My Homemade Pound Cake

Pound Cake Goodness

Hello all you foodies out there....Y'all doing good? You good? I'm good, you good? Okay, good. What you are about to witness is going to change your life forever...okay, maybe it's not life changing, but this pound cake recipe is sure to please any and everybody you serve it to. I have gotten praised several times about this recipe, and some people are actually shocked that I made it. I guess everybody isn't aware that I am the self-proclaimed culinary genius. Instead of using regular milk or buttermilk like you may see in other recipes, I use heavy cream just to give it that extract gourmet feel. I have made all types of pound cakes before, and after creating this pound cake recipe, this has become my go-to recipe. This is your standard, and may I say "Old Fashioned" pound cake recipe that includes a pound of each ingredient. With that said, this cake contains A LOT of butter and A LOT of sugar, so this may not be for all you health nuts out there, but remember: "Everything is good in moderation."

This Nielson Massey Vanilla Bean Paste is SOOOO GOOD. I use this when I want to add a little gourmet to all my sweet dishes. I purchased this on Amazon for $8 on sale for a 4 ounce jar. If you've never tried it before, you must try it. Is it obvious that I like to use the term gourmet yet?

Pound cakes are considered a very dense cake, but one thing I noticed in many pound cakes is that they're overly dry. When I developed this recipe, I wanted to stray away from making it too dry. I figured a little trick with egg whites that will help make this cake a little bit lighter in texture than what you are used to in a pound cake. 

Notes:
-Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you make the cake.
-Separate the egg yolks while the eggs are still fresh out of the refrigerator.
-You can also use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour.
-The cream of tartar isn't necessarily a needed ingredient, but I use it just to help out the egg whites.
-If you find that the batter is too thick while adding the flour, you can add some of the cream...I would hate for you to break your mixer, lol.
Recipe:

• 2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
• 3 cups  sifted All-Purpose Flour
• 2 1/4 cups sugar, divided
• 5 eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 3 tsp. baking power
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. vanilla paste or extract
• 1 tsp. butter flavoring
• 1 tsp. lemon flavoring
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350°

Cream together the softened butter and the 2 cups of sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Slowly add you egg yolks in one at a time, beating only until the egg yolk is completely mixed into the batter. Next, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. With your mixer on low, slower add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure all the flour is mixed in. Mix all of your flavorings and extracts in with the heavy cream and then add the cream into the batter. 

In a separate clean bowl, beat your egg whites and cream of tarter with you mixer until they start to look foamy, about one or two minutes, then add in the 1/4 cup of sugar, and continue to beat until the form stiff peaks. 

(they will resemble whipped cream and are able to stand once you remove the beaters from the egg whites)

Once your egg whites have come to stiff peaks, you want to carefully fold the egg whites a little at a time into the batter with a rubber spatula until they are fully combined. Grease and flour your Bundt pan and pour in your cake batter. Once all you cake batter is in, tap the pan on the counter a couple time to release any air bubbles that may be throughout the batter. Bake for about 1 hour or and 1 hour and 15 minutes, but keep a check on it  at the 1 hour mark because stoves are different. Once a toothpick or skewer comes out clean, its ready.

Well, that's it, you've got yourself a homemade pound cake. I'm sure this pound cake will be a hit with you and everyone you share it with. If you make it, please let me know in the comments. Below is the video I recorded for my YouTube channel. I was a littler nervous, so some of the things in this blog post are not mentioned in the video, which is one of the reasons I created this blog. Feel free to watch the video and also *cough, cough* go on over to YouTube and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more video updates. I have a lot more coming. Again, please let me know if you make this.