Recipes By Cc Allen

NYT Cooking

Otis Lee’s Detroit Famous Poundcake

For 34 years, Otis Lee drew crowds to Mr. Fofo’s Deli, his Midtown Detroit restaurant, with sky-high corned beef sandwiches and lemon-glazed poundcake. Mr. Lee, who died in April 2020 from coronavirus complications, passed the poundcake recipe along to his son, Keith Lee, who shared it with The Times. This moist and flavorful recipe isn’t complicated, but it does require a few more steps than your average poundcake. It truly shines when the lemon glaze is poured over the warm, unmolded cake right out of the oven. (Do so on a platter, not on a rack. You want the extra icing to pool at the base of the cake, Keith Lee said.) Double the glaze if desired. (Watch the video of Keith Lee making his father's cake here.)