Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar
This book is filled with recipes and techniques to improve your cooking skills. I loved this easy pound cake, especially the almond variation. Try pizza in a skillet, stuffed and grilled trout, roasted asparagus with the often-scary Hollandaise sauce, baked rice, and a New York-style cheesecake for dessert. I love this book.
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Pound Cake
Serves 8
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS Our food processor mixing method produces a superior rich, golden pound cake while making the process as simple and foolproof as possible. The combination of the fast-moving, powerful blade of the processor and the hot melted butter emulsified the liquid ingredients quickly and thoroughly before they had a chance to curdle. Sifting the dry ingredients over the emulsified egg mixture in three additions, and whisking them in after each addition, allowed us to incorporate the dry ingredients easily and ensured that no pockets of flour marred our finished cake. The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8½ by 4½ inches; if you use a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness 5 minutes early. You can use a blender instead of a food processor to mix the batter. To add the butter, remove the center cap of the lid so the butter can be drizzled into the whirling blender with minimal splattering. This batter looks almost like a thick pancake batter and is very fluid.
1½ cups (6 ounces) cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
1¼ cups (8¾ ounces) sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and hot
1 Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in bowl.
2 Process sugar, eggs, and vanilla in food processor until combined, about 10 seconds. With processor running, add hot melted butter in steady stream until incorporated. Transfer to large bowl.
3 Sift flour mixture over egg mixture in 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition until few streaks of flour remain. Continue to whisk batter gently until almost no lumps remain (do not overmix).
4 Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top with rubber spatula. Gently tap pan on counter to settle batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out with few crumbs attached, 50 minutes to 1 hour, rotating pan halfway through baking.
5 Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Run thin knife around edge of pan, remove cake from pan, and let cool completely on rack, about 2 hours. Serve. (Cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month; defrost cake at room temperature.)
VARIATIONS
Lemon Pound Cake
Add 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons) and 2 teaspoons juice to food processor with sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Almond Pound Cake
Add 1 teaspoon almond extract and ¼ cup slivered almonds to food processor with sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons slivered almonds over cake before baking.
Ginger Pound Cake
Add 3 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger, 1½ teaspoons ground ginger, and ½ teaspoon ground mace to food processor with sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Reprinted with permission by America’s Test Kitchen
Tracey Zabar's Chocolate Chip Sweets: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes is available here.
A delectable collection of innovative chocolate chip recipes by world-renowned chefs, pastry chefs, and bakers
Tracey Zabar's One Sweet Cookie Cookbook is available here.
A delicious collection of cookie recipes from extraordinary chefs, pastry chefs, and bakers. A great gift sure to delight anyone who loves to bake.
