What did I do wrong ?

The difference was in the flour.

All Purpose flour has a higher percentage of gluten than cake flour. Therefore the batter held more CO2 to make it expand, which put it over the top of you tube pan.

To substitute A-P flour for cake flour you have to reduce the volume. It has been a long time since I had to do this so I'm uncertain about the reduction, but I believe that the A-P flour amount must be reduced by either 1 1/2 or 2 tablespoons per cup in comparison to the cake flour. For example if your recipe called for 3 cups of Cake flour you would us 3 cups of A-P flour less 4 1/2 or 6 tablespoons of flour.

next time you try your aunt's recipe, give that a try if you don't have cake flour,

As for the lemon flavoring, I'd probably have substituted a tablespoon of vanilla it for and left out the other three tablespoons, unless the batter looked dry.

Here is a terrific pound cake recipe that uses All-Purpose Flour. It came from my ex-wife's grandmother and is oe of the best pound cake I've ever found.

But there are couple of tricks to make it turn out best.

First of all, do not fully cream the butter, sugar and shortening. Mix it until it forms clumps about the size of peas. if you fully cream it, the texture will be different.

Second, the recipe calls for only 5 eggs. Add them one at the time, beating after each egg. if after adding five eggs the batter is not thin and yellow, add more eggs until it is.

The add the flour and milk-vanilla mix alternately. Add the flour by thirds, with half the milk being added between the first and second thirds, and the remainder after the second third. Mix until the batter is smooth and creamy.

My ex-wife gave this recipe to dozens of people and they could not understand why their cakes were not as good as hers. The reason was that she didn't explain the method as I just explained it to you. Follow the recipe an my additional instructions and you will have a great cake.

If you want a flavoring other than vanilla, go for it, substitute butternut, lemon, strawberry, mint or anything else you like.

Give it a try, I think you will like it.

Doc Hudson

Old Fashion Southern Pound Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

1-cup milk

1-teaspoon vanilla

½ cup shortening

2 sticks butter

½ teaspoon Baking Powder

½ teaspoon salt

Cream the sugar, shortening, and butter. Add the eggs.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt, and Baking Powder. Add dry ingredients into creamed mixture alternately with milk that has the vanilla added.

Place in a greased tube or bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one to one and one-half hours, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean..

(If you want a Chocolate cake, add 4 tablespoons cocoa powder to the flour mixture.)

Using the wrong flour most likely. Too much milk maybe ? Not the right pan ? Wrong oven temperature ? The lemon flavor would hardly have been noticed, so I would have left it in and not put the milk in there unless it was called for.

Here are some pound cake recipes:

Mama's Pound Cake

16 to 20 servings

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, plus more for pan

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With a mixer, cream butter & shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl & add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour & ending with the flour.

Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased & floured tube pan & bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

==========================

Pound Cake

1 1/8 cups sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cups yogurt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter & flour a 10-inch cake pan. Combine the sugar, butter, zest, & vanilla in a large bowel & beat the mixture until it's fluffy.

In a separate mixing bowel, beat the eggs until they are light & foamy. Gradually combine the eggs with the sugar mixture.

Sift the flour & the baking powder into the mixture, stirring carefully to incorporate with a wooden spoon.

Pour batter into the pan & smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden & a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove cake from the oven, let rest for 1 minute, then turn it out onto a cake rack & cool.

Peace.

I would presume that it was when you changed the lemon juice to milk. The two aren't very similar. While I understand that you didn't want it to taste like lemons, you could have tried adding a different type of juice. Just because the lemon juice called for 1/4 doesn't mean that when you exchange it for something else you use the same amount. Ingredients vary in intensity and taste. Say, for example that a recipie called for milk and you put lemon juice in it instead. It probably wouldn't taste very good. You want your tastes to blend together but still be noticeable at the same time. I believe the reason for it overflowing was the milk. It is supposed to make things fluffyer. So maybe adding it did that.

I think it's because you used normal flour intead of cake flour. If you don't use cake flour your cake never would turn out very well.

You put too bach batter into the pan which it raised and spilled over and collapsed.