Pound cake is a simple recipe, and it is loved by many for its ability to be dressed up or down, for any event, in any setting. It’s a delicious snack, a sweet start to the morning or a little teaser before dinner. Although pound cake seems easy to wrap your head around – it’s even better with a few slight adjustments to get the creamiest, buttery and smooth tasting home-baked cake.
This recipe is one by Rose Levy Beranbaum in her cookbook The Cake Bible.
The chef’s recipe is a lot like the traditional method, however, uses milk, lots of extra butter and a little amount of baking powder. In result, a fluffy, buttery and creamy pound cake should be the turn out.
“This cake not only has a silky-smooth dissolving texture similar to the famous Sara Lee pound cake but also the incomparable moist, butter flavour of a home-baked cake. It’s excellent keeping qualities make it ideal for slicing ahead and bringing on picnics,” she wrote.
See the recipe below:
Servings: 8
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 mnutes
Ingredients
- 3 tblsps milk (skim, low fat, or whole)
- 3 large eggs
- 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-1/3 cups cake flour, spooned into measuring cup and levelled with a straight edge
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 13 tblsps unsalted butter, softened (no need to cut it in pieces)
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and lightly grease an 8×4-inch loaf pan with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
- Dust the pan with flour and shake off excess.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk milk, eggs, vanilla until combined.
- With a hand mixer (alternatively you can use electric mixer with a paddled attachment), place flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl before mixing on low speed until blended.
- Add butter and only half of the egg mixture and mix on low speed until all the dry ingredients have moistened.
- Increase the mixture to medium speed (high speed if using hand mixer) and beat for one minute. Scrape down sides of the bowl and add in the remaining egg mixture, in two separate additions, until completely combined.
- Do not over-mix the combination, ensure the batter has a slightly curdled or grainy appearance.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top with spatula. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until cake is golden brown.
- Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes on rack.
- Wrap the cooled cake in plastic wrap or sealable plastic bag
Notes
The wrapped pound cake will stay edible for one week when refrigerated. Alternatively, the cake can be frozen for two months.