Cookbook Showdown: The Best Pound Cake Recipes, Tested

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Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

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Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Susie (she/her) is simply a queer writer primitively from Little Rock, present surviving successful Washington, DC. She is the writer of QUEERLY BELOVED and the forthcoming LOOKING FOR A SIGN from Dial Press/Random House. You tin find her connected Instagram @susiedoom.

View All posts by Susie Dumond

Pound barroom is 1 of the astir classic, well-known desserts of each time. It’s easy, too. The astir basal look is simply a lb each of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. It lends itself to endless variations and techniques. So what tin antithetic chefs takes connected this beloved crockery thatch america astir lb cake? A lot, it turns out. In this Cookbook Showdown, I tested 5 antithetic lb barroom recipes from beloved bakers and culinary figures. Which barroom is simply a chopped supra the rest? Read connected to find out!

What is Pound Cake?

Pound barroom is typically a dense, affluent barroom made from elemental ingredients. At its astir basic, it consists of adjacent weights of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs, typically baked successful a Bundt barroom cookware oregon loaf pan. Today, it often besides includes immoderate benignant of leavening cause (baking soda oregon powder) and assorted flavorings similar vanilla, fruits, oregon nuts. Some recipes substitute lipid for immoderate oregon each of the food oregon adhd sour pick for moistness and tang. The possibilities are genuinely endless.

Dating backmost to astatine slightest the 1700s successful Europe, lb barroom has been astir a very agelong time. It’s included successful the precise archetypal American cookbook, American Cookery, published successful 1795. That look suggested adding “spices to your taste,” different motion that lb barroom has ever been a spot for spirit experimentation.

The 5 recipes I tested scope from Cheryl Day’s precise classical lb barroom look to Claire Saffitz’s saccharine and savory polenta pistachio lb cake. Each brought thing absorbing to the table, and nary were full fails. But lone 1 tin instrumentality the cake, truthful to speak. Let’s get to the bully stuff.

Cookbook Showdown: Pound Cake Recipes

cover of Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking

Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking by Cheryl Day

Cheryl Day is simply a bestselling cookbook author, co-owner of Back successful the Day Bakery successful Savannah, Georgia, and a co-founder of Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice. Her Treasury of Southern Baking has, done galore Cookbook Showdowns and idiosyncratic baking adventures, go the astir trusted baking cookbook connected my shelf. As a collector of vintage cookbooks, Day writes recipes based connected centuries of Southern baking traditions and techniques. When I decided to execute this experiment, I knew she would person a reliable, classical lb barroom look that would apt acceptable the barroom precocious for the remainder of my sensation testing.

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Cheryl Day’s Cold-Oven Pound Cake

Day’s lb barroom look comes with a bonus past lesson. Around the crook of the 20th century, erstwhile state stoves were archetypal brought to the American marketplace to regenerate wood-fired ovens, lb barroom was 1 of state ovens’ champion selling tools. Bakers were told determination was nary request to stoke fires oregon adjacent hold for their caller ovens to preheat; the barroom benefits from dilatory rising successful somesthesia with the oven, giving it much clip to emergence and make a heavy aureate crust.

As acold arsenic ingredients, Day’s look is precise basic. In summation to the accustomed eggs, butter, sugar, and flour, she calls for baking powder, oversea salt, milk, and vanilla extract. The batter goes into a Bundt cookware and bakes arsenic the oven preheats. The instructions are casual to follow, and the barroom came unneurotic conscionable arsenic promised.

I was fortunate to commencement this Cookbook Showdown portion making meal for my wife, mother-in-law, and aunt-in-law, Deborah. Deborah is idiosyncratic I often crook to for baking and culinary advice, and she offered up 3 metrics for judging a lb cake. The cleanable lb barroom should person a crisp aureate crust, a accordant cook each the mode through, and a melt-in-your-mouth buttery texture. Cheryl Day’s barroom acceptable each 3 of these requirements and got a rave reappraisal from everyone who tried it. It’s precisely the sweet, buttery, affluent barroom I was hoping for.

Photo of a airy  aureate  Bundt lb  barroom   dusted with powdered sweetener  connected  a dotted serving sheet  connected  a woody  array  adjacent  to the cookbook Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern BakingImage from Susie Dumond

Cheryl Day’s Pound Cake Scores

Taste: 5/5 — It’s perfectly rich, buttery, flavorful, and it makes a large basal for toppings similar caller berries and whipped cream. Texture: 5/5 — Perfect aureate crust, airy buttery crumb. It’s precisely what you privation from lb cake. Creativity: 2/5 — This look doesn’t effort to bash thing life-changing, but it surely delivers. Difficulty: Easy — Basic techniques are used, and you don’t adjacent person to preheat the oven. Overall: 4.75/5 — A delicious barroom that does everything you expect from lb barroom well.

cover of Carla Hall's Soul Food

Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration by Carla Hall with Genevieve Ko

Carla Hall is simply a personage cook from Top Chef and The Chew known for her modern instrumentality connected American psyche food. In Soul Food, Hall shows that astatine its roots, psyche nutrient utilizes and celebrates caller vegetables and produce, not conscionable dense meats and fats arsenic immoderate mightiness think. Hall’s dishes person made a large showing successful the fried chicken, mac and cheese, and barbecue sauce Cookbook Showdowns. I treasure this cookbook and often look to it for repast inspiration, but this was my archetypal clip trying 1 of Hall’s dessert recipes.

Carla Hall’s Chocolate Pound Cake

Hall’s lb barroom look is based connected 1 passed down to her by her Granny, and likewise to Cheryl Day’s cake, it’s started successful a acold oven and bakes done the preheating process. The ingredients are besides beauteous classic, with the summation of cocoa powder, buttermilk, airy brownish sugar, and mini cocoa chips.

The look is elemental and casual to follow. My main interest was that, with a combined 4 and a fractional cups of flour and cocoa pulverization and lone 1 cupful of buttermilk, the dry-to-liquid ratio was not what I would expect. The batter was ace thick. But fto maine archer you, the odor of my room portion this was baking was incredible. The resulting barroom is dense and decidedly connected the adust side, but it makes a large dainty with a cupful of java oregon tea.

Photo of a cocoa  bundt barroom   dusted with powdered sweetener  connected  a dotted serving platter connected  a woody  array  with the cookbook Carla Hall's Soul FoodImage from Susie Dumond

Carla Hall’s Pound Cake Scores

Taste: 3.5/5 — I’m admittedly not a immense cocoa barroom person, but the cocoa pulverization successful the batter and mini cocoa chips springiness it a bully flavor. Texture: 2/5 — It’s ace dense and beauteous dry. It’s champion served with milk, whipped cream, oregon immoderate benignant of topping to adhd moisture. Creativity: 2.5/5 — Although not groundbreaking, I similar the cocoa mentation and admit the summation of the cocoa chips. Difficulty: Easy — The instructions are casual to follow, and you tin cook it without waiting to preheat the oven. Overall: 2.5/5 — I’m not saying I’ll ne'er effort different Carla Hall dessert recipe, but this 1 simply didn’t measurement up to the competition.

cover of Baking By Feel cookbook

Baking by Feel: Recipes to Sort Out Your Emotions (Whatever They Are Today!) by Becca Rea-Tucker

Becca Rea-Tucker went viral connected Instagram (@TheSweetFeminist) for her cakes and pies with feminist, pro-choice, and self-care phrases. She’s besides dispersed the emotion of baking done recipes connected her fashionable blog and, recently, published a cookbook. Baking By Feel is the cleanable cookbook for accent bakers and radical who usage culinary experiments to benignant retired their feelings (AKA me). Each look is paired with an emotion and an enactment oregon contemplation connected that emotion. For example, Rea-Tucker’s lb barroom look is simply a crockery to marque portion worried, and her sidebar suggests penning down a database of your worries to get them retired of your caput and hopefully marque them look much manageable.

Becca Rea-Tucker’s Swirled Pound Cake

In her look description, Rea-Tucker shares that she’s a passionate instrumentality of lb barroom and often makes it astatine home. This look is simply a vanilla lb barroom with a cocoa swirl and a crumb topping. She assures readers that adjacent if you interest the swirl isn’t perfect, it volition inactive crook retired delicious.

The ingredients and methods for the vanilla lb barroom are beauteous standard, with a small sour pick added for moisture and tang. A cupful of the batter gets mixed with cocoa pulverization to make the swirl, and the full happening is finished with a flour, brownish sugar, salt, and food substance to make a crumb topping. The vanilla barroom batter turned retired rather thin, and it baked into a beauteous texture. But erstwhile mixed with cocoa powder, the swirl portion became a small denser and hard to spread. The crumb substance was besides denser and heavier than the superior batter, truthful it sank into the batter alternatively than staying connected top. My results weren’t picture-perfect, but they did sensation wonderful. (You tin spot the swirl successful the slice-by-slice representation astatine the bottommost of this article.)

photo of a poundcake loaf with a crumbled topping connected  a slate serving committee  connected  a woody  array  with the cookbook Baking by FeelImage from Susie Dumond

Becca Rea-Tucker’s Pound Cake Scores

Taste: 4.5/5 — The vanilla and cocoa flavors worked good together, and though the crumb topping didn’t enactment wherever it was expected to, it did adhd a bully brownish sweetener taste. Texture: 4/5 — The vanilla lb barroom had a perfectly moist texture with a aureate brownish crust. Because the batter was thin, though, the cocoa swirl and crumb topping sunk into the vanilla batter. Creativity: 3.5/5 — It meets classical lb barroom expectations portion besides providing 2 absorbing twists. Difficulty: Moderate — The swirl and crumb topping involves other steps, and they would person been easier to execute if the vanilla batter wasn’t arsenic thin. Overall: 4/5 — With a somewhat thicker vanilla batter to enactment the swirl and topping, this look would person knocked it retired of the park.

cover of Bigger Bolder Baking

Bigger Bolder Baking Every Day: Easy Recipes to Bake Through a Busy Week by Gemma Stafford

Gemma Stafford is an Irish pastry cook known for her online baking amusement Bigger Bolder Baking. In this cookbook, she shares her content that baking shouldn’t conscionable beryllium reserved for peculiar occasions; there’s ever a bully crushed to whip up a small thing special. With accessible recipes for each clip of time and bakers of each accomplishment level, it’s a truly utile postulation of recipes to telephone connected immoderate clip you’ve got the itch to effort thing new.

Gemma Stafford’s Citrus Olive Oil Pound Cake

Stafford’s lb barroom looks astir arsenic classical arsenic they come, but its ingredients mightiness astonishment you. To start, it’s citrusy, with caller orangish foodstuff and citrus zest bringing a bully tartness. More surprisingly, it’s butter-free. Instead, the barroom calls for a cupful and a fractional of extra-virgin olive oil. I’ve baked with lipid plentifulness (see however olive lipid cocoa spot cookies fared successful that Cookbook Showdown), but food is specified a hallmark of lb barroom that I wasn’t definite however this would crook out.

The answer? Amazing. The batter was beauteous thin, but it baked up incredibly good with a perfectly crisp, aureate crust and a light, moist crumb. I was blown distant by the texture of this barroom connected time one, but I was adjacent much stunned by however good it held up implicit the people of a week. It was inactive light, moist, and delicious days aft baking, making it a large prime for a potluck, mailing to loved ones, oregon immoderate different juncture wherever a dessert can’t beryllium served caller retired of the oven. There is simply a noticeable olive lipid spirit to it, which could beryllium a turnoff for immoderate people, but I thought it balanced the airy citrus notes well.

photo of a bundt barroom   dusted with powdered sweetener  connected  a dotted serving platter connected  a woody  array  adjacent  to the cookbook Bigger Bolder Baking Every DayImage from Susie Dumond

Gemma Stafford’s Pound Cake Scores

Taste: 4/5 — It’s analyzable and delicious. The olive lipid comes connected a small strong, and the citrus could beryllium bumped up, but it’s adjacent to perfect. Texture: 5/5 — It’s got an perfectly cleanable crumb, airy and moist with a perfectly crisp crust, and stayed that mode for days aft baking. Creativity: 3/5 — The olive lipid is simply a amazingly effectual replacement for butter, and the citrus balances it nicely. Difficulty: Easy — The hardest portion of a basal lb barroom is whipping capable aerial into the butter, and the olive lipid doesn’t adjacent necessitate that. It’s a precise approachable recipe. Overall: 4.5/5 — Complex flavor, fantabulous texture, and stands up truly good implicit time.

Cover of What's For Dessert?

What’s for Dessert: Simple Recipes for Dessert People by Claire Saffitz

Claire Safftiz is simply a beloved nutrient writer and YouTube video prima who helps location bakers imagination bigger. She’s known for penning fashionable recipes astatine New York Times Cooking and Bon Appétit that marque immoderate of the astir analyzable pastry recipes accessible for folks who don’t person the clip oregon fund to spell to culinary school. In her newest cookbook, What’s for Dessert, Saffitz shares recipes for awesome dishes with analyzable flavors, breached down into steps caller but ambitious location bakers tin follow. I’ve had large experiences cooking from some this and Saffitz’s archetypal cookbook, Dessert Person, and often crook to them for trustworthy recipes that wow my friends and family.

Claire Saffitz’s Polenta Pistachio Pound Cake

I was fortunate to get to be a merchandise lawsuit for this cookbook and perceive Claire Saffitz talk astir her attack to penning it. She wrote the recipes without relying connected costly tools similar basal mixers and utilizing ingredients she could find astatine her section supermarket. However, I admit I had to store online to find some the coarse-ground polenta and the earthy pistachios called for successful this lb barroom recipe. Parcooked polenta is meant to lend a soft, creamy texture to the cake, with crushed pistachios bringing added spirit and texture.

Perhaps the prime of the ingredients I was capable to find online was lacking, but this look didn’t rather present connected its promises for me. The polenta cooked up successful a 3rd of the clip described successful the look and became excessively heavy to decently premix into the batter, creating a lumpy texture successful the finished cake. The earthy pistachios were hard to lb into pieces, and successful my opinion, they would person been amended successful spirit and texture if they were roasted alternatively of raw. (Roasted pistachios besides would person been mode easier to find.) So the texture of the barroom wide was lacking. The flavor, however, was a bully blend of savory and sweet, and the citrus zest successful the pistachio and sweetener premix sprinkled astir the edges and apical of the barroom brightened everything up.

photo of a aureate  loaf barroom   connected  a slate serving committee  connected  a woody  array  adjacent  to the cookbook What's for DessertImage from Susie Dumond

Claire Saffitz’s Pound Cake Scores

Taste: 4/5 — I similar the salty/sweet equilibrium brought by the polenta and pistachios, and the citrus zest was a bully touch. Texture: 2/5 — The polenta didn’t blend good into the batter, and the pistachios would person had a amended crunch if they were roasted. The full happening was precise crumbly and hard to serve. Creativity: 4.5/5 — I loved the conception of this cake, adjacent if I didn’t emotion the results. Difficulty: Moderate — Parcooking the polenta, hand-crushing the pistachios, and making a pistachio/sugar/lemon zest sprinkle required other clip and skill. Overall: 3/5 — The spirit was nice, but the texture near a batch to beryllium desired. I deliberation a spot of cornmeal could person brought a amended spirit and texture than the polenta.

Cookbook Showdown: Pound Cake Final Results

My main takeaway from this Cookbook Showdown is that 5 lb cakes are a batch of lb cakes. I dispersed them retired implicit 5 weeks. I mixed up the toppings with assorted caller fruits and whipped creams. It’s still…a batch of lb cake.

In bully news, each 1 of them was enjoyable. Even the driest oregon crumbliest barroom had its merits. It was a amusive escapade that showed maine conscionable however overmuch scope lb barroom brings to the table. I considered investigating a look from Aleksandra Crapanzano’s Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes, which has, I kid you not, FIFTY-THREE spirit variations connected the lb cake. I was honestly truthful overwhelmed by choices that I couldn’t prime one. But if you’re a existent lb barroom lover, Gâteau is astir apt a cookbook you should own.

At the extremity of the day, lone 1 lb barroom tin instrumentality location the Cookbook Showdown crown. Let’s spell to the slice-by-slice:

 archetypal  Cheryl Day's classical  Bundt, past    Carla Hall's cocoa  Bundt, past    Becca Rea-Tucker's loaf with cocoa  swirl, past    Gemma Stafford's citrus bundt, yet   Claire Saffitz's pistachio polenta loafImage from Susie Dumond

And the Winner Is…Cheryl Day’s Cold-Oven Pound Cake

There’s a crushed Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking has go 1 of my astir trusted sources for desserts. Cheryl Day understands classical dishes, and she knows however to explicate reliable techniques successful a clear, concise way. Her cold-oven lb barroom has perfectly cleanable texture and flavor, definite to present for immoderate picnic, potluck, oregon meal party.


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