I`m sure you`ve heard of pound cakes, lemon cakes, and 7UP cakes, but all together?? Okay, maybe you have with all these crazy food inventions going on. I haven`t, so please humor me if you have. Especially, since these little bundt cakes are scrumptious. (I think this may be the first time I`ve ever used that word on here!)
I`ve been meaning to bake a 7UP cake for a long time. I didn`t grow up drinking soda, since my mom never liked it when my sisters and I did (this never stopped my youngest sister, though!). I mean, I would drink soda occasionally, but not nearly as often as I see others drink soda. Long story short, I didn`t have any lemon-lime soda at home to bake a 7UP cake.
My youngest sister came home for a holiday, so I randomly had soda at home!! I didn`t waste any time and finally put this recipe to the test. It passed marvelously! I thought it`ll be a great way to incorporate both lemon with the 7UP into a pound cake. I mean, 7UP is a lemon soda, right?
I wanted to put my mini bundt pan to use, so I used it to bake these mini bundt cakes. However, if you have a jumbo or Texas size muffin pans, those will also work. I used my Texas size muffin pans and they were still very cute!
The cakes are dense, like a pound cake should be. I swirled in strawberry preserves after I scooped the batter into the pan. Be careful not to let the preserves touch the bottom (or top of the cakes) since they won`t look as pretty when you remove them.
These cakes will make for adorable gifts, too! As with all bundt cakes, they come out of the pan looking effortlessly beautiful! Whip up a quick lemon glaze and dust with a little powdered sugar to make for a prettier presentation.
As with great lemon desserts, they have a light and tart flavor. Trust me, any lemon lover, will appreciate these mini cakes!
Mini Lemon 7UP Pound Cakes with Strawberry Swirl
Ingredients:
Pound cake:
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1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
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3 cups granulated sugar
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2 tablespoons lemon zest
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5 large eggs
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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1 teaspoons lemon extract
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2 teaspoons lemon juice
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3 cups all purpose flour
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1 cup 7UP soda
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6 tablespoons strawberry
Glaze:
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1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
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3-5 teaspoons lemon juice
Directions:
Pound Cake:
1.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Grease mini bundt pan with cooking spray or oil well.
2.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer attachment, beat butter on medium
speed for 5 minutes.
3.
Beat in sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy.
4.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
5.
Add vanilla, lemon extract, and lemon juice. Combined well.
6.
Alternate between the flour and 7UP in three additions, mixing in
between each addition, starting and ending with the flour.
7.
Transfer batter into bundt pan.
8.
Swirl in about 1 tablespoon of strawberry preserves in each bundt cake.*
9.
Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes
out clean.
10.
Let cakes cool in pan for 20-30 minutes before inverting into a cooling
rack to cool completely.
Lemon Glaze:
11.
In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and 3 teaspoons of lemon
juice. Add more lemon juice to reach your desired consistency.
12.
Drizzle over the tops of each cake.
*Notes:
-
Make sure the strawberry preserve swirl doesn't touch the edge or bottom
of pan. As it will make it harder to remove.
-
You can bake these into Texas or Jumbo size muffin pans to get mini
cakes.
If using a mini bundt
pan, it's important for it to grease REALLY well and let the cakes cool in pan
so you can flip the cakes over without ruining it. 
