lighter, airy pound cake
Old-school pound cakes come with their own easily-remembered formula (a pound of butter to a pound of sugar, eggs and flour) with leavening only coming from the air one whips into the batter. But just because it’s the classic way to do it, doesn’t mean mean I don’t think most pound cakes need a little extra creativity to keep them from becoming foamy, forgettable bricks. You can swap out some of the butter for cream cheese, as I do in my , you can add loads of lemon, baking powder, baking soda and buttermilk, rendering something that is but really, a pound cake in name only, or you can do as James Beard does, and apply smart cake-baking techniques to improve the predictable.
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 7 of 8 ingredients — the other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 7 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Rum | 1/2 oz (15ml) | 32 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Cognac Brandy | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks or 8 ounces or 226 grams) butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
- 1 1/2 cups (200 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
- 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) baking powder
- Salt
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (186 grams) sugar
- 1 tablespoon Cognac [brandy works as well, as does rum, as would one teaspoon of an extract of your choice]
- 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest.