Scratch It: Cold-Oven Pound Cake

"Cold-Oven Pound Cake"

by Cook's Country

Color me happy!  I'm pretty sure I knocked this recipe out of the park.  In all fairness, it was pretty simple, but still!  I followed all the directions correctly (except using 2% instead of whole milk) and didn't over-bake it.  This cake is probably the best scratch pound cake I've had so far.

This recipe uses cake flour and was baked in my Chicago Metallic Angel Food cake pan.  The trick to this recipe is not to pre-heat the oven.  While I was getting my ingredients together, I actually made the mistake of turning on the oven right away.  Felt pretty weird to have to turn it back off.

Finally, a pound cake recipe that didn't yield some weird puffy, crusty top.  

It's been over 24 hours since this cake was made and the house still smells amazing.  Nice, tight but tender crumb.  And the taste?  Pretty darn good.  Yup, this one is going in "the binder" (my collection of printed-out internet recipes that I've made successfully).

Scratch It: Pound Cake v2.0

"Cream Cheese Pound Cake"

by Barbara Rolek

 Ok, I'm convinced: I don't like pound cake recipes that use cake flour.  This cake and the last pound cake I made have this particular texture that I just don't think pound cake should have.  This one did taste better than the last, though.

 

I can explain what happened above.  Well, I can explain why it's a bit over-cooked.  I can't explain the puffy top crust.  Anyways, due to traffic, my hubby needed me to pick up our toddler from daycare unexpectedly.  The cake was almost done baking ... so I turned off the oven and left the cake inside to coast, then ran out the door.  When I finally got back and had the cake cool, I shattered the crispy, puffy top and removed it.  It tasted yummy ... I love me some pound cake crust! 

Other than that crust, I didn't care for the cake at all.  Luckily I have an office full of co-worker guinea pigs that love free food. 

Scratch It: Pound Cake

"Perfect Pound Cake"

from Cake Bible

This is my second cake from Cake Bible, and I'm a bit disappointed.  I've made a couple different pound cakes from scratch before and this is my least favorite.  The recipe describes this cake as "melt-in-your-mouth" texture.  It reminded me of melt-away cookies, the variety made with powdered sugar and cornstarch.  In my opinion ... pound cake should not be like that.  In addition to that, hubby and I really didn't think it tasted good either.

What I liked about this recipe was that it was the batch size was intended for a loaf pan.  In this testing phase of mine, it's nice to not have to use up so many ingredients.  It had been so long since I had used my loaf pan, I wondered if I even had one at all.  Sure enough, a dusty but undamaged non-stick pan was in the back of one of my kitchen's cabinets.

The cake baked up well and was easily cut with a serrated knife.  Like other pound cakes, the crust parts are somewhat yummier.  I did not grease my pan, like the recipe suggested.  Instead I did my usual of cutting out parchment paper for the bottom.  The cake actually pulled away from the sides all on its own.  I'm not sure if that was due to the non-stick pan or the recipe.

I'm convinced I did not screw up this recipe, I just don't like it.  I'll have to try out some other recipes I have for pound cake.  The one I got from my petit fours class, I recall, tasted good and contained cream cheese.