As a child I have many memories of eating pound cake for our dessert. I like the soft crust that surrounds the light delicate cake. I think my Mother purchased pound cake often because of the simplicity and low cost. When you are feeding nine children dessert the pound cake comes in mighty handy. I thought I would try my hand at baking some type of pound cake because I have not eaten pound cake in a while and wanted to experiment with different flavors. Well, after 3 tries I was ready to give up because each time the cake batter would overflow the pan and create and layer of crust on the bottom of my oven. Till this day I turn the oven on and it still smells like burnt pound cake.
I told my wife that I was not giving up, it is not in my nature. I settled down after a couple of weeks and let it rest a bit then it started to come back. I needed to accomplish what I set out to do and make me some pound cake so I could practice and take some awesome photos! I started to think back on my school days at the CIA in Poughkeepsie, NY. I can vividly remember the instructor spending time on how to make a pound cake.
The reason the pound cake is called a pound cake is that all ingredients are equal to one pound or in any increments. That means that you could have a half pound of ingredients or two pounds, doesn’t matter. What matters is that all ingredients are equal and at room temperature and be sure you READ the recipe several times.
The main ingredients are equal parts, one pound of butter (at room temperature), one pound of granulated sugar, one pound of whole eggs (at room temperature), and one pound of flour. So you can use 8 ounces, 10 ounces or 20 ounces of each and so on. I always take my eggs and butter out early in the morning and bake in the afternoon.
Three Citrus Pound Cake with Candied Zest
Makes nine small cakes and one 9 inch loaf pan
Preparation Time is about 35 to 50 minutes
ten ounces room temperature butter
ten ounces granulated sugar
ten ounces whole eggs
ten ounces all purpose flour, sifted
one teaspoon vanilla extract
two oranges
one grapefruit
one lemon
pinch of salt
Remove the butter and eggs from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Prepare one loaf pan and nine small cakes or cupcake pans with butter and flour. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Zest the citrus and place in a small sauce pan. Place a strainer over the saucepan and squeeze the juice from the citrus. reduce this mixture over medium heat until almost dry or about two tablespoons, set aside to cool.
With a mixer and the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed. This will take about 10 minutes or so. Stop the mixer and scrape the bottom of the bowl. Turn the mixer on medium and add the eggs one third at a time and in-between stop the mixer to scrap the bowl. Add the vanilla and reduced citrus juices. Turn the mixer on low and add the flour and salt slowly. Spoon the batter into prepared pans and bake until the sides pull from the pan and the cake springs back when pressed, about 30-45 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and cool on a cooling rack before glazing
Glaze
two cups confectionary sugar
4-5 tablespoons milk
one half teaspoon vanilla extract
Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir with a whip.
Candied Zest
one grapefruit
one orange
one lemon
two cups sugar (more for rolling the zest)
one cup water
Remove the peel from the citrus with a peeler with taking too much of the white pith. Slice the peel very thin. Place the peel in a small sauce pot and cover with water and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain the zest and rinse under cold water. Repeat this three times to remove the bitterness. Drain the zest and return to the pot. Add the water and sugar to the pan and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the zest with a perforated spoon and drain a little before rolling in granulated sugar. Remove the zest from the sugar and place on parchment pear to dry for a couple of hours. When dry store in a airtight container. this will keep for a week or so depending on the humidity.
