, which we'll celebrate on Friday.

Here's the recipe, it's super easy and sure to be a crowd pleaser. The outside gets nice and crusty and the inside is dense and delicious. It's excellent. Thank you Kellie!

3 cups of sugar
3 sticks of butter (I know, I know...Paula Dean would be proud)
cream the butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes
add in 3 cups of flour gradually, mix well
add in 5 eggs, one at a time, and mix well
fold in 3/4 cup of lemon-lime soda and 2 tablespoons of lemon extract
pour the batter into a greased bundt pan and bake at 325 degrees for 1.25 hours
let the cake cool, then flip it upside down, get it out of the bundt and let it cool
taste it, and tell me how good it is