There are few recipes which are very easy to master and once mastered the variations become very satisfying and fruitful. Pound cake is the basic formula from which all other butter cakes evolve. This cake is soft and slightly moist. It has a buttery flavor and is complete on it own. Classic pound cake has equal proportions of butter, sugar, eggs, flour and no leaving. In this recipe, I have increased the amount of butter, added little milk for moisture and also added baking powder for extra softness. Due to its excellent storing property, this cake can be kept at room temperature for about 3 days and in the refrigerator for about a week.
Basic Pound Cake
Yield: two 6 inch cakes or 4 mini cakes
INGREDIENTS
200g cake flour (173g all-purpose flour + 27g cornflour)
200g eggs, room temperature
200g granulated sugar
250g unsalted butter, room temperature
60g milk, room temperature
8g or 2tsp vanilla extract
2.5g or 1/2tsp salt
7.5g or 1.5tsp baking powder
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 160°C.
- Grease desired cake molds and dust with flour. Cover the inner base of the mold with parchment paper.
- Sift together cake flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
- Using a stand or hand mixture, beat butter and sugar on medium speed till fluffy and light.
- Slowly add eggs, one at a time and mix until the yellow disappears. Mix in vanilla extract.
- Gradually add flour mixture to the batter alternately with milk. Beat until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Pour into the prepared cake molds. Tap the pan on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.
NOTES
All ingredients must be at room temperature.
Sift the dry ingredients at least 3 times to incorporate air into the mixture.
Use granulated sugar as the big granules of granulated sugar traps air and results in a softer cake.
For cake flour remove 16g all-purpose flour from 120g flour and add 16g corn flour or remove 2 tbsp all-purpose flour from 1 cup of flour and add 2 tbsp of corn flour.
Do not fill the cake mold more than half with the cake batter.
