Friday, March 29, 2024

Let Them Eat Cake....

I apologize to Marie for stealing the words she may or may not have uttered, but sometimes you simply must have a piece of cake. I guess must have pound cake would be more accurate.



Your Granny, Aunt, or Mom might have a pound cake recipe that is famous - like the one that brought a smile to the pastor's face when he looked down the buffet line of the dinner on the grounds and saw plates of her pound cake, precut and displayed in the dessert section. Did he casually move an additional slice of it onto the plate with his slice to double the size of his portion just before he moved past the grocery store cherry pie to the iced tea? Hopefully he didn't claim a covered dish dinner miracle when Ms. McDaniel saw what he had done and called him out for the sixth deadly sin.


I never had that Granny or Aunt who was a cake baking expert. Mom made pretty good birthday cake, but this recipe is for pound cake, and I am going to claim my wife as the one worthy of praise.

Here is the wife’s recipe for Citrus Pound Cake. If you like citrus, you will love this cake. This week, I have departed from normal - I think for the first time. The wife is the cook in these photos. Since it is her recipe, it only makes good sense to show her making it. To cook her citrus pound cake, you will need these ingredients:

400 grams (3 cups) AP flour
1 1/2 sticks unsalted Butter at room temperature
1 1/2 sticks Margarine at room temperature (not shown). Margarine is used in the recipe to produce a crispy crust on the finished cake.
3 cups sugar
5 eggs at room temperature
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
Zest of one orange
1/4 teaspoon of Orange Oil
1/4 teaspoon Lime Oil
1/4 teaspoon Lemon Oil
1 Tablespoon Triple Sec
3/4 cup Sprite


Directions:

As usual, I have relied on photos to help explain what is going on. 

Cream the butter, margarine and sugar. The final texture at least partially comes from the blend of margarine and butter (cake science). The fats need to be at room temperature, so they are soft enough to blend together. Scrape down walls of the mixing bowl after creaming to keep the mixture smooth and consistent. 


Add 3 cups of sugar to the fats and mix the sugar with the butter and margarine until smooth. This is called creaming the fats and sugar, so continue mixing until it is nice and creamy. Be certain to scrape down the walls of the mixing bowl after adding sugar.




Add the 5 eggs, one at a time and mix each egg in to the fat/sugar mixture before adding the next egg. Be certain to scrape down the walls of the mixing bowl when mixing. I am never quite sure why we add eggs one at a time, but Martha, Ina, Julia, and my wife do it that way, so it must be the proper way to add them to a cake batter.




Continue mixing at medium speed (for 3 -5 minutes) to incorporate air into the mixture while measuring out and sifting 400 grams of AP flour (3 cups).



Remove the zest from one orange (One or two Tablespoons of zest) and add to flour. Be careful to not get the white membrane into the mix, because the white is bitter.



Measure out and add 1 Tablespoon of Triple Sec, 1/4 teaspoon of Orange Oil, 1/4 teaspoon of Lime Oil and 1/4 teaspoon of Lemon Oil. You can get the citrus oils from cake baking supply stores, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, King Arthur flour website and sometimes your grocer or Walmart. Triple Sec comes from the Liquor store. We drive all the way to the one across the river from Vicksburg so no one will know. Please don't tell because it is a secret.



By this the time you have measured and sifted the flour and mixed in the orange zest, the butter, margarine, sugar and egg mixture will have increased significantly in volume.



Measure 3/4 cup of Sprite and add the sprite and flour in small portions to the creamed fat, alternating each until all of the liquid and solids have been added. Be certain to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl after adding the dry ingredients.






Add citrus oils, Triple Sec and vanilla. Mix in well.



Remove as much batter from mixing paddle as possible, but leave a little on the paddle and hand to husband who will offer to take care of it for you.


Wipe the inside of the bunt pan with butter and dust with flour to keep cake from sticking during baking process. 



Spoon the batter into the bunt pan being careful to get it distributed equally around the pan. Thump it a time or two to settle the batter and get rid of air bubbles that might be in the pan.






Bake on center rack of a preheated 325 degree oven (because this pan is dark). If using a light colored pan, bake at 350 degrees. Bake until a pick comes out clean (this cake baked for one hour and 15 minutes).



After removing from oven, allow the pan to cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges with a sharp knife and turn the pound cake out on a rack to cool for 30 minutes.



We glaze our citrus pound cake (one slice at a time) with Lemon Curd 


that is diluted with fresh Orange Juice. Lemon curd contains eggs, so it is not suitable for glazing the entire cake. If glazing with Lemon Curd, the glaze will be added as each slice is cut. I will do our recipe for lemon curd (maybe next week)


The cake would also serve nicely with blue berries, macerated strawberries or a sugar glaze. It is great all by itself, too.

This cake has a nice, moist crumb, delightful citrus flavor and a wonderful crispy crust (the result of the butter and margarine blend).





Thanks for looking at my recipe post.

God Bless You.


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I need to try this!

Anonymous said...

That sounds delish, it's a prime candidate to be topped with blueberry compote.

I use this wherever I need blueberries. Over pancakes, waffles, dutch
babies, cheesecake, anywhere, everywhere.

Blueberry Compote

1 pint blueberries
2 tbsp water (only use half the water if the berries are frozen)
1/2 lemon (juice only)
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/8 tsp fresh ground nutmeg (if you don't have fresh you can get it
online it at Indian or Pakistani grocery stores, it's worth the trip.)
pinch salt

Bring to a boil over med heat and simmer until done to your
satisfaction. I generally start with the lid on and take it off
towards the end.

Anonymous said...

That first photo is the prettiest yet. Trying to crawl into the page.
At my grandmothers house we spread warm slices with muscadine jelly.
That citrus thing looks grand.

Anonymous said...

Dang, might have to try this one!

Anonymous said...

I love pound cake and I am going to make this. Thanks!

Kingfish said...

To heck with the cake, the batter is where it's at, especially when Mexican vanilla is used.

Stuff About ZeroBear PolyBear said...

Mr Fish,

I remember when Mexican Vanilla was $2.00 a fifth at the market in Nuevo Laredo. I was there once and brought back two fifths of vanilla in my Samsonite hard side suitcase. One of the bottles broke inside my suitcase in the luggage hold on the return flight. Ruined a suite coat.

I really like the flavor of Mexican Vanilla.

Anonymous said...

Dang, that cake looks good. I'll try the combo of butter and margarine the next time I bake one. I always bring vanilla back from our trips to Mexico, along with canella (cinnamon), mescal and dried guajillo chilis.

Thanks for posting!

Anonymous said...

On the topic of pound cake, there was a great lady comedian, Jeanne Robertson, who had a sketch about pound cake, and sending her "left brain" husband to the store. Her website still has the link at top. https://jeannerobertson.com/pound-cake

She also tells the story of her delicious pound cake with the correct amounts, after sending a man to the grocery store for ingredients.

My wife's favorite craving. Looks delicious.

Anonymous said...

Love a good pound cake.

Anonymous said...

You had me at lemon.

(Please do include Curd recipe in the future)

Stuff About ZeroBear PolyBear said...

Curd is set to post Friday at 10:00 am, depending on how many rats the King of All Fishes has to address.


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