Pound cake and variations - Sponge cake - Layer Cake
It goes by many names. But pound cake is *the* basic recipe for chemically leavened cakes. It is incredibly easy and flexible. If you want to experiment with cake for your self, using the pound cake recipe as a starting point is a good way to do it.
Ingredients
The dry ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) (especially if you use an acidic filling.)
- 1 pinch salt
The wet ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) sugar (yes sugar is wet in this context.)
- 200 g (7 oz) butter (You can easily just use 100 g (3.5 oz) butter.)
- 4 eggs (7 oz) (medium eggs weigh about 50-60 g (2 oz) each)
Directions in general
Mix the “dry” ingredients. Flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Then mix all the “wet” ingredients together: sugar, eggs and butter.
If you are not using a mixer, the easiest way is to melt the butter first.
If you do you use a mixer, then whisk until the butter is soft and the sugar is well mixed in. Then mix in the eggs.
The cakes I make the most from this recipe is:
Sponge cake / Pound Cake
Pour the batter into a bread pan.
Bake at 180°C (355°F) for 40 minutes.
Cake Bases
Pour the batter into a spring form.
Bake 40 minutes at180°C (355°F).
Let it cool for at least 20 minutes.
Split it gently into three equal layers with a serrated knife.
Apple pie with cinnamon
Cut 2-3 apples into wedges.
Cover them with cinnamon sugar
Pour the batter into a spring form.
Press the apple wedges into the batter.
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of the cake so that it is evenly covered.
Bake 40 minutes at180°C (355°F).
Marble Cake
Take a third of the dough and put into a small bowl. Add 2 tbsp cocoa, and thin it with milk until it has the same consistency as before.
Use a bread pan and fill it with dough in the order “light-dark-light”.
Run a spoon or a knife through with some “up-down movements”, so the dark dough is distributed a little, for a marble look.
Bake 40 minutes at180°C (355°F).
Orange chocolate sponge cake
Use the juice and grated peel of 1 orange in the dough
Chop a dark 70% chocolate (100 g (3.5 oz)) and mix it in.
Add 1 dl (about ½ cup) of additional flour to the dough, to make it as thick as before orange juice was added.
(you can also add 200 g (7 oz) grated marzipan. This will make it more spongy.)
Pour everything into the spring form.
Bake 40 minutes at180°C (355°F).
This recipe very similar to my “Orange - Chocolate Muffins” recipe, but is a bit easier to make
Notes
Ok to call this a pound cake (500 g) is probably not correct nowadays.
I would think that the name comes from in the past where the housewife had to feed an entire household of hungry people. Then she used one pound of each ingredient and baked it in a big pan.
Today, you typically just use 200 g (7 lbs) of each ingredient. So this should be the recipe for “200 g (7 lbs) cake” … hmmm it does not have quite the same ring to it.
I actually found out that if you use a pound of each thing, then the recipe is suitable for a big roasting pan with high edges. So 200 g (7 oz) is for a springform, and 500 g (14 oz) is for a big baking pan.