SAFFRON LEMON POUNDCAKE

FOR THE GLAZE:
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 small pinch (about 15 to 20 threads) saffron
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
FOR THE CAKE:
Fine dry bread crumbs
1 cup milk
1 large pinch saffron (about 60 threads)
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound sweet (unsalted) butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch tube pan or two loaf pans. Coat the bottom and sides with the bread crumbs and set aside.

Stir all the ingredients for the glaze into a small bowl and set aside.

Heat the milk in a small saucepan, and when hot (but not boiling), remove from heat and stir in the saffron. Set aside for 20 minutes.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together; then beat the eggs in, one at a time. Alternate folding into the batter the dry ingredients with the milk. Stir the grated lemon rind into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 65 minutes to 1 hour, 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Immediately remove cake from pan. Invert the cake onto a rack over a bowl, and pour the glaze over the cake until all the glaze is absorbed.

Yield: 16 servings
Source: Secrets of Saffron by Pat Willard