Recipe for basic pound cake
Recipe for a basic pound cake
This simple recipe for a basic pound cake is perfect to have under your belt as it will give you the option to change the recipe as you see fit.
You might have heard about the book by Michael Ruhlman called Ratio. I purchased the book years ago when I bumped into it on the internet. Can’t even remember when or where. But it has been my favorite ever since. The book is 11 years old an falling apart a bit too but you can still buy it online.
Ratio’s instead of recipes
What the book does is that it gives you ratios rather than recipes for the most common things. There is a ratio for pound cake, for sponge cake, you can find one for muffins, bread, pancakes and the list goes on. If you like to create your own recipes but don’t know where to start? This is the book for you.
Baking
I don’t actually make a lot of cakes with the exception of bundt cakes. They have a magical pull to me. I’ve made many bundt cakes with my favorite possible being this bundt cake with roasted marzipan. But back to this basic pound cake.
To make a basic pound cake you just need a couple of ingredients. You need 1 part egg, 1 part butter, 1 part flour and one part sugar. Couldn’t get any simpler than that right? It’s easy to remember too, so if you are ever in the need to make a basic pound cake you now know how to make it.
The order of things
One of the things that always amazes me is the fact that the order in which you add the ingredients makes a huge difference on the outcome of the cake. For this basic pound cake it is butter, sugar, salt and flour. Next time I will be making a sponge cake.
The same ingredients but a different order of things. Of course, I did add some lemon to this cake. I can’t help myself and I just love the flavor of lemon. If you want to spice things up even more you can add a lemon icing to the cake after baking too.
In that case make sure the basic pound cake is cooled down completely. Take around 200 gr of icing sugar and mix some lemon juice into it. Not too much. Start with about 1 tablespoon and work it into the sugar. Use more if needed. Drizzle this over the cake for some added deliciousness.
Up next
I’ve decided this will be a series so the next cake I will be baking is the promised sponge cake. Stay tuned!
Basic pound cake recipe
Equipment
- cake tin of 25 cm
Ingredients
- 225 gr unsalted butter at roomtemperature
- 225 gr sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 225 gr egg about 4-5 eggs
- 225 gr flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 lemon zest and juice
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F)
- Place the butter in the bowl of your mixer and whisk until light and creamy.225 gr unsalted butter
- Now add the salt and the sugar to it and whisk until slightly doubled in volume.1 tsp salt, 225 gr sugar
- Add the eggs one by one. Make sure each egg is fully incorporated before moving on to the next. Add vanilla extract, lemon zest en juice.225 gr egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 lemon
- Turn the machine to low setting and add the flour last. Stop with whisking as soon as it is mixed.225 gr flour
- Grease your cake tin and cover with baking paper. Pour the batter in and smooth the top surface.
- Place in the preheated oven en bake the cake in about 60 minutes or until golden and brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean.
Nutrition Information per portion
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
