The Perfect Pound Cake
Posted on 21 August 2008 by joy
Pound cake is a quick bread style cake that is baked in a loaf pan. It’s called pound cake because many traditional recipes call for a whopping pound of butter. It’s a wonder then, that even with all that butter, not to mention eggs and sugar, that a pound cake can come out dry and tasteless. What could go wrong? It’s terribly easy to over bake a pound cake. The loaf pan requires at least a solid hour in the oven, sometimes more. Often times, a pound cake will have perfectly cooked edges, but need to remain in the oven to cook the center.
What’s a baker to do? Here’s how to make the perfect pound cake- add more fat! Fat- luscious fat is one brilliant way to make a pound cake virtually fool proof. With the addition of cream cheese into this pound cake, you could over bake it for a few minutes, and never be able to tell. The moistening qualities of the extra fat will hide any over baking mistakes.
Couple this lemon pound cake with warm blueberry sauce. It’s a gorgeous dessert to serve to dinner guests, or indulge yourself with a cup of tea and plate full of this goodness. It’s a simple dessert at it’s finest.
Perfect Lemon Pound Cake
recipe from Kraft Cookbook
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 eggs, room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Preheat oven to 325. Sift together flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream butter and cream cheese in an electric mixer. In the mean time, work the lemon zest into the granulated sugar. This process should take about five minutes, and the sugar will become very fragrant. Add the sugar to the butter mixture and continue creaming. Add the lemon and vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, beating for about one minute each. Scrape down the bowl after each addition. Slowly add the sifted flour and baking powder. Don’t over mix in the electric mixer. Bring the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Pour into a greased and floured pan and bake for 60- 75 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Easy Blueberry Sauce
1 bag frozen wild blueberries (try Trader Joe’s)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water
Make the blueberry sauce just before you intend to serve the pound cake. It can be made in a flash. Throw a bag of frozen blueberries, (I prefer the frozen wild blueberries found a Trader Joe’s) into a sauce pan with granulated sugar. Let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes. The blueberries will have released some liquid, and the sugar will be dissolved. While still at a simmer, mix in the cornstarch mixture. Still constantly until you see mixture thicken a bit, and remove from flame. Dress the moist pound cake with warm blueberries. Breakfast perfection.
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Tags | baking, dessert, fruit, summer dessert
