plainly perfect pound cake

I know there are tons of pound/butter/loaf cakes on this recipe, but I’ve already explained my parents and their old-fashioned love for these so that’s no surprise there. since they are my usual guinea pigs product tasters, it makes sense to try out a range of recipes, especially since there are so many about the blogosphere.

this one comes from trish boyle, not a baker I’ve come across personally but her name’s come up incessantly in blogs about sponge cakes – so I thought to give it a try.

I threw lots of zest into the batter, and gave them both away, so I didn’t get to try it – but my aunts were very happy with the texture and taste, and suggested throwing even more zest in, so I suggest you try that if you make this! also, this used heavy cream, which I didn’t have on hand, but I substituted that with a mixture of milk and bitter, which seemed to work very well!

p.s. I realise that photo of the lizard might be a tad alarming, but I swear I didn’t put it into the batter! it was lurking about my backyard while I was baking and I thought you guys might like to have a look at its pretty scales.

plainly perfect pound cake (adapted from @køkken, taken from tish boyle’s the cake book)

200g all purpose flour
0.25 tsp baking powder
0.25 tsp salt
227g unsalted butter, room temperature
205g castor sugar
4 large eggs
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
54ml milk + 25g melted unsalted butter (or substitute 80ml heavy cream)
1 tsp vanilla

1. preheat the oven to 170C, and line 2 loaf tins – I used loaf liners. melt the 25g of unsalted butter in a microwave, and then stir in the milk – this was my substitute for heavy cream. let cool – there will be a layer of oil on the mixture, but that’s fine.
2. cream the butter for 2 minutes until creamy, then gradually add the sugar and beat for another 4 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
3. reduce the speed of the electric mixer to low, and add eggs separately, mixing well after each addition. add the zests and extract, and mix well.
4. sift the (flour and baking powder and salt together) directly over the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk-butter mixture, and fold in after each addition.
5. divide the batter between the two loaf pans, and bake until brown and a skewer is clean – this took me 35 minutes.