Perfection Pound Cake
modified from "Baking from my Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan
This is a very simple Pound Cake aka "Butter Cake" uses simple ingredients:
250g Butter (i use SCS brand)
180g Sugar (1 cup)
4 Eggs
220g Flour (2 cup) or 240g Cake Flour (2 + 1/4 cup)
While this recipe require only simple ingredients, the rest lies on the mixing method :
1. Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy ( 5 minutes)
2. Add in egg one at a time, beat for (1 minute) for each egg
3. After egg is add in, beating is over, switch to spatula to fold in flour
4. Bake at preheated oven 170 C for 1 hour 10 min
This is a very simple Pound Cake aka "Butter Cake" uses simple ingredients:
250g Butter (i use SCS brand)
180g Sugar (1 cup)
4 Eggs
220g Flour (2 cup) or 240g Cake Flour (2 + 1/4 cup)
While this recipe require only simple ingredients, the rest lies on the mixing method :
1. Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy ( 5 minutes)
2. Add in egg one at a time, beat for (1 minute) for each egg
3. After egg is add in, beating is over, switch to spatula to fold in flour
4. Bake at preheated oven 170 C for 1 hour 10 min
Comments
Wow!! Your butter cake looks really yummy! Tho is a simple cake but the golden yellow colour makes it so rich. I love it! ;p
The cake is indeed nice to eat, buttery but not oily.
new to baking =P
you can use all purpose flour
salted butter in fine . i prefer salted butter!
Baking is very simple! Just get the right ingredients and mix the batter .
You might wanna start with cupcakes / muffin which is easier!
Thanks.
When your cake start to turn brown, you can cover the top of the cake with alluminium foil and continue baking until cooked. Mine took 70 minutes.
I'm using top and bottom heating, middle rack.
As for the texture (not fluffy but densed) i suspect it is either
1)Sugar n Butter (must be room temperature, soft but not melt) - not beat long enough (5 minutes)
2)Beat the batter for 1 minute after each egg addition. After all egg are in, mixing is over. Switch to spatula to fold in flour
3) Adding flour method - Use spatula to fold in instead of using mixer. If the batter is not fully combined, use hand whisk 2-3 stokes) will do.
**I think step (3) is very important coz You gotto fold in the flour gently to save the air pocket .
Lots of air pocket = fluffy cake
No/less air pocket = dense cake / kuih like
Hope it helps!
Maybe my 1st beating is not long enough. I thought it was ok and add in the eggs one at a time and beat until fully combined but it looks a bit watery. Is this normal? Then switch off the mixer and use spatula to fold in the flour. I put in half the flour and mix and add the remainder and mix again. Is this method ok? Does it really need that long to bake the cake? I took mine out after about 20 mins, I thought the top will be burn. Is it becoz of this I get the floury taste coz its not bake long enough?
I will try to bake this cake again this weekend.
Thanks so much for your advise.
Those beating time is to ensure air pocket develop.
When fold in flour, you might want to add in flour gradually by sifting the flour in ?
Hope you get right this time :D
May I know which oven you've been using?
Thank you for responding. May I know which model it is? How much was it? I don't think that model is available in Singapore. Do you have to adjust the temperature and timing for most of your recipes?
Thank you
Sanyo Elctric oven is SOP 170. I think this is a very old model. In fact, any electric oven will do.
Yes i adjust the temperature every time i bake diff cake eg : cupcakes 175 C (20 min) cheesecake 160 C (1 hour) etc. I set my oven baking mode to (top and bottom) and place the rack in the middle of the oven.
In KL, budget electric oven is around RM200-RM500, lux oven RM1000 and above.
I hope DH will get new oven for me :)
Finally I achieved the result of a proper butter cake :D Its texture and taste is nice but not pretty coz I covered it with foil before I bake and the batter stuck to the foil when it rises. So no smooth surface. Next time will let it rise and brown before covering with foil and continue to bake.
Must the oven be very hot when baking cakes? I followed the temperature but I feel my oven is very hot when baking cakes or cupcakes as the top will brown very fast when its only there for 5-10 mins.
Thanks.
Welcome to the world of baking!
I'm so happy you made your butter cake. Ya , i normally let the cake surface turn brown before i cover it with foil. Or you might wanna brush the foil with oil, so that it won't stuck on your cake.
Cupcakes, i normally bake at 175 C (15-20 min) All oven are different, once you get into baking, you'll know how to tackle their temperature (either reduce / increase the temp)
I'm a novice at baking. What was the speed you used in mixing the eggs?
I'm using hand held mixer at max speed. If you're using heavy duty mixer, you might need to reduce the timing as heavy duty mixer are more powerful hence saving u time :P
Did u beat the butter and sugar well? Also once the flour is added, try not to overmix, you might wanna mix with spatula then turn on mixer for a few seconds (quick mix)
Happy Baking!
Simonne
When i bake this cake @175 C i am using my old oven (top n bottom ) element without fan
I also bake another round using convection oven at 160c
Maybe you would like to reduce the temp of the oven?