In this article
Every community cookbook in the South has a 7UP pound cake in it, and most have it three times, sent in by three different women, each one sure it was hers. It is a plain pound cake with one strange ingredient, and that ingredient is the whole point.
The soda does two jobs. There is no baking powder in this cake at all, so the lift comes from the air beaten into the butter and sugar and from the bubbles in the soda. That is why the can is opened at the last minute. Flat soda, flat cake. The second job is flavor. Lemon-lime soda, with the peel of two lemons and a little juice, gives the cake a bright taste that is not quite lemon and not quite anything else. People take a bite and ask what it is.
Why this 7UP pound cake works
- Bubbles instead of baking powder. Fresh, fizzy soda carries carbonation into the batter, and it expands in the oven. The crumb comes out finer than with chemical leavening.
- A long creaming. Six or seven minutes of beating the butter and sugar builds the air that holds the cake up. This is the step most people cut short.
- Sugar from the soda. It keeps the crumb moist and helps the crust turn deep gold. That is why diet soda never works here.
- Glazed while barely warm. A slightly warm cake drinks in the first of the glaze and lets the rest set on top in a thin white shell.
Ingredients
Makes one 12-cup Bundt cake, about 16 slices. The measurements are in US cups with grams in brackets.
For the cake
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks, 340g), soft
- 3 cups granulated sugar (600g)
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375g)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 3/4 cup lemon-lime soda such as 7UP (180ml), from a freshly opened can
- Finely grated peel of 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (30ml)
- Soft butter and flour for the pan
For the glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar (120g)
- 2 tablespoons lemon-lime soda (30ml), from the same can
- A squeeze of lemon juice, about 2 teaspoons
Not diet soda. Ever. The sugar in the soda is part of the recipe and the diet kind leaves an aftertaste nobody will thank you for. Do not open the can until the moment you need it.
How to make 7UP pound cake
- Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with soft butter, working it into every crease. Dust the pan with flour, turn it to coat and tap out the excess.
- In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the soft butter with the sugar on medium-high speed for 6 to 7 minutes, scraping the bowl twice, until very pale and fluffy. Do not shorten this step.
- Add the 5 eggs one at a time, beating for about 30 seconds after each and scraping down the bowl, until the batter is smooth and glossy.
- Whisk the flour and salt together. Open the soda now. With the mixer on low, add the flour in three parts, alternating with the 3/4 cup of soda in two, starting and ending with flour. Mix only until the last streak of flour disappears.
- Fold in the grated lemon peel and the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with a spatula. Scrape the batter into the pan, smooth the top and tap the pan once on the counter.
- Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, without opening the door for the first hour. The cake is done when the top is deep golden and a long skewer pushed into the thickest part comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto the rack. Let it cool for about 30 minutes more, until it is barely warm to the touch.
- Whisk the powdered sugar with the 2 tablespoons of soda and a squeeze of lemon until smooth and pourable. Pour the glaze slowly over the barely warm cake and let it run down the ridges. Give it 20 minutes to set before slicing.
Tips that make the difference
- The 15 minute cooling time matters. Turned out sooner, the cake breaks. Left longer, the sugar in the crust sticks to the pan.
- If your Bundt pan is dark or nonstick, check the cake at 1 hour 5 minutes. Dark pans brown the crust faster.
- Spoon the flour into the cup and level it, or weigh it. Scooped flour makes a dry, heavy cake.
- Put a sheet of parchment under the rack before you glaze to catch the drips.
Variations
- Lemon extract. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon extract with the juice for the stronger lemon flavor some families swear by.
- Orange. Use orange soda in the batter and the glaze, and the grated peel of 1 large orange in place of the lemons.
- Tube pan. Bake it in a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan for the same time.
- Lime. Swap the lemons for 3 limes, peel and juice both, and use lime juice in the glaze.
Storage and make-ahead
Keep the cake under a dome or in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. It slices cleaner and tastes better on the second day. Do not refrigerate it.
To freeze, wrap the cooled, unglazed cake or individual slices in plastic wrap and then foil. It keeps for 3 months. Thaw at room temperature, still wrapped, and glaze it once it has thawed.
For a potluck or a family reunion, glaze it at home, let the glaze set completely, carry it whole and slice it there.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use diet soda or flat soda in this cake?
No to both. Diet soda has none of the sugar the recipe counts on, and flat soda has lost the bubbles that lift the cake. Use regular soda from a can opened right before it goes in.
Is there really no baking powder in 7UP pound cake?
Really. A true pound cake is lifted by air beaten into the butter, sugar and eggs, and here the carbonation adds to that. It is why the creaming time and the fresh can both matter so much.
Why did my cake stick to the Bundt pan?
Either a crease was missed when greasing, or the cake cooled too long in the pan. Butter every ridge, flour it, and turn the cake out at 15 minutes.
Can I use another lemon-lime soda?
Yes. Any regular lemon-lime soda works the same way. Stay away from colas, which change the color and the flavor completely.
It is one of the easiest cakes to make and one of the hardest to explain. Bake it, set it on the table, and when somebody takes a bite and asks what that flavor is, you get to decide whether to tell them about the can.
7UP Pound Cake (Old-Fashioned Bundt with Lemon-Lime Glaze)
The old community cookbook 7UP pound cake: three sticks of butter, five eggs, fresh lemon and three quarters of a cup of fizzy lemon-lime soda instead of baking powder, baked low and slow in a Bundt pan and finished with a soda glaze.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks, 340g), soft
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 3/4 cup lemon-lime soda such as 7UP (180ml), from a freshly opened can
- Finely grated peel of 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Soft butter and flour for the pan
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon-lime soda (30ml), from the same can
- A squeeze of lemon juice, about 2 teaspoons
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with soft butter, working it into every crease. Dust the pan with flour, turn it to coat and tap out the excess.
- In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the soft butter with the sugar on medium-high speed for 6 to 7 minutes, scraping the bowl twice, until very pale and fluffy. Do not shorten this step.
- Add the 5 eggs one at a time, beating for about 30 seconds after each and scraping down the bowl, until the batter is smooth and glossy.
- Whisk the flour and salt together. Open the soda now. With the mixer on low, add the flour in three parts, alternating with the 3/4 cup of soda in two, starting and ending with flour. Mix only until the last streak of flour disappears.
- Fold in the grated lemon peel and the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with a spatula. Scrape the batter into the pan, smooth the top and tap the pan once on the counter.
- Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, without opening the door for the first hour. The cake is done when the top is deep golden and a long skewer pushed into the thickest part comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto the rack. Let it cool for about 30 minutes more, until it is barely warm to the touch.
- Whisk the powdered sugar with the 2 tablespoons of soda and a squeeze of lemon until smooth and pourable. Pour the glaze slowly over the barely warm cake and let it run down the ridges. Give it 20 minutes to set before slicing.
