Cake Slice Bakers - April 2012: Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake

This month, the Cake Slice Bakers and I made a Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake. I love cinnamon, I love pound cake, and I love streusel, so this cake already seemed like a winner in my book.

Tish Boyle, the author, describes this cake as being a “sure-fire bake sale hit” and I think it definitely is. The cake has a really tender crumb and it stays moist for days! Only after about a week after baking did the corners of this cake start to get a little stale.

The cake was lovely and moist, and had a wonderful yellow color. I don’t know why I’m obsessed with how yellow desserts are. I don’t even really like yellow unless it’s on the pastelish side. But when it comes to desserts, I’m all on the yellow bandwagon. So yes, this cake is lovely and yellow and super moist. Then there’s the brown sugar-cinnamon streusel that goes into this cake. The streusel inside the cake melted perfectly into the middle of the pound, but the top didn’t really stick or melt. But it did add a lovely crunch to the top.  

I made a few changes, but nothing drastic. Instead of making it in a regular Bundt pan (I have one, but it’s Christmas themed), I halved the recipe and used a 9x5 inch loaf pan. I also omitted the orange zest, but after reading some of my fellow baker’s comments about the sweet orange note in the background, I wish I hadn’t. Next time I make this cake I will make sure to add the orange zest.

To check out how the other bakers did, click here.

Cinnamon Streusel Buttermilk Pound Cake

Adapted from The Cake Book
Makes one 9x5 inch loaf

Cinnamon Streusel Ingredients
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ½ tbsp. brown sugar
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Pound Cake Ingredients
1 ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
Pinch of cardamom
7 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray.

In a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the streusel. Stir until blended and crumbly. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cardamom. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until very creamy, about 2 minutes. Slowly add in the sugar and beat on medium-high speed for about 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Reduced the speed to medium and beat in the egg and egg yolk. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl now. Beat in the vanilla extract. Turn the speed down to low and gradually add in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Pour in half of the buttermilk. Add in another 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by the rest of the buttermilk. Beat in the last of the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat the batter on medium for about 30 seconds.

Scrape half of the batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle on half of the streusel mixture (or you can sprinkle it all on and leave none for the top). Cover the streusel with the remaining batter. If you chose to have the streusel on top, sprinkle the rest on right now. Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out relatively clean. Cook the cake in the pan on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Invert the cake onto a wire rack and then revert it onto its final resting plate.