My Favorite Pound Cake

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INGREDIENTS

Cake 

Makes two 8x4” loaf pans — OR — one large bundt pan + mini bundt pan for sampling

  • 340g bleached cake flour

  • 340g unsalted butter, at room temperature

  • 600g superfine sugar
    (granulated sugar works well too, but the fine sugar makes a perfect crumb)

  • 6 large eggs, separated

  • .5 tsp kosher salt

  • 1/4 tsp baking powder

  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

  • 1/4 to 1/2 tsp lemon extract (I use just 1/4 tsp, but if you like lemon extract go for the 1/2 tsp)

  • 227g full fat sour cream (i.e. 8oz), room temperature


METHOD

First, Let’s get organized!

  1. Heat oven to 300° F and prepare bundt pan or loaf pan liberally with baking spray

  2. Measure out ingredients and separate eggs, keeping the whites in a large metal mixing bowl.

Prepare cake batter

  1. In stand mixer or with electric hand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy on medium speed (the mixture should be pale in color and visibly more voluminous. Takes about 5 minutes for me, but it differs across mixers, so use visual cues).

  2. In a separate bowl sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use a whisk to fully incorporate all of the dry ingredients.

  3. Once the butter and sugar are fully creamed, alternate adding in about one fourth of the flour first, and then egg yolks 2 at a time (making sure that each ingredient gets fully incorporated. Just a few seconds, do not over beat). Repeat this until all flour and egg yolks are well incorporated.

  4. Add in the room temperature sour cream and scrape down sides of the bowl.

  5. Set this mixture aside, and move on to the egg whites (which should already be in a clean metal mixing bowl). With a clean hand mixer or clean whisk attachment on stand mixer, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  6. With a rubber spatula, FOLD the egg whites into the cake mixture.

  7. Pour cake batter into prepared pan(s).

BAKE!

  1. Bake at 300°F for 30 minutes. Then, increase temperature to 325°F for another 30-45 minutes. This cake batter is rather thick so it takes some time to bake. Depending on your oven, you may need less time.

A note about my recipes: All of my recipes are in grams (weight) versus cups etc. (volume). With the exception of teaspoon measurements, I do this because it allows me to share with you a recipe that I know will work and be consistent each time. Weight measurements are always the same, but the volume in a measuring cup etc. can vary person to person. I promise, having a kitchen scale is so worth it! There are plenty of cheap ones at Amazon for less than $15 :)