No Fail Pound Cake
This is one of the best pound cakes I've ever tasted. It's simple to make, starting with a store-bought mix. I often take one to work where it quickly disappears. I also use this recipe at Christmas time to make 6 small loaves for gifts, which take about 15 minutes less.
This is one of the best pound cakes I've ever tasted. It's simple to make, starting with a store-bought mix. I often take one to work where it quickly disappears. I also use this recipe at Christmas time to make 6 small loaves for gifts, which take about 15 minutes less.
- Carbohydrate 245.882070231892 g
- Cholesterol 258.725000310935 mg
- Fat 96.5113901188469 g
- Fiber 3.37500006390504 g
- Protein 25.4965400169815 g
- Saturated Fat 60.5099200745341 g
- Serving Size 1 1 - 10 inch Bundt pan (907g)
- Sodium 2634.21100286114 mg
- Sugar 242.507070167987 g
- Trans Fat 7.01292900872125 g
- Calories 1948 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and lemon extract. Beat in water and sour cream. Beat in the cake mix and flour. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
A golden-brown crust gives way to a tight, velvety crumb that holds its shape cleanly under the knife without crumbling into dry shards. Historically baked with equal parts of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs, traditional pound cakes frequently suffered from dry textures or heavy, leaden centers due to improper aeration. Achieving a reliable structure relies entirely on the initial creaming stage, where softened butter and granulated sugar must be beaten at medium-high speed until the mixture visibly pales in color and increases in volume, incorporating microscopic air cells that chemical leavening agents alone cannot provide.
Skipping this mechanical aeration step results in a dense mass that fails to rise evenly during the sixty to eighty minutes in a 350 degrees F oven. Extending the creaming process for a full five minutes builds the crucial matrix needed to support the added weight of sour cream and extra flour. Room temperature eggs must be incorporated strictly one at a time to prevent the emulsion from breaking, which directly causes curdling and uneven baking pockets.
Dividing the heavy batter into six smaller loaf pans requires reducing the total baking time by roughly fifteen minutes while maintaining the same oven temperature. Cooled completely on a wire rack, the finished pastry wraps tightly in plastic wrap to retain moisture for up to four days at room temperature.
