what is good to do with pound cake?

The words "dumbo" and "heavy" aren't often used to describe a typical American cake (that is, unless something went wrong). Usually cake is expected to be low-cal and fluffy, but this goal tin be hard to attain. When a cake falls short, it ends up beingness dry and spongy instead.

Pound block is here to change the idea that all cakes must exist blusterous and delicate.

Pound cake is moist, tender, and also pleasantly dense if baked just right. When made by a practiced baker, pound cake defies all other cakes with its distinctive texture — just brand sure yous follow these half dozen tips for ultimate success.

Pound block makes a statement with its substantial texture — cake should exist able to hold upwardly to sauce, fruit toppings, whipped cream, and fifty-fifty grilling!

First, choose your pound cake recipe

When information technology comes to pound cake recipes that take the King Arthur examination kitchen stamp of approval, the one that ever draws me in is the luxurious Velvet Pound Cake. It has a nearly-perfect five-star rating, cheers to its lovely golden brown crust and ever-so-tender texture.

What sets it autonomously from a classic pound cake? It has an untraditional ingredient that you'll want to add to all of your cakes subsequently making this recipe: cream cheese. Pound cakes are known for their buttery rich flavor and sturdy crumb; cream cheese elevates both of these traits to the next level.

Our trusty Velvet Pound Cake, a true recipe for success.

Select your pound cake recipe based on the sweet experience you lot desire to have — choose from flavors like maple-rum, chai spice, or even orange pound cake with a boozy glaze. These tips utilize to any pound cake you're baking.

Tip #1: Employ room-temperature ingredients

A primal rule of cake baking is to begin with room-temperature ingredients (unless otherwise chosen for in the recipe). While information technology's tempting to pull the eggs and butter straight from the refrigerator and get right to cake baking, it's worth the effort to ensure your ingredients are the right temperature.

What happens if y'all outset with cold ingredients? You'll face trouble from the get-go when y'all try to beat hard sticks of butter with sugar. The mixer will groan, the butter will flail, and you'll end up picking upwards cold chunks spewed out across your counter. And if the cream cheese is cold, it too will be a lumpy, difficult mess.

Room-temperature butter is key to successful creaming and block texture.

If you forget to prepare your ingredients out at room temperature in advance, hither are a few tricks to speed up the warming process:

• Butter: Beware the microwave shortcut! It'll plow sections of the butter into flowing lava while other parts remain house. Instead, fill up a medium-sized basin with h2o and oestrus information technology in the microwave until it boils. (Alternately, y'all can employ a pot on the stove to rut the water.) Cut the butter into tablespoon-sized chunks and in one case the water boils, advisedly dump it out of the basin (or pot). Turn the now-empty (only nevertheless hot and steamy) vessel over the butter and let it sit for a few minutes, until the butter is perfectly soft.
• Eggs: Place cold eggs in a bowl of very hot water for about 5 minutes while you lot measure out the rest of your ingredients (setting out your measured ingredients, by the way, is called "mise en place" and makes you expect like a blistering pro). Your eggs will be at room temperature and ready when yous are.
• Cream cheese: If yous're using cream cheese that comes in a sealed foil packet, you can endeavor the aforementioned trick that's used to warm upwards eggs. If the cream cheese is in a plastic container, measure out the amount needed for the recipe and heat it in x-2d bursts in the microwave, stirring betwixt each interval until it'south like shooting fish in a barrel to mix.

You only need to follow these steps if you forget to take the ingredients out of the fridge in accelerate. If you plan ahead, you can cutting right to the pound cake baking.

Tip #two: Measure your flour properly

When it comes to pound block, it's all about ratios of ingredients. After all, pound block got its name because early on versions were made by using a pound each of flour, eggs, sugar, and butter (or another fat). Today's versions tend to have slightly less flour compared to the eggs, sugar, and butter, which ensures a moist texture. Too much flour results in a dense, dry, and bland final product, and no one wants that from a pound cake.

To avert this common pitfall, make sure you measure your flour properly. If you're serious about pound cake (or really, any kind of blistering), consider using a scale. Information technology'll transform your blistering for the better, making all your measurements super exact.

All King Arthur recipes include gram measures as well as volume, then you don't need to do whatever calculations to decide ingredient weights.

If y'all're married to your measuring cups or you're determined to make pound cake just similar your grandma, you can all the same measure ingredients accurately using volume. The primal is to use the "fluff, sprinkle, sweep" method.

By gently sprinkling the flour into the loving cup, yous'll end up with "light" cups of flour and a tender cake every time.

Tip #iii: Use the right pan (both in size and fabric)

Don't merely grab the offset pan yous run across in your pantry and pour in your pound block batter. This is some other moment for conscientious choices. Most pound cakes, Velvet Pound Cake included, are baked in a 9" x 5" loaf pan. This is a slightly larger pan than a standard loaf pan, which measures eight 1/2" by 4 one/2".

If an 8 ane/2" x 4 one/2" loaf pan is all you take on hand, it'll work in a pinch, merely consider setting aside about 1/3 to 1/ii cup of batter to make cupcakes (or even pancakes!). If you fill the pan to the brim with concoction, information technology'll overflow during baking, and that's just no fun at all.

Pans that have a corrugated surface allow more air apportionment during baking and yield a tender-crisp chaff, which is a delightful addition to pound cake.

Size isn't the only quality to take into consideration when baking the best-ever pound block. The cloth of the pan likewise makes a difference in the final production. Common choices include metal, glass, and ceramic.

Metal is a skillful conductor of heat — it warms up speedily, encourages browning, and produces evenly baked results. Glass, on the other hand, takes quite a while to heat up and so continues to get hotter, often making the edges of baked goods hard and overbaked while the center remains underbaked.

Iii batches of our Golden Vanilla Pound Cake baked in three different pans: glass, metal, and ceramic. Slices will vary in size based on the shape of your pan, as seen hither. For a symmetrical, tall slice that'southward quite pretty, try baking pound cake in a Pain de Mie Hurting.

Ceramic and stoneware are wild cards. Depending on the specific pan, it might take longer or shorter than the baking time called for. If you dearest your ceramic pan, take some time to get to know information technology and take notes on how y'all adjust your baking fourth dimension then you lot can anticipate the change in the future. (Read more details in our blog post, Drinking glass or metallic or stoneware.)

Tip #iv: Don't overbake

Once the pound block is in the oven, take a deep jiff but don't go too far abroad! The last matter you want is to forget about your cake and let it become toasted and dry.

Pound cakes take longer than virtually traditional cakes to broil — upwardly of 1 60 minutes for the Velvet Pound Block! This extended bake time can be the enemy of any baker; it's just plenty fourth dimension for you to get absorbed in your adjacent project while forgetting about your concluding. Set a timer or stick around the kitchen, soaking up the vanilla smell that wafts from the oven every bit your pound cake bakes.

When baked for just the right amount of fourth dimension, pound cake develops a slight aureate chaff around the edges that adds a delightful texture.

Tip #5: Employ a cake soak

If the thought of soaking a block is new to you, buckle upwards for a whole new baking take a chance! Cake soaks or soaking syrups are flavorful liquids, usually simple-syrup based, that are brushed onto cake after it comes out of the oven.

Simple syrup is often brushed on sponge cake, equally seen hither — only it's also right at home on a pound block, as well.

Soaking cake is a practiced idea in almost every baking situation. Even a perfectly baked cake can get dry in a 24-hour interval or two; applying a cake soak adds moistness while also giving you the opportunity to add additional flavors. Convinced you need to try this? Practiced.

For a 9" x 5" pound block, use up to ane/2 cup (113g) of a soaking liquid and brush onto the still-warm cake. Here are some quick ideas for inspiration, based on the flavor profile you're going for:

• Vanilla soaking syrup: Combine 1/3 cup (67g) saccharide, v teaspoons h2o, and a pinch of salt. Heat briefly, just to dissolve the sugar, and then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
• Lemon soaking syrup: Mix the juice of 1 lemon (about 50g) with one/2 cup (99g) sugar, and heat until the carbohydrate dissolves.
• Rum soaking syrup: In a medium-sized saucepan, combine four tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, 2 tablespoons (26g) water, one/2 loving cup (99g) carbohydrate, 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup (57g) rum. Bring to a rapid boil, reduce to simmer, and cook (without stirring) for about 5 minutes, until the syrup thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• Coffee soaking syrup: Mix together ii tablespoons (28g) coffee liqueur, 1 1/ii tablespoons espresso pulverisation, 2 tablespoons (23g) sugar, and 1/two cup (113g) hot water.

"Borrow" the soaking syrup or glaze from any other cake recipe (like the lemon coat from our Lemon Bliss Block) and utilise it to your pound cake to amp up the flavour.

Tip #half-dozen: Serve with style

While I'one thousand most definitely on Squad Pound Cake, I'll admit that it can be a flake unexciting if the block is served all on its own. (I mean, I'd still happily gobble upward an unadorned slice with my morning loving cup of tea or coffee, simply we're looking to impress here.)

To elevate your homemade pound block to a adjacent-level dessert, think about everything you lot could put on the plate for decorative flair to make the cake polish.

• Sauces? Virtually definitely. Hot Fudge Sauce or Caramel Sauce would be wonderful.

• Fruit? Another definitive aye, specially if the fruit is macerated with sugar and a splash of your favorite liqueur (totally optional, though delicious). If all you have on hand is unripe fruit, consider roasting it to enhance the flavour.
• Other toppings? The sky'south the limit! A dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream is elementary and elegant, while chopped dark chocolate and toasted nuts could be sprinkled across the slice for texture, too.

Yous tin can even grill thickly cut slices if you're eating outdoors and feeling the al fresco vibes. Brush both sides of the block slices with butter before grilling for a rich flavor and lovely golden chaff.

If you lot go the grilling road, refrigerate the cake for a few hours before slicing — common cold slices hold upwardly better during grilling. They'll be warm, toasty, and delicious by the time they're served.

Bottom line: This is your cake. Fifty-fifty if y'all're baking information technology for someone else, you're all the same the baker so information technology's up to yous. Dress the cake up every bit yous wish or let people garnish their ain slices, ice cream sundae manner. Anybody will be happy when there's bootleg pound cake around.

Pound cake for anybody

Once yous discover the delicacy that is perfectly broiled pound cake, you'll want to bake it for everyone — even those with dietary restrictions. With our Gluten-Gratuitous Vanilla Pound Cake recipe, y'all'll never be at a loss.

Cake is about sweetness, indulgence, and happiness. If you want a bit more of this in your life, or if you lot want to infuse someone else's with goodness, broil our Velvet Pound Block and let the joy spread all around. Happy baking!

What other cakes are you baking this season? Bundt cakes? Layer cakes? Maybe trifles? Let us know which cake recipes you lot're almost excited nearly in the comments, below.

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Source: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2020/08/17/how-to-make-the-ultimate-pound-cake

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