The Best Million Dollar Pound Cake Recipe - Miss in the Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

Why a cold oven is the secret to a better pound cake? ›

Starting your pound cake in a cold oven also impacts the texture of the cake. A longer bake time and lower temperature allows the leavening more time to work before the cake sets, resulting in a taller, fluffier cake.

The Eggs: Pound cakes require a lot of eggs to create that dense texture. Some folks say that you shouldn't use fresh eggs in pound cakes because they don't mix into the batter as easily and can result in overmixing. I've always used my chicken's fresh eggs for pound cakes and it comes out fantastic, so who knows!

This classic pound cake should not sink in the middle, unless the cake was under-baked or extra liquid was added. Bake the cake for longer. If you over-beat the eggs, or beat the butter and sugar too fast, or added too much baking powder, the cake can rise too much and flow over the edges of the pan.

According to Spoon University, over-mixing your cake batter in turn, over-activates the gluten in the flour. Stirring the cake batter both incorporates your ingredients and activates the gluten protein, so when you mix it too much, the texture of your pound cake becomes doughy like bread.

A steady 325-350 degrees is ideal when it comes to baking pound cake. Position the pan in the middle of the oven, and rotate it once, halfway through the baking time, as it bakes to account for any hot spots.

Cake Flour: Cake flour is lighter than all-purpose flour and produces the best pound cake in my opinion. Since it's so light, the attention remains on the butter. All-purpose flour is simply too heavy for this pound cake recipe; the cake will be heavy as a brick. If needed, use this homemade cake flour substitute.

Always add the dry ingredients alternately with the liquid, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. This will help to ensure that the dry and wet ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the batter. Mix just until blended after each addition. Overmixing the batter creates a tough, rubbery cake.

Sift: Sifting the flour into the batter makes the cake lighter. It also breaks up any large clumps of flour, making it easier to incorporate into the batter.

Sometimes it is because you have the temperature too high. Other times it is because you didn't flour and oil the pan.

Bundt pans are a baking essential. Their unique construction allows an even browning on denser cakes, like pound cake, with the well-defined curves that are the hallmark of the form.

How long to let pound cake cool before icing? ›

How Long to Cool a Cake Before Icing It? Our recommendation on how long to cool a cake before icing it is to wait 2-3 hours for your cake to cool completely. Then, add a crumb coat and refrigerate the cake for up to 30 minutes. Once that is done, you'll be able to ice until your heart's content.

You'll end up with a cake that's too dense and dry. If you're asking about adding flour to a batter, you usually add it in stages, alternating with the liquid. Adding it in two or three steps helps hydrate the flour more quickly and requires less stirring, which prevents gluten formation.

Several steps can be taken to prevent cakes from sinking in the middle. Eensure the oven is fully preheated, avoid frequent opening during baking, use correct ingredient measurements, mix thoroughly, avoid overmixing, bake on the center rack, and avoid underbaking.

There are several possible causes for what is called a sad streak in a pound cake. One is that there wasn't enough stirring in the early stages of preparing the batter. The other is that the cake needs to 'set' the crumb when you first remove it from the oven.

Cakes rise higher and exhibit finer texture.

Starting in a cold oven gives those leaveners more time to work.

Putting the pot into a cold oven allows it to warm slowly as the oven heats up. It prevents any sort of thermal damage that might occur to the pot if it's heated empty. No oven mitts are needed here — the oven, pot, and dough inside are all room temperature.