Don’t skimp beating the butter and sugar together, that’s what gives this delicate cake it’s light texture.
By Sowmya Dinavahi
Cardamom and Almond Pound Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 mins
Description
Don’t skimp beating the butter and sugar together, that’s what gives this delicate cake it’s light texture.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3/4 Cup (1 1/2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, room tempertature , plus more for greasing pan
- 2 Cups all-purpose flour plus more for pan
- 1 1/4 tsp of Baking Powder
- 1 tsp of Ground Cardamom
- 3/4 tsp of Kosher Salt
- 1/4 cup of whole milk
- 1/2 cup of creme fraiche plus more for serving (I substituted it with sour cream)
- 1 Cup of Granulated Sugar
- 3 Large eggs, room temperature
- 3/4 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp of almond extract
- 1/4 cup of sliced almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 Def F. Butter a 9x5x3″ inch loaf pan; line bottom and long sides with a strip of parchment paper,leaving overhang. Butter parchment and dust with flour, tapping out any excess.
- Whisk Baking powder, cardamom, salt, and 2 cups flour in a mixing bowl; set aside. Whisk milk and 1/2 cup creme fraiche (sour cream) in a small bowl; set aside.
- Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat sugar and 3/4 cup of butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions and scrapping down sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula, then add vanilla and almond extracts.
- Reduce the speed to low and add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with creme fraiche (sour cream) mixture in 2 additions, combining with dry ingredients; beat until just combines. Scrape batter into prepared pan,smooth top and sprinkle with sliced almonds.
- Bake cake, rotating halfway through,until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, 55-65 minutes. (Tent with foil if browning too quickly)
- Transfer pan to wire rack and let cake cool for 15 minutes in the pan itself. Using parchment overhang,gently remove cake from pan and transfer to rack; let cool.
- Slice cake and serve with freshly sliced peaches (or any fruit).
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 65 mins
- Category: Baking
hi sowmya…pls can u mail me some interesting cake receipes….
This pound cake is FABULOUS!!!!! I made it with 2% milk and sour cream and we found it to be perfectly rich and light at the same time.
Hi Sowmuya,
I came across your recipe because I love cardamom and I tried another similar cake.
I am a recipe developer, cookbook author, etc. and Want to offer a tip for writing recipes:
All ingredients should be in the same exact order that they are touched in, in the method.
This prevents the person following from having to jump around all over looking for how much sugar, or whatever.
Also prevents them from missing any ingredients as it is all in order!
Your first ingredient in the list should be all-purpose flour: In large bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt (they are in the proper order…usually from most to least).
Then then creme fraiche and milk.
I looked at the Bone Appetit recipe (August 2013) as well and they also have made similar mistakes. Bad on them!
Most properly edited recipes write them this way…makes sense to make it easier for the user to follow.
Unfortunately, often chefs do not learn how to write recipes properly and they just write things down as they feel. Not all. I often see this in magazines and on websites or in blogs and often linked to a chef…they don’t take this in their training.
So, perhaps rewrite it, then make it some time and see if it does seem a bit easier.
Some think the butter goes first because you need to soften it, but you are supposed to read a recipe all the way through first to see if there is any special prep.
Looking forward to trying the cake!
Remove “of”. Not needed in recipes. eg. 1 tsp vanilla extract
Next in the list is sugar and butter, eggs vanilla and almond extracts.
Last are the sliced almonds.
Hi again,
Forgot to say how nice your photo of the loaf is!