Whenever I hear a claim of perfection in a recipe, I get concerned. That means it's been tested and loved by many, and the off chance that someone can screw it up looms over me. My kitchen takes on a dingy hue, no, wait, the kitchen lights are on the dimmer. Scratch that. But it makes me leery of A. failure and B. disappointment.
I wouldn't say this pound cake was a failure, but I was a teensy bit disappointed. I've been to the oven with a pound cake or two, tried probably a dozen recipes, and the one I return to is Rose Levy Beranbaum's from The Cake Bible. That pound cake is moist with the finest crumb. Maybe this was operator error.
In fairness, Dorie says for best texture, wrap the cake up and put it away for a day. I didn't do that, and it may have made a difference. I also didn't add the eggs one at a time and beat well before adding the next egg. I had broken two of the yolks when cracking the eggs and three eggs fell into the bowl at the same time. See what I mean about operator error?
I used cake flour, hoping for a nice crumb but I'm not sure it made any difference. The outside was crisp, and the inside soft, but it was just a plain cake. That's why I made lemon curd to go with it. And brown sugar caramel, but I'll make that for you another time.
I was thrilled to win the latest Cook's Illustrated cookbook in a giveaway on Tracey's Culinary Adventures (thanks, Tracey!). It's a huge book, and it's been sitting on my counter asking to be used since it arrived. I cracked it open and found the lemon curd, perfect because I had a bag of Meyer lemons from my friend's huge tree. If you'd like the recipe for it, you can find it here on the Cook's Illustrated website (you'll have to sign up for a 15 day free trial, but the lemon curd is worth the trouble!)
If you're still test driving pound cake recipes, this is a good one to try (you can find the recipe here). I have a limited attention span with things that are plain, perfect or not, so it's a tough sell for me. Nonetheless, I did mark off another recipe in my quest to bake all the recipes in Baking From My Home to Yours. Score!
Programming note: If you check back around February 1st, I'm going to have a cake that will amaze you and is a lot of fun to make. In a very tortured way that leads to a lot of dishes.
6 comments:
I agree totally with your assessment of the pound cake. I fell asleep when writing my post last night and am tempted to just forward everybody over here! Yours looks lovely on the plate and I'd image with lemon curd it was tasty indeed.
hmmm. I don't remember how this particular poundcake worked out for me. I'll have to try the Cake Bible recipe though.
I'm sorry this wasn't a hit for you; it sure looks good though!
Thanks for the recommendation on the Cake Bible pound cake! I don't have a go-to and have been looking for one to try.
Glad you're enjoying the book :) Lemon curd is an excellent first choice!
I remember liking the cake, but I don't remember if it was dry. Yours looks delicious. LOVE the plate.
Congrats on winning that awesome ckbk from Tracey. We expect lots of posts from that one now.
It sure looks great and the crumb looks nice and delicate too. Now I'm curious to try Rose's version (I have TCB). Looking forward to your Feb 1 post. Check out my Brownie Latte Cheesecake (includes recipe). It's really as good as it sounds! :o)
I have a really nice, old-fashioned pound cake recipe on my blog. It's the one my mother always made. Simple, yet delicious.
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