Tag Archives: pound cake

Blueberry Almond Pound Cake

I found some blueberries at a really good price at my local market, so it was the perfect time to make this Blueberry Almond Pound Cake! If you like blueberries, you will need to try this–it’s so moist, dense, and rich! You can also use frozen blueberries in this cake, but the baking time will be slightly longer. I prefer using fresh blueberries because the frozen berries tend to give the batter a blue-ish color. The almonds and almond extract give this pound cake a really nice flavor and the glaze adds a little extra sweetness. Serve it for dessert at dinner or at a brunch with coffee or tea.

BLUEBERRY ALMOND POUND CAKE by NancyC

Makes one 10″ bundt cake

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1 (8-ounce) block of cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 cup sliced or coarsely chopped almonds

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

ALMOND GLAZE

2 cups powdered sugar

3 to 4 Tablespoons Half & Half (light cream), depending on desired consistency

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 Tablespoons sliced or coarsely chopped almonds for garnish (you can lightly toast them if you prefer)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10″ bundt pan; set aside.

In large bowl, blend butter, cream cheese, almond extract, and sugar until mixture is creamy and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and blend well after each addition.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to creamy mixture and mix well.

Stir in sliced almonds, mixing to evenly distribute in batter and then gently fold in the blueberries and blend evenly into the batter. Spoon batter into prepared bundt pan. Bake 50 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or almost clean (do not over bake, or cake will be dry).

Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan onto a serving plate (you may need to loosen the edges of the cake from the pan a little with a knife). Let cake cool completely.

While cake is cooling, mix the glaze ingredients and after cake cools, drizzle glaze over the cake. Sprinkle the almonds on top. Makes about 8-10 servings.

Have you been enjoying fresh blueberries this summer too? What kind of blueberry baked goods have you been making lately?

Sharing at Meal Plan Monday, Fiesta Friday, Weekend Potluck, Inspire Me Monday. What’s for Dinner Sunday, Happiness is Homemade.

Ricotta Pound Cake

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Ricotta Pound Cake II @ NancyC Hello there, friends! Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers these past few months–your comments on my last post were so thoughtful and encouraging. I have spent a lot of time resting and recharging during this time and it was just what I needed. I’m doing much better now. So I’m back from my blogging break with a pound cake recipe to share!

I don’t use ricotta cheese very often, but I did use it for something recently and I had some extra ricotta in my fridge. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but then I came across a recipe for Ricotta Pound Cake at Epicurious. It sounded like the perfect thing to try! I made a few small changes to the recipe and thought it tasted really good. A few things to note: The top of the loaf browns a little, and the sides of the loaf brown a lot–but the dusting of powdered sugar covers the top and the deliciousness of the slightly crispy edges are a nice contrast to the moist, buttery texture and flavor of the inside. And thankfully, the dark edges do not have a burnt taste like I thought they would. I fully expected them to, and it’s a mystery to me why the edges don’t taste burnt. My loaf also sank just very slightly in the middle–maybe because I had taken it out of the oven a little too early and put it back in–but that little indention was the perfect place to add in a few strawberries!

RICOTTA POUND CAKE by NancyC, adapted from Epicurious

Makes one 9″ loaf

1 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups whole milk or part skim ricotta cheese (drain any excess liquid)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Powdered sugar for dusting on top

Optional: fresh strawberries for garnish

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease and flour a 9″ loaf pan.

In a medium size bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter, ricotta, and sugar until smooth. Beat eggs in one at a time, then blend in the vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture to the butter/ricotta mixture, blending everything well.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, smoothing evenly with a spatula.

Gently whack the pan on the counter to remove air pockets. Bake at 350˚F for 46 to 50 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (you shouldn’t have to bake it more than 50 minutes). Cool in loaf pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate and let cake cool completely. When cooled, dust top of loaf with powdered sugar and add some strawberries in the center of the loaf, if desired.

Ricotta Pound Cake @ NancyC If I hadn’t had that extra ricotta in my fridge, I may never have tried making this pound cake! I’m so glad I did–I love the rich buttery flavor and how the ricotta makes the cake so good and moist. Do you use ricotta in any of your dessert recipes?

Linked to Fiesta Friday, Weekend Potluck, Meal Plan Monday.

Downton Pound Cake

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If you are a fan of Downton Abbey (or even if you’re not), this is a recipe you may be interested in! It’s from a cookbook called Edwardian Cooking: The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook (softcover), which features 80 recipes inspired by this PBS series. Author Larry Edwards, who is also the food editor for the San Francisco Independent, includes lots of recipes for foods you would find at an Edwardian table including…

Roasted Sweet Red Pepper Cream Tea Sandwiches
English Popovers
Cream Scones
Majestic Potato Soup
Royal Cheddar Cheese Soup
Asparagus in Cider Sauce
Leek Pie
Orange Glazed Beef Brisket
Lemon Cream Souffle
Queen Victoria Rice Pudding
Raspberry Nut Sponge Cake

As I looked through my review copy one unusually chilly spring evening, I decided to try the Downton Pound Cake. Since I had to actually turn the heat on that evening, I thought I might as well bake something to make the place even more cozy! Besides, pound cakes are wonderful, and this recipe suggests drizzling the cake with some melted dark chocolate, so I was sold on that! 🙂

I have to say, though, that this is not your typical, fool-proof pound cake. This is very crusty on the outside (which is a little different for a pound cake) and has a dense, moist texture on the inside. I just want to mention that so you’re not disappointed with the crusty outer part. Everyone I served it to really liked the crustiness, however. This cake has a wonderful almond flavor, too! You may think putting a whole Tablespoon of almond extract is too much, but it really isn’t in this cake. It did have a somewhat splotchy coloring when I took it out of the pan after baking, and perhaps it was because I used too much oil when I was greasing my pan–the recipe says to give your pan a light coat of oil, but I’d rather over grease than under grease to prevent a cake from sticking. My cake came out of the pan pretty easily–I had to loosen the edges a little with a knife before removing, though.

The splotchiness doesn’t really matter anyway if you drizzle the top of your cake with dark chocolate, like I did–in fact, I highly recommend doing that! It’s wonderful with the dark chocolate on top–I don’t think the cake would be as good without the chocolate. I just melted a 10-ounce bag of dark chocolate chips in the microwave–I melted the chips in a small microwavable bowl for a minute, then stirred, then melted and stirred every 30 seconds till all the chips were melted–it only takes about 2 to 3 minutes total microwave time to melt all the chips. After the chips were all melted, I also stirred in 1 teaspoon of coconut oil to make the chocolate extra creamy and easier to drizzle.

DOWNTON POUND CAKE from Edwardian Cooking: The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook

Makes 1 bundt cake

3 cups flour (I used all-purpose unbleached flour)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3 cups sugar

6 eggs, separated

1 Tablespoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon almond extract

Optional-1 (10-ounce) bag of dark chocolate chips for drizzling over cake

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly brush a bundt cake pan with oil or use a cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and pale.

Beat in the egg yolks, vanilla, and almond extract until smooth.

Add the flour mixture and beat just until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Remove half of the egg whites and stir them into the pound cake batter. Fold the other half of the egg whites into the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

Place into the oven and bake 60 to 70 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in the pan 10 minutes.

Remove cake from the pan and let cool on a wire rack until ready to serve. Note: If you want to do the holiday version, simply melt some dark chocolate with a touch of butter and drape it along the top of the cake, letting it run down the sides, and scatter some slivered almonds (I melted 1 (10-ounce) bag of dark chocolate chips with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil for my glaze, and decided to leave off the slivered almonds. Make sure you stir in the coconut oil after the chocolate chips are melted).

One thing I did a little differently from the recipe: I couldn’t find my egg separator, so I didn’t separate the yolks from the egg whites when I was mixing them in the batter. I think the pound cake would have risen a little more had I separated the eggs and whisked those egg whites, so be sure to follow those recipe instructions for best results. Despite my not doing that though, the cake still turned out good and tasted yummy!

The book doesn’t include any photos, but there are lots of great-sounding recipes. Are you a Downton Abbey or a pound cake fan? Or both? 🙂

Linked to Nifty Thrifty Sunday, Inspire Me Monday.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake

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I love baking with sweet potatoes—I’ve made Sweet Potato Bread, Sweet Potato Biscuits, Loaded Sweet Potato Muffins, and Sweet Potato Cinnamon Cake… so I thought it was about time to try a sweet potato pound cake! I found a recipe that I tweaked a little, using some brown sugar along with granulated sugar in the batter, and adding a little more cinnamon and nutmeg, plus some chopped pecans. Continue reading →

7-UP Pound Cake with Lemon-Lime Glaze

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I’m really not a big soda-pop drinker; I usually drink iced tea instead. But every once in awhile I’ll l have some soda on hand, usually left over from a get-together or party. That’s how I ended up with some 7-UP recently. Instead of tossing it, I decided to see if there was anything I could make with it. After all, I had made a Coca-Cola Cake, which tasted great, so was there such a thing as a 7-UP cake?

Continue reading →