Cake Slice Bakers - September, 2011: Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Ok, so I lied last month; the Hungarian Coffee Cake was not the last cake the Cake Slice Bakers was going to bake out of Cake Keeper Cakes. Katie from Apple and Spice decided to surprise us by letting us choose the real final cake to make from this book.

Based off of what I’ve read, many bloggers chose the Nutella Swirl Pound cake. I have to admit, the thought of making that pound cake crossed my mind a few times, but that is not the cake I chose to bake this month. The cake I decided to make is also a pound cake, but it is a brown sugar pound cake.

This particular pound cake isn’t really like a pound cake, at least I don’t think it is. The cake turned out super moist and tender, and before you go assuming that I’m complaining, I’m not. I just associate pound cakes to be very thick and dense were as this cake was so soft. You can really taste the brown sugar in it because that is the only type of sugar that is used in the recipe (unless you count the cinnamon sugar topping). Oh yeah, did I mention there is a cinnamon sugar topping? Yeah, there’s a little sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top before the cake bakes and it made my whole house smell of cinnamon sugar for a good three hours after the cake was out of the oven. And there may be a bit of cinnamon sugar residue on the top, but that quickly melts away as it cools and the cinnamon sugar leaves a nice crunch on the top.

I only had the pleasure of eating the cake cold because I forgot to warm it up in the microwave, even though I told myself I would do that. Funny how quickly I forget things, even if I was just thinking of it just moments before. Even though the cake was cold, it was fabulous. My dad had a slice when it was still warm and he said that a little scoop of vanilla ice cream would be the perfect accompaniment, and I do imagine he is right.

By the way, there are a few openings available if you want to join in on the monthly cake baking of the Cake Slice Bakers. If you are interested in joining the Cake Slice Bakers, please email Katie at appleandspice[AT]hotmail[DOT]co[DOT]uk. Don’t forget to mention your: name, blog name, blog URL, and the email you use in order to access your blog. Remember, since there is a limited amount of space, it is first come first serve to join.

Check back next month to see what cake we are baking from our new cookbook we will be using for the next twelve months.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake
from Cake Keeper Cakes

Ingredients
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, soft
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan and dust with flour.
2. Combine the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla extract in a glass measuring cup and beat gently until the egg yolks have broken up. Set that aside. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set that aside as well.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar for about 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Scrap down the sides of the bowl every once in a while if necessary.
4. Set the speed to medium-low and slowly drizzle in the egg and buttermilk mixture. The result will be a very lumpy mess; don’t worry, because once the flour mixture is added, all those weird clumps will disappear.
5. Turn the mixer to low speed and slowly add in the flour mixture about a half a cup at a time. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. After the last flour installment, beat the batter on medium speed for about 30 seconds. The recipe called for 1 cup of raisins, but I omitted that, so if you would like to have raisins added to your cake, by all means, fold them in now.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and ground cinnamon until thoroughly mixed and sprinkle as much as you want on the top. Place on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake until the top is golden brown. The directions said this would take about 55 minutes, but mine was done after 45 minutes, but I left it in the oven two extra minutes for good measure.
7. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Invert the cake and turn right side up onto a cooling rack to cool for the remainder of the cooling process. Slice and serve any which way you want. Store the cake in a cake keeper or wrapped in plastic wrap for up to three days.