Pound Cake recipe

[displacedtexan]

Someone asked me to post this here.

It's the White House pound cake recipe I learned from Roland Mesnier in pastry school:

(Makes one large cake or 6 small loaves. Small loaves are sliced for tea service)

All ingredients should be room temp:

1# butter
1# sugar
1 tsp vanilla
(additional flavoring, if desired: lemon, etc.-- to taste)
1 # eggs (10)
13 oz all purpose flour
3 oz cake flour
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 tsp baking powder

Fill greased & floured pan(s) 3/4 full

Bake 15 mins. at 375F
Drop temp to 100F-325F and bake for 30-45 mins.

For freezing: Freeze as soon as cake reaches room temp.

[The empressof all]

1. Darn..Missed this by a day

I celebrated the last of my flour yesterday by making an Almond pound cake. I would have loved to try this recipe. My cake came out on the dry side....which is good for carb intolerant me. It doesn't tempt me too much.

[displacedtexan]

2. Dry cake just screams for some lemon curd or some whipped cream

and berries to help it out.

Almond pound cake. Yum!

[Warpy]

10. Or ganache.

If it isn't chocolate, it's just not worth the calories.

[displacedtexan]

15. So true!

1:1 semi-sweet and heavy cream.

I'm down with that!

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

3. My favorite is the Edna Lewis pound cake, but

you gotta beat the butter when it's cold with a wooden spoon. I rarely make it because it kills me.

[displacedtexan]

4. Beating the butter warms it. Room temp is crucial for pound cake.

Everything room temp.

Originally, pound cake had no artificial leavening, which
meant that cold ingredients would cause a rapid rise
in the oven, followed by a rapid collapse, as well.

The baking powder helps offset the cold ingredients dilemma for
bakers, but room temp eggs, butter, sugar, etc. guarantee
a better result.

Try this: Heat your oven to 200F and turn it off.
Measure out your ingredients into oven-proof containers.
Place your measured ingredients on a baking sheet in the oven
(which is now cooling to room temp) and check them in an hour.

If the eggs are still cold, put them in a bowl of hot tap water
and return them to the oven.

Hope this helps.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

5. Her recipe specifically states that the butter has to be cold.

I thought that was weird since every cake I've ever baked says to have all the ingredients at room temp. And you have to beat it with a wooden spoon, not with a mixer. Once I made it & was running out of time so I thought I would cheat & use my KitchenAid & just be really careful to beat slow & keep the butter cold. It wasn't near as good as when I follow her instructions.

[displacedtexan]

6. Define "good."

Do you mean the rise? The texture? The taste?

Do you cream with the spoon until the butter is pale yellow and soft?

Are other ingredients cold?

There's got to be chemistry-based reason for the cold butter and wooden spoon
instruction.

It sounds fascinating!

What about the crack? Any special instructions on controlling it?

My mother taught me to take the cake out of the oven when the skim coat formed,
and then create the crack with a knife in order to control it.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

7. I mean great. Moist, perfect crumb, no crack.

All I can say is that my dad isn't a pound cake fan (always thinks they're dry) & laps this one up.

I can't remember if the other ingredients are at room temp or not. I remember that you cream the butter, then add the sugar & stir until most of the sugar is dissolved, then add the eggs one at a time to finish dissolving the sugar. And Lewis says to listen & that will tell you when the sugar is incorporated & when the cake is finished. It sill stop making noise when it's completely cooked.

If you want I'll find the recipe (it's in Saveur & I've got about 6 years worth sitting around) & post it.

[displacedtexan]

8. Please.

I'd love to try that recipe.

The sound of sugar: sand. When it's fully incorporated
(or melted out), you no longer "hear" the sugar.

The chemistry behind beating the butter & sugar is simple: the movement of the cold butter against the tiny
shards of sugar actually begins to "cook" the ingredients. That's why you beat them
before adding the eggs. You don't want to cook the eggs prematurely.

No crack? Wow!

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

9. I'll be happy to, but it might take a day or two. I've got

modding & this obscure, take-a-back-seat thing called a personal life. :rofl:

I'll do it as soon as I can, 'kay?

:hi:

[housewolf]

11. Could this be it?

Oh the wonders of the internets! Sounds & looks delicious.

Yellow Vanilla Pound Cake

Be the first to rate this recipe


MAKES 1 CAKE

The secrets of a successful pound cake, renowned Southern cook Edna Lewis told us, are a slow oven, cold butter, carefully measured flour, and the patient mixing of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour.

1⁄2 lb. cold butter
2 cups flour, sifted
1 2⁄3 cups sugar
1⁄4 tsp. salt
5 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 300°. Coat only the bottom of a 9" tube pan with a bit of butter and flour (sides should remain ungreased so the cake will adhere to them better when rising). Put butter in a large mixing bowl and work it with a wooden spoon until it becomes shiny, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and salt and continue to work sugar and butter together until well mixed, then stir in a circular motion until the mixture loses most of its gritty feeling. Adding eggs will dissolve the rest. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition. After third egg has been incorporated, add 2 tbsp. flour. Add the last two eggs and continue to stir, then add the rest of the flour in four parts, stirring well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and lemon juice.

2. Spoon batter into prepared tube pan and smooth top. Bake for 40 minutes, then increase temperature to 325°. After 5 more minutes of baking, gently remove pan from oven, bend your ear to it, and listen for bubbling or a slight sound. If you hear something, put it back in oven to bake another 10 minutes, then remove again and listen. Let it bake another five minutes if necessary, until cake is quiet. Or insert a skewer into cake; if it comes out clean, the cake is done.

3. Remove cake from oven and run a knife around the sides of the pan; turn out onto a wire rack, then turn cake face up. Cool uncovered for 15 minutes, then cover with a clean towel (otherwise the cake will become dry and hard). When cool, store in a clean cake tin.

This recipe was first published in Saveur in Issue #32

http://www2.worldpub.net.nyud.net:8090/images/SAV/125-32_Yellow_vanilla_pund_cake_250.jpg


http://www.saveur.com/food/classic-recipes/yellow-vanilla-pound-cake-50463.html

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

12. :rofl: I just finished scanning & typing & I could have waited

for you to come to my rescue.

Yes, that's it!

:hug:

[housewolf]

13. or you could have typed "recipe Edna Lewis pound cake" into Google

and found it yourself! It looks like many/most of Saveur's recipes are available at their online webiste, and easily accessible (unlike Cooks Illustrated). Real treasure trove of great recipes and pictures.

Sorry you had to go to the trouble... was trying to save you the effort!

I found the recipe easily and posted it, then went on a Google-journey following Edna Lewis hits. I'd never heard of her before. I had a great time! What an interesting woman with an amazing life story. "The Julia Child of Southern cooking", someone said of her. I'll have to keep my eyes open for her cookboods.

So I learned some things today - Thank you!



:loveya:

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

14. I had no idea that they post all their stuff on line.

Why the hell do I have a subscription then? Sheesh. Did you find the essay she wrote about what is Southern? It was absolutely beautiful. I thinke Saveur printed it a few months ago.

I collect old cookbooks, but I have never, ever seen one of hers for sale. At least, not in the used bookstores. I have no idea why I've never found one, but I haven't & I specifically look for hers.

:loveya: too!

[displacedtexan]

16. Great! I just realized that the instructions for my pound cake read:

"Beat the butter like Grandma (paddle on lowest setting for 5 minutes)."

Hm. I never noticed that before.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

17. I did that once when I made it & it didn't work out at all.

Maybe it was me, but the wooden spoon & beating by hand made the best cake. As a pastry chef, you'll probably have better luck than I did.

I must say that Lewis must have moonlighted as an arm wrestler.

Oh, & housewolf up thread posted the recipe.

[shireen]

18. i think i'm the person who asked for it. THANKS!!! nt

[TreasonousBastard]

19. And then you saturate it with a mixture of...

sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and either whole milk or half&half.

Then frost it with very sweet whipped cream. Fruits optional.

Tres Leches properly made is about 5,000 calories a mouthful, but I made it for some Central Americans a while back and they wolfed it down, so I guess I did it right.

[midnight]

20. This looks really good. I was at a Christmas party and the

host made the best pound cake, but it was from a box. I will give this a try, and pass it along. Thanks.