Lemon Glazed Avocado Pound Cake

Some girls love to shop for clothes and makeup.  Some girls love a good shoe sale. 

I LOVE to go grocery shopping, and you know what makes me really excited?  Awesome weekly specials at the grocery - like getting 4 four avocados for 5 bucks.  I know, I'm strange like that...bear with me.

So yeah, back to those avocados.  I never go on my weekly grocery shopping adventure with an actual game plan of what I plan on cooking/baking that week.  I just kind of wander around aimlessly (especially in the produce section) and buy whatever strikes my fancy and/or is on a really good sale, like those avocados.  But I totally forgot about those little suckers, as they were tucked away behind the bananas and oranges in the fruit basket.  So not wanting them to go bad, I knew I had to use them up immediately...but how?

And lo and behold, as I was browsing around on one of my favorite food blogs, Joy the Baker, I stumbled upon this recipe for an avocado pound cake.  DONE.

Now, if you're a pound cake purist and are expecting the richness and sweetness of a traditional pound cake, you will be be sorely disappointed (like my dad).  BUT, if you're game for a lighter, more refreshing, and unique take on a pound cake, you'll definitely want to give this cake a go.  The avocados in the recipe replaces some of the butter fat, which gives this cake a healthy twist.  The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup of butter and 1 1/2 avocados, but I used half a cup of butter and 2 avocados instead.  I love the addition of cornmeal in here - it gives an ever-so-slight "crunch" to the cake and the cornmeal also has its own natural sweetness, which really comes in handy when you cut the sugar back from 3 cups to 2 (like me).  The simple lemon glaze is my own addition.  It adds a slightly tart element to the whole thing, and I think it complements the cake well.

Lemon Glazed Avocado Pound Cake
(Adapted from Joy the Baker)

Yields two 9x4 loaves or 1 bundt cake

3 cups all-purpose flour (I tried half AP flour and half whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
flesh of 1 1/2 ripe avocados, just over a cup to a cup and a half of avocado, mashed

For the glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar 
1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease two loaf pans (or one bundt pan) and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Set aside.

Notice the product placement for Michele's Granola :)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter on medium speed.  Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Add the avocado and beat another minute to incorporate.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after the addition of each egg.  Beat in vanilla extract.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half of the flour mixture, all of the buttermilk, and then the rest of the flour mixture.  Beat just until combined (you don't want to overmix and allow the gluten in the flour to form, which will make the cake tough).

Just doing a little taste testing...

Divide the dough between the two loaf pans and place in the oven.  Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F.   Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely before glazing.

Make the glaze: Stir together the sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl.  Add more sugar or lemon juice as needed to obtain desired consistency.  Drizzle glaze over the cooled cake.