Wednesday 20 April 2011

The Cake Slice April 2011: Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I’d left baking the Cake Slice cake a little late this month but I loved the sound of it, a pound cake subtly spiced with fresh ginger, lemon and vanilla, that I still wanted to bake it. As I wasn’t in need of a big cake I decided to halve the recipe and bake it in my 6inch Bundt cake pan instead. I’m pleased I did as the whole cake recipe must make a simply enormous cake! My half recipe made enough to fill two 6inch Bundt pans.

As this was still more cake than I’d anticipated I decided to give one away to my grandparents. I had one cake in a large star design and the other in a heart design. As you can see the heart one came out perfectly, whereas the star one got stuck on one side (must had missed one corner when oiling the pan) and so it stuck and despite me spending 10 minutes gently poking and prodding it, it broke when I tried to get it out. Still I was happy that the heart one turned out well, as this was the one I’d been hoping to give to my grandparents. Whew.

Despite its rather misshaped appearance the cake itself was delicious. It was light, moist and tender with a delicate crumb and a slightly chewier outer crust. The vanilla and lemon flavours came through strongly with the ginger being quite subtle but adding its own special ‘something.’ It was the perfect cake to accompany some freshly baked rhubarb and some natural yoghurt. Very clean fresh flavours.

The recipe itself was unusual (at least to me) in two ways. Firstly it contained cream cheese which I’m sure helped give it its moist texture and secondly you place the cake in a cold oven before turning it on and letting the cake come to temperature and bake along with the heating of the oven. This worked well for me but I suspect results may differ depending on the efficiency and speed of your oven.

I loved this cake and my grandparents were delighted with theirs too. I’d made it gluten free but didn’t tell the family till after they’d eaten it and they said they wouldn’t have known. I suspect this is again thanks to the moisture giving properties of the cream cheese. I’ll have to try baking with it again.

The recipe shown below is for the full quantity. I halved this and baked it in two 6inch Bundt tins for 40 minutes from a cold oven. Click here to see The Cake Slice blogroll

Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake
(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)
Ingredients
360g plain flour (I used Doves gluten free self raising flour)
1½ tsp baking powder
200g unsalted butter, softened
230g cream cheese, softened
500g caster sugar (I only used 400g)
6 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1½ tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp grated lemon zest

Method
Adjust the oven rack to the lower – middle position. Grease a large 10-12inch Bundt pan and dust with flour. Combine the flour and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl.
Combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl when necessary.
With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, ginger and lemon zest.
Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, a few spoonfuls at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Then mix of 30 seconds on medium speed.
Spread the batter into the Bundt tin and place the cake in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 160C and bake, without opening the oven door, until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 65 to 80 minutes.
Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert it onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving.
Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

15 comments:

Emily said...

Hi Katie,

Love your bundt pans and cake plates! Smart idea to halve the recipe.

Your cake looks wonderfully fluffy.

Please Do Not Feed The Animals. said...

Wow - I love your Bundt tins. This was my first ever time using a Bundt tin. I bought a very basic-looking one and I really like it but now I can see I am going to have fun seeing all the other pretty tins that people use and there is no way I am going to manage to not buy another one at some point. Your heart one looks great. Do you normally get cakes out of your star one okay? Have to say I love the design of it but am nervous about getting such an intricate one incase my cake stick.

Anita said...

The tins make beautiful cake patterns. The cake too looks lovely

Champa said...

Very nice shaped bundt pan. This indeed was a very nice cake.

Lulu the Baker said...

Nice job! Gotta love those tricky Bundt pans. I had my finger crossed and held my breath while I turned mine out of the pan, and luckily, it was fine. But you never know!

Anonymous said...

Your bundt pans are too cute Katie! Lovely cakes =)

beauty be told said...

yours looks wonderful, very moist!

Natasha @ Saved by the Egg Timer said...

Pretty, pretty. Love the gluten free touch. I often use different flours too.

Jodi said...

Looks beautiful! You are right, this is one BIG cake! I made the entire thing and thought for sure my pan was going to overflow, it didn't and I ended up with a phenomenal cake!

Unknown said...

It's nice to know that the cake turned out just as nice even though it was gluten free :) I really like the heart shaped bunt pan you used though, it's pretty.

Rachel said...

Love both the bundts and what you served alongside.

Butter Hearts Sugar said...

The flavour sounds amazing and the cakes look great, I love the look from the heart bunt tin.

Monica H said...

As you know, I halved the recipe too and it still made a ton of cake. i can onlyimagine how big of a pound cake the full recipe must make!

Your cakes certainly don't look gluten free to me. The heart one came out nicely. I have a star pan too and it always sticks.

Kelly-Jane said...

Yours looks lovely, I love your heart baby bundt pan too!

Mary Bergfeld said...

Katie, bottom line is both cakes were delicious and you did a great job with the challenge. This is my first visit to your site and I've spent some time browsing through your earlier entries. I'm so glad I did that. I really like the food and recipes you feature here and I'll definitely be back. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary.