Wednesday, January 9, 2013

COLD OVEN POUND CAKE

I've been making this cold oven pound cake for over 25 years and it has never failed me. It is a wonderful old recipe that you start baking in a COLD oven. An hour and five minutes later, you have perfection in taste, texture, sweetness, moisture and shape.


1 pound powdered sugar (4 cups, see note)
1/2 pound of butter (room temperature)
4 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour (see note)
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract

This recipe calls for 1 pound of powdered sugar, but that was an inconvenient measurement for me, so I got out my new handy-dandy kitchen scale and (fluffed, scooped, leveled) it was exactly 4 cups.
DO NOT PREHEAT OVEN. Cream the room temperature butter and the powdered sugar together with electric mixer until it is very fluffy (this will take 2-3 minutes). Beat in egg's one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl between eggs (to make sure it gets mixed well).

In separate bowl, measure out 3 cups of flour and stir in the baking powder. NOTE: to measure each cup of flour, sift it into a cup and level off the top with a straight edge. If you just dip your measuring cup into the flour, you will be getting too much flour.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternately, with the warm water. I usually do this in thirds. Stir in extracts. The final flavor of the cake has a very mild lemon flavor, you won't really taste the coconut extract, but it really adds something to the overall flavor of the cake.
Pour cake batter into a well greased and floured 10" bundt pan (I use a cooking spray with flour in it).  Shake the pan just a little to eliminate any small air pockets in the batter.

Put pan into COLD oven. Turn the oven to 350°F and set the timer for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Remove cake from oven and let it sit in the pan (on a rack) for 10 minutes, then turn it out.

Wrap the HOT cake tightly with plastic wrap (I do this to all of my cakes) and let it cool to room temperature before frosting.


This is the perfect cake for strawberry shortcake, petit fours, or just snacking!!


SEE VIDEO TUTORIAL >>

Related Posts:

  • PEANUT BUTTER BLONDIES (and a thank you)These peanut butter blondies are dense, moist and packed full of peanut butter flavor; they are the consistency of a good brownie and would make an ex… Read More
  • STRAWBERRY SPONGE CAKEWe love strawberry shortcake made with angel food cake or a sponge cake, rather than the biscuit type shortcake.  This sponge cake recipe is … Read More
  • FLUFFY WHITE FROSTINGThis is a fantastic frosting recipe, for many reasons. First of all, it is delicious. After that, it is super easy, super quick, it takes no special i… Read More
  • MILKY WAY CAKEJoan, my dear friend of 40+ years, sent me this recipe. It is one of the easiest (and richest) cakes I've ever tried and it is covered with a deliciou… Read More
  • CARAMEL PEAR UPSIDE DOWN CAKE FOR VALENTINES DAYI hope you will consider making this caramel pear upside down cake for your Valentine sweetheart. Served warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, i… Read More
  • FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE & VANILLA MARBLE CAKEThis is a flourless chocolate and vanilla marble "cake" and it was absolutely delicious, although I don't know if I would really classify it as a… Read More
  • ORANGE AND POPPY SEED POUND CAKEThis orange & poppy seed pound cake is a true, mid-winter, blast of sunshine. It is (yet) another recipe from the holiday issue of Sweet Cakes pub… Read More
  • COFFEE-CHOCOLATE CAKE (AND AN UPDATE)Before Christmas, I purchased the holiday issue of a magazine called Sweet Cakes, published by The Best of Fine Cooking. I've made several desserts fr… Read More
  • BROWNIE BITESSo what does a baker do to celebrate her 60th birthday? She bakes something SHE really likes!!!     I found this little recipe gem… Read More
  • SUPER DOOPER EASY PEACH CAKEI hope you try this super-dooper easy peach dessert. It is sweet, fruity, full of fall flavor and mixes together in just minutes, so it would be great… Read More
  • HOT FUDGE SUNDAY CAKEClick On This Photo For The Full Yummm-factor  The first time I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it because it had a lot of things going for … Read More
  • CHIFFON CAKEA chiffon cake is sort of like an angel food cake, except better (in my opinion). It is an egg white based (like an angel food cake) but it also has a… Read More
  • FIVE STAR CHOCOLATE FUDGE GLAZEOnce you try this very simple, chocolate fudge glaze, you will be sold on it. I use it for a wide variety of things because it just takes a minute to … Read More
  • CARROT CAKE with PINEAPPLEThis recipe has been in my recipe box for so long, that it seriously needs to be replaced. It is covered with thumbprints and little vanilla splash st… Read More
  • CLASSIC JELLY ROLL CAKEThis is an old classic recipe. I see variations of it online (with a whipped cream filling) however, this recipe holds true to its name JELL… Read More