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Sunday, September 13, 2009

SMS - Perfect Pound Cake

This week's SMS recipe, Perfect Pound Cake, was chosen by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. At first I planned on making 3 mini loaves on Sunday; plain, espresso/chocolate marbled, and lime poppy seed respectively. Unfortunately, some unexpected errands came up and I only had time to make one large loaf. A few SMS bakers had commented that the recipe as-is was a bit too plain so I opted for the espresso/chocolate marble. I made a few more changes to the recipe which I noted in the final thoughts/tips section.

The pound cake took a little over an hour to bake. After the cake cooled completely, I cut a few slices from it. I loved the marbled look and the smell of freshly ground espresso beans. The cake's tender crumb was spot on. And it tasted great. Although it was a tad dry, it wasn't too bad. Especially if you're planning on enjoying a slice with a cup of milk, hot cocoa, tea or coffee anyway.

If you'd like to give this recipe a try, please visit Michele's blog. Thanks for a great pick, Michele. We enjoyed it a lot.

Beat until fluffy and pale-colored.

Divide the batter and add ground espresso and Dutch cocoa.

Sniff... this batter smells great.

Ready to go into the oven.

After just a little over an hour in the oven, it looks like this.

An inside look into the beautiful loaf of pound cake.

Marbled slices of espresso/chocolate pound cake.

The cake's texture was soft and tender.

Final thoughts/tips:
  • Hubby enjoyed this cake and he normally doesn't like pound cake as they're usually very dry and incredibly heavy and dense. His rating: 8.5 out of 10.
  • To give you some insight on the dryness of the cake: on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 means perfect moistness and 10 means super-dry, my husband gave it a 3.
  • Ingredient changes: used a total of 1 cup + 2 Tbsp of sugar. Once I divided the batter in half, I added 1 Tbsp of freshly ground espresso and 2 Tbsp of Dutch cocoa (sifted).
  • Instruction changes: beat room temperature eggs and sugar together until fluffy and pale-colored. Drizzle melted butter into egg/sugar mixture while beating. Alternate flour mixture and cream/vanilla mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture.
  • Why? I learned that leaveners, such as baking powder and baking soda, increase air bubbles already present in the batter; they don't create air bubbles. Hence my decision to beat as much air into the egg/sugar mixture before adding the flour.
  • Check out the SMS blog roll to see how other SMS bakers baked up this pound cake.

16 comments:

  1. the marbled ones look soooo good!

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  2. Marble cake was a wonderful idea, the cake looks gorgeous. I agree that the cake had a very nice flavor, but mine was also a bit dry - nothing a nice beverage or a scoop of ice cream can fix, though. And I can definitely relate on fun ideas for recipes and falling short on time.

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  3. Your cake looks so pretty! Unfortunately, I don't like coffee, but I'm sure it would be wonderful if I did!

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  4. I think it looks just perfect! Definitely going to try swirling it next time - such a pretty effect! Sorry it was a tad dry - I made it a couple of times (keen bean that I am) and found it easier to not overcook in a smaller pan, so maybe your first instinct was correct?? x

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  5. oh your marble looks delish! reminds me of the pound cake my mom used to buy for a dollar at our local grocery store. yum-o!

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  6. I like how you swirled the chocolate,it looks fancy and yummy! Im glad you enjoyed it even if it was a tad bit dry. I ended up taking it to a church pot luck and serving it with Choke Cherry jam my uncle made for me! It tasted good that way! You know whats great is the upcoming Apple turnovers for TWD! I loved em!

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  7. That marbling is just gorgeous -- what a great idea to swirl in chocolate and espresso -- I can only imagine how wonderful your cake must have tasted!

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  8. Wow, you are an expert swirler Hanaa!! I can't believe how gorgeous your loaf looks! Great job changing the recipe up. Glad you guys liked it!

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  9. Beautiful swirls! Delicious sounding flavor combinations.

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  10. Amazing! I love it... i'm definitely going to try your version.

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  11. Hanaa, I don't know how I missed your pound cake until now! It is beautiful! I've never made a marbled anything, I'll have to put it on the list! Glad to hear it was such a hit!

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  12. This is the most picture perfect marbling I've seen!

    Great job!!

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  13. Where do you buy cocoa? I was expecting to find dutch processed cocoa in the supermarket, and they didn't have it (I just moved here from Greece, and there that's the standard cocoa).
    by the way, my brother lives in Bergen in Holland. I read through your blog and saw you are Dutch.
    Cheers,
    anat

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  14. everything looks perfect like always;)great job!lots of luve from ya littele sister haha;)

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