Recipe: Pound Cake

the appetizer:

Making miniature desserts at home is easy with Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse by Kaye Hansen and Liv Hansen, featuring recipes for Coffee Pecan Pound Cakes and I Scream, You Scream... (Ice Cream Cupcakes), plus supporting recipes for Mint Chocolate Chip Cream, Pound Cake, and Simple Glaze.

Pound Cake

Yield: 12 Ice Cream Cones or 3 Mini Tiered Cakes

Most of my mom's pound cakes have sour cream added in, but this classic comes from my sweet-toothed husband, Luiz. Since we reduced the recipe, we are just shy of the traditional "pound of suyar, pound of butter, pound of flour" pound cake. But, true to its name, it is dense, moist, and delicious.

If you are making I Scream, You Scream..., grease two 6-mold ice-cream-cone pans or mini tiered cake pans.

If you are making mini tiered cakes, grease two 2-inch, two 3-inch, and two 4-inch round cake pans.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream well:

12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter
1-3/4 cups sugar

Add and cream at high speed until light and fluffy:

7 extra-large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

On a piece of wax paper, sift together:

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture and mix on low speed just until combined.

In a clean bowl of an electric mixer with a whip attachment, whip until stiff but not dry:

5 extra-large egg whites

Fold one quarter of the egg whites into the batter until combined. Then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans, filling each three-quarters full. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Coolon a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn the cakes out of their pans. Invert to cool, so they are right side up. Slice off the dome that formed when baking.

from:
Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse
Cupcakes, Small Cakes, Muffins, and Other Mini Treats
by Kaye Hansen and Liv Hansen
Clarkson Potter, 2008
Hardcover, 176 pages; $24.95
ISBN: 0307382826
ISBN-13: 978-0-307-38282-5
Recipe reprinted by permission.

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