Best (so far) Pound Cake

Best (so far) Pound Cake

Traditional pound cake is made with a pound of each of the 4 main ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs and flour. It makes for a very dense and delicious (but very greasy) cake. It can also get a little iffy on texture.  I lightened this up with substituting some reduced fat cream cheese for half the butter. I also added some baking powder to help the eggs with leavening. This makes for a very rich, not so dense pound cake.  Measurements for the main ingredients are by weight.

8 oz unsalted butter, softened (No substitutions!)(1 C, 226gm)

8 oz reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature (1 C, 226gm)

1 lb  superfine granulated sugar (You can use regular, but it is harder to incorporate* with the butter) (aprox 2 1/3 C, 454gm)

16 oz  (by weight here equals volume-rarely happens with other ingredients) eggs (about 10-12 small or 5-6 large eggs)

1 T vanilla extract

1 T amaretto (or ¾ t almond extract)

1 t salt

2 t baking powder

3 1/2 C(scoop and sweep*) lightly stirred cake flour (16 oz, 448gm) (You can substitute all-purpose flour here, but after you measure the flour, remove 1 tablespoon. Or, simply measure out slightly less than 1lb of flour and be done with it. If your cake turns out to be too dense, start experimenting with the proportions. Have fun with it–cooking should not be a chore.)

1. Grease and flour a 12 C bundt pan. (See Getting Started for what to do if you don’t have one)

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Place rack in center slot.

3. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and cream cheese together(mixer on medium high) until fully combined

4. Slowly add the sugar, ¼ c at a time until it is fully incorporated and the texture is light and fluffy. (When you rub a small amount between your finger and thumb it doesn’t feel like greasy sand).

5. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporate each into the batter fully before adding the next.

6. Stir together the salt, baking powder and cake flour.

7. Slowly, ¼ c at a time, add to the butter/egg mixture, fully incorporating each before adding the next one.

8. Continue to beat at medium speed for 3-5 minutes.( It will be light yellow, very thick and fluffy looking.)

9. Pour (You will probably have to scoop it in with a rubber spatula) the batter into the pan.  Level the top with your spatula.Carefully run a frosting spatula or a kitchen knife (Don’t nick the bottom of your pan if it is a non-stick!) through the batter a couple of times to break up any air pockets.  (At this point you can start licking the spatula—and you probably will.)

10. Bake until you have only moist crumbs on your cake tester. (They make them! Or use a thin wooden skewer—a toothpick is too small.) Start checking at 45 minutes. Add 2-5 minutes each time the tester comes out with wet batter on it.

11. Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then invert onto a cooling rack and remove the pan. Let cool for about 30 minutes before you cut into it.

Makes anywhere from 12-30 servings

*See Getting Started for measuring methods