Cake Monday: Perfect Pound Cake

Yes, it's another pound cake recipe! Actually, making pound cakes is good practice for making the Perfect Cake. It's my goal. It's a little obsessive, I know, but it gives me something else to obsess on. Call it bake therapy!

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Cake Monday: Jamaica Spice Cake

This recipe was originally the White Spice Pound Cake in The Cake Bible. I didn't have any brandy on hand but I did have Jamaican rum (for medicinal purposes!). So that went into the cake instead. The crust is slightly crunchy and with a sprinkling of powdered sugar on top it actually "melts in the mouth," as the author of The Cake Bible likes to say. Now I know what she means! The cake has a fine crumb and it's light in texture. It tastes very much like gingerbread and the spicy smell reminds me of Jamaican Easter Bun. The secret ingredient to this ersatz-gingerbread seems to be a teaspoon and a half of cocoa powder--and I won't need the molasses. However, the cloves overpowered the cinnamon so I would reduce the amount to 1/4 teaspoon next time. This recipe is a keeper!

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Cake Monday: 7 Up Pound Cake

Last weekend I experimented with a Cola Cake that turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. So, you ask, why try another soda pop cake? Well, the original recipe for the 7 Up Cake came from the folks at America's Test Kitchen, and the cakes they make are practically (almost always) fool-proof. Nevertheless, I had misgivings about this cake. It calls for 2 1/2 cups sugar, 2 1/4 cups melted butter, and 3 1/4 cups cake flour. Heavy. Well, it is a pound cake after all..!

Everything went in the food processor--except the flour. I forgot the 7 Up! When I remembered it, I was adding the flour. I poured in half a cup between batches of flour and whisked it in. Didn't seem to hurt the cake at all.

I tried a ring shape, just to be interesting. The batter for this recipe fills one 12-cup Bundt cake pan so I divided it between one 6 cup loaf pan (8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2) and a 6 cup Savarin ring mold. The cake in the mold was baked in 70 minutes whereas the loaf took the full 90 minutes.

The glaze hardened like cement the minute I added the sugar! I stirred and stirred but it wasn't a pourable consistency. The glaze instructions were uncharacteristically cryptic for ATK. All it said was add the sugar to the citrus juices and stir. So I tried heating the glaze and thinning it with a teaspoon of milk. I ended up making two batches of glaze. I think the glaze looks uneven and I should have dusted off the crumbs off the cake first. I also definitely need practice pouring a glaze. I know it isn't Christmas, but doesn't the plate look pretty though?!


And what about the taste? Well, surprisingly, the 7 Up Cake has a lemon-lime flavor that's tart rather than sweet. The juice and zest cut the sugar both in the cake and in the glaze. I couldn't taste the 7 Up. I wonder what flavored carbonated water is supposed to do to a cake?! The science teachers at school say the soda provides leavening, making the cake lighter in texture. Indeed, the crumb was fine and the cake was delicious. This recipe's worth repeating.

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Cake Monday: Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

First day of school and it's a Monday too! I tried this cake recipe from La Cuisine d'Helene Recipes only because someone gave us a jar of Nutella for Christmas. Unlike a marble cake, which has chocolate and vanilla batters, Nutella is a paste and remained a paste, even after baking. I had never tasted Nutella before and I find it sweet with a strong chocolate flavor; I couldn't taste the hazelnuts.

I followed the recipe directions and filled a 9x5 inch loaf pan with one-third of the batter. Then I spread about half the jar on top. I decided not to go all the way to the edge. Then another topping of batter and another layer of Nutella. A batter layer finished off the top.

To my consternation, after half an hour in the oven, the cake started to rise above the edge of the pan. The pan was too small. It didn't spill over but it meant that the cake was underbaked in the center after 55 minutes. I tented the cake with a piece of aluminum foil and let it bake the full hour and 15 minutes. The cake ended up dry and flaky and slightly oily on the top and dense on the inside. The oil in the Nutella seemed to have saved the cake from being too dry.

If I baked this cake again, I'd try it in a 6 cup Bundt cake pan. IF someone gives me another jar of Nutella.

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