Dieter’s beware. This is the real deal knock-you-over-and-steal-your-purse kind of pound cake.
(Hi Tam, sorry about your purse)
This recipe is definitely not good for your body, but I swear on a pile of unicorn puppies that it is undoubtedly amazing for both your mouth and your soul.
UNICORN PUPPIES!!!!
I don’t know why I decided to try to master pound cake.
I never even think about pound cake until it’s being shoved under my nose at holiday dinners.
I mean, I liiiiiiiiike it. But it just seems so boring by itself.
Is this one of those moments where I’m supposed to value simplicity?
Let’s see about that…
I took the buttermilk pound cake recipe from Alton Brown’s recipe here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/buttermilk-pound-cake-recipe/index.html
I have made it a couple of times with varying results.
When I followed Alton’s recipe baking one hour at 375, the middle was still squishy but the top was browning far too quickly and I had to lower the temperature to 325 and bake another 15 minutes with aluminum foil over the pans.
NOT FUN.
I take it personally when things I make don’t turn out as expected.
(Mom, this is exactly the reason I don’t want to do this for a living, but I appreciate your continued support)
When I baked the pound cake in two loaf pans, I lowered the temp to 350 and added an extra 15 minutes and it came out perfectly, but when I tried a bundt cake or tube pan, the bottom was about 90% cooked.
Damn it.
Well, whatever. Baking is trial and error. It’s just that I don’t get this bad boy until my birthday…
(Again, Mom, thanks for the support!!)
So, for now I’m having to hand mix it all (I know…boo hoo) and it takes twice as long since Alton’s recipe is an exact science and you TOTALLY have to follow it to the letter (except for the baking temperature issue…I’m not sure about that…maybe my oven is messed up)
I’m stubborn, and I realize that I could just wait to try to master this when I have my magic stand mixer, but I just never listen to anyone.
Especially my inner voice.
This recipe is also different from Alton’s in that I took the liberty to add both a cup of mini semi-sweet morsels as well as two tablespoons of cinnamon!!!
SO MUCH FOR BORING. HELLO FANCY DELICIOUS!
(If you like your pound cake less cinnamony or chocolatey you can always half that amount, or omit it altogether, but I’d like to go on the record and state that I don’t think you should)
So here is the picture of the bundt pan about to head into the oven:
This turned out so-so. Almost perfect. But NOT PERFECT. But delicious. It got eaten.
Remember it is also important that all of your ingredients are room temperature. I don’t know why, other than Alton Brown says so. So do it.
It’s Science or something.
Oh!! Here is a gorgeous picture of one of the uber-successful loafs that were quickly devoured by loved ones:
This loaf was split between my Mom and Dad as well as my best friend Abigail and her wonderful family …And she FINALLY HAD HER BABY BABY!
If you don’t remember, she accompanied me on one of several of my journeys to Monell’s…
http://gimmeyummy.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/review-monells-germantown/
Is he not the most adorable little thing ever???????
Okay. Calm down ovaries. There is time left.
Back to the sweets…
So…look at that right there…I mean, why would you ever want less chocolate in anything?
Trust me. Make this.
