Sand Cake

I love European sweets which really aren't as sweet as they are rich. I remember this cake from my childhood -- not from my family but from one of my childhood playmates who always had this cake in her house at Christmas. It's real name is Sand Kage which translated means "sand cake" and what a fun name for a child who spent summers outside making "mud pies" to be actually eating "sand cake"!
I was a child and never asked "Grams" for the recipe. We moved away and this cake was no longer part of the flavors of Christmas. I missed this cake at Christmas almost as much as I missed my friend.
But in perusing a cookbook, Country Weekend Entertaining by Anna Pump, I found a recipe for Sand Kage. It has the flavor of my childhood sand cake and brings back a flood of memories of my childhood and how wonderful and magical Christmas was back then.

Sand Cake
(Adapted from Country Weekend Entertaining by Anna Pump)

2 sticks softened butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon rum
grated rind of 1 lemon
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 t. baking powder

The Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. rum

Preheat the oven to 350

Using an electric mixer, in a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the rum, lemon rind, cornstarch and baking powder. Beat at low speed until the ingredients are well combined. Spread the batter into a 9 by 5 by 3 inch loaf pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the enter of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto a plate, then turn it right side up and cool completely.

For the glaze, in a bowl, combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice and rum. Beat until smooth. Pour the glaze over the cake.