The Best Million Dollar Pound Cake Recipe - Miss in the Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

Why a cold oven is the secret to a better pound cake? ›

Starting your pound cake in a cold oven also impacts the texture of the cake. A longer bake time and lower temperature allows the leavening more time to work before the cake sets, resulting in a taller, fluffier cake.

The Eggs: Pound cakes require a lot of eggs to create that dense texture. Some folks say that you shouldn't use fresh eggs in pound cakes because they don't mix into the batter as easily and can result in overmixing. I've always used my chicken's fresh eggs for pound cakes and it comes out fantastic, so who knows!

This classic pound cake should not sink in the middle, unless the cake was under-baked or extra liquid was added. Bake the cake for longer. If you over-beat the eggs, or beat the butter and sugar too fast, or added too much baking powder, the cake can rise too much and flow over the edges of the pan.

According to Spoon University, over-mixing your cake batter in turn, over-activates the gluten in the flour. Stirring the cake batter both incorporates your ingredients and activates the gluten protein, so when you mix it too much, the texture of your pound cake becomes doughy like bread.

A steady 325-350 degrees is ideal when it comes to baking pound cake. Position the pan in the middle of the oven, and rotate it once, halfway through the baking time, as it bakes to account for any hot spots.

Cake Flour: Cake flour is lighter than all-purpose flour and produces the best pound cake in my opinion. Since it's so light, the attention remains on the butter. All-purpose flour is simply too heavy for this pound cake recipe; the cake will be heavy as a brick. If needed, use this homemade cake flour substitute.

Always add the dry ingredients alternately with the liquid, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. This will help to ensure that the dry and wet ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the batter. Mix just until blended after each addition. Overmixing the batter creates a tough, rubbery cake.

Sift: Sifting the flour into the batter makes the cake lighter. It also breaks up any large clumps of flour, making it easier to incorporate into the batter.

Maillard reaction: The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction that occurs between amino acids and reducing sugars when exposed to heat. It leads to browning and the development of complex flavors. As a cake bakes, the Maillard reaction can occur in the interior, resulting in the brown color.

Bundt pans are a baking essential. Their unique construction allows an even browning on denser cakes, like pound cake, with the well-defined curves that are the hallmark of the form.

How long to let pound cake cool before icing? ›

How Long to Cool a Cake Before Icing It? Our recommendation on how long to cool a cake before icing it is to wait 2-3 hours for your cake to cool completely. Then, add a crumb coat and refrigerate the cake for up to 30 minutes. Once that is done, you'll be able to ice until your heart's content.

An overmixed egg foam will look dull or broken, like cottage cheese. With the addition of flour, an undermixed batter will have uneven streaks or visible pockets of flour. When properly combined, the batter will be satiny, a little glossy, and able to make luscious peaks or ribbons.

Cake sinking after baking can be prevented by ensuring the oven is preheated correctly, using the right size of baking tin, avoiding opening the oven door too early, checking for doneness with a toothpick, and allowing the cake to cool gradually in the oven before removing it.

A cake with perfect texture starts in the bowl. You may know what you get when you overmix cake batter: a dense cake with tough texture (and maybe some unappetizing gluey streaks as well). But far fewer bakers know that undermixing batter can cause the same or similar results.

Cakes rise higher and exhibit finer texture.

Starting in a cold oven gives those leaveners more time to work.

Putting the pot into a cold oven allows it to warm slowly as the oven heats up. It prevents any sort of thermal damage that might occur to the pot if it's heated empty. No oven mitts are needed here — the oven, pot, and dough inside are all room temperature.