Almond Pound Cake
Before the allergic or otherwise nut-averse click away, know that an almond-free variation of this recipe lives at the bottom of the post.
Below: Swan’s Market, in downtown Oakland. Unrelated but pretty filler.
You should also know the “almond” in this almond pound cake is almond paste. But “almond paste pound cake” doesn’t sound very appetizing. It’s also a mouthful. No pun intended. Below, another shot of downtown Oakland.
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For such an abstemious cake–we’re hardly talking Dobos Torte here–the humble pound cake generates multiple opinions–and multiple recipes. Many notes were taken.
Anne Byrn, writing in American Cake, gives readers a comprehensive history of American pound cake, along with ten recipes, including the Cold Oven Pound Cake. The oven isn’t turned on until the cake is safely inside it. Dorie Greenspan recommends placing pound cake on a baking sheet. Edna Lewis sternly advises readers to begin their pound cake batters with cold butter. The meticulous Rose Levy Beranbaum uses cake flour and superfine sugar in her pound cakes. Further, she finds pound cakes baked in 9×5 inch loaf tins “heavy” and “chewy,” lacking the “melting texture” that makes pound cakes so desirable. Only 8×4 inch pans or smaller will do. In Sweet, Yotam Ottolenghi politely refutes Beranbaum’s preference: he bakes his pound cakes in bundt pans.
Confused yet?
Into the kitchen.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve found the past couple weeks complicated enough without fretting over cake pans. So I used two sizes in today’s post: 9x5inch:
and 8×4 inch:
Cake flour and superfine sugar give better results; premium ingredients do that. They also cost more. The cakes are fine baked with all-purpose flour and regular sugar.
Unless you have no choice, don’t buy marzipan, which is not interchangeable with almond paste. Marzipan has more sugar and less real almond than paste. Look for Odense brand, and no, I am not being compensated or otherwise receiving free product.
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Pound cake batter likes to curdle during mixing. Recipes writers assure you all will be well. You may not believe them (or me), when your beautifully silky batter suddenly collapses into a grainy, hideous mess. In fact, you may be strongly tempted to scrape it into the compost, pour a large drink, and wonder how things got so ugly so fast. (Not pictured.)
Perservere. The batter may continue looking hideous until it goes into the oven, leaving you wondering what sort of mutant cake will emerge. Stay the course.
More wisdom, or warning, from Amanda Hesser, who shares a terrific almond cake recipe in Cooking for Mr. Latte: the almond paste should be cut or torn into small pieces. (italics mine) Add those bits to the mixing bowl gradually, allowing them ample time to meld with the batter. Rush it, and your almond pound cake will resemble a beige fruitcake. It will taste okay, but it won’t look all that wonderful. This isn’t the desired outcome.
Better to patiently flick sticky bits of almond paste into the mixing bowl, scrape down the sides and bottom as necessary, and know your work will pay off.
Once the cake is in the oven, the top will brown long before the cake is baked. Cover it with foil. Rose Levy Beranbaum advises buttering the foil; she is the only author I read who suggested doing so. Then again, she has a degree in food science. So if you want to butter your foil, I won’t stop you.
Buttered or not, the your almond pound cake is ready when a tester comes out clean. Cool the cake on a rack for 30 minutes. Now run a dinner knife around the pan’s edges, turn the cake out, and return it to the rack. Allow the pound cake to cool completely before wrapping it in tinfoil. Your pound cake will benefit from a 24-hour rest, but if that’s unrealistic, well, reality isn’t what it used to be.
Serve almond pound cake with fruit, whipped cream, ice cream, or by itself. You know the drill.
Almond Pound Cake
Please read the notes, below, before baking.
Yield: one 9×5 inch/22x12cm cake or two 8×4 inch/20x10cm cakes
Prep time: Give yourself 30 minutes to mix the batter. The 9×5 inch/22x12cm cake needs 65-80 minutes baking time. The 8×4 inch/20x10cm cakes need 30-40 minutes baking time.
You need either a freestanding mixer or a sturdy handheld electric mixer to make almond pound cake.
Please see the notes, below, for a comprehensive list of books consulted in making this post.
All ingredients should be at room temperature.
2 sticks/1 cup/16 tablespoons/220grams sweet butter
1 cup/8 ounces/200 grams sugar
7 ounces/198 grams almond paste, torn or cut into small bits
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup/100 ml whole milk
In a large bowl, whisk or blend with a large fork:
2 cups/16 ounces/240 grams AP flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
Have all ingredients at room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C
Generously butter and flour either one 9×5 inch/22x12cm loaf pan or two 8×4 inch/20x10cm loaf pans.
Using a stand mixer or sturdy handheld mixer with the flat beater attachment, beat the butter, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed, until butter is lightened and creamy. Give this about five minutes.
Add the sugar, scraping sides and bottom of mixing bowl as necessary, allowing ample time for the butter and sugar to blend.
Begin adding the almond paste bits. They will take up to ten minutes to fully amalgamate; be patient with this step or the cake will have lumps of paste in it.
Scrape the sides of the bowl periodically, and be sure to scrape the bottom, too.
Once the almond paste is blended into the butter and sugar, add the eggs, one at a time, waiting for each to blend before adding the next one.
Add the extract and the milk. The batter may curdle, split, or collapse at this point and look horrible. Don’t worry. It will find itself. Just keep on mixing.
Once the liquids are blended, fold in the flour mixture. You can do this by hand, with a large spoon or spatula, or use the blender on low speed. Whatever you do, don’t overmix. Once the flour is just blended, stop and pour batter into the pan(s).
The larger cake takes 60-75 minutes. The smaller cakes take 30-40 minutes. Both will need to be covered with foil to protect the tops from burning.
Cakes are ready when a tester comes out clean.
If you are baking two cakes but your oven cannot accommodate two loaf pans, fill both with batter. Put one in the oven, lightly cover the other, and refrigerate it until the oven is free. Do not leave cake batter in the mixing bowl, as it will lose air and not bake properly. Learn from my mistake. Once the oven is free, take the pan out of the refrigerator, uncover it, and bake.
Cool cakes on rack; after 30 minutes, run knife around edge of pan and remove cake. Return to rack. Cool completely, then wrap well. Almond pound cakes are best after 24 hour rest. Cakes will keep, wrapped, at room temperature 3-4 days. After that, refrigerate 3 more days. Almond pound cakes may be frozen up to three months.
Notes:
The almond extract in this recipe may be substituted with Amaretto, vanilla, or rum.
Instead of whole milk, you can use water, or half-and-half.
Superfine sugar can be made home with a food processor.
Theme and Variation:
To bake this cake without almond paste, just omit it. Bake a plain pound cake. Replace the almond extract with a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
To replace the almond paste with another flavoring, consider the following:
the finely grated zest of one lemon or lime. Orange and tangerine zests also work, but be mindful of their size. Aim for a mounded tablespoon. Gently fold zest into the batter after the flour is mixed in.
For a chocolate pound cake, use 1 1/2 cups/180 grams flour instead of 2 cups/240 grams. Add 1/2 cup/42 grams cocoa powder to the flour. I sift cocoa by putting it through a fine strainer. Remember to use unsweetened baking cocoa.
Gently fold 1 scant cup/227 grams chocolate chips to the batter once the flour is mixed in. Milk, semisweet, white, dark: it’s up to you.
Raisins, currants, or other plump dried fruit may be added to the cake. If the fruit is dry, rehydrate it in a little warm water (no more than a tablespoon), or vanilla extract. Pour off any liquid the fruit doesn’t absorb. Don’t add it to the cake batter.
As discussed in the post, Rose Levy Beranbaum recommends baking pound cakes in smaller pans–ideally, 8×4 inch/20x10cm loaf pans. Pound cake batter may also be baked in a 6-inch/15 cm bundt pan, a muffin tin, or a 6-well baking pan. Using these pans will decrease baking times.
Books consulted:
Beranbaum, Rose Levy: The Cake Bible
Byrn, Anne: American Cake
Greenspan, Dorie: Baking from my Home to Yours
Hesser, Amanda: Cooking for Mr. Latte
Lebovitz, David: The Great Book of Chocolate
Lewis, Edna: The Taste of Country Cooking
Ottolenghi, Yotam, with Helen Goh: Sweet
Thank you for reading. It is appreciated.
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