The Cake Bible Classic Golden Butter Cake
Pound cake belongs to the category of butter cakes, which are dense cakes with a high proportion of butter in the recipe, sometimes including additional moisture and eggs. A pound cake gets its name as the weight of eggs, butter, flour, and sugar in the recipe are approximately one pound each. This recipe is very famous and is a classic from The Cake Bible, written in 1988 and later revised. Based on this recipe, I’ve made several variations of butter cakes. Compared to other pound cakes, this one is moist and doesn’t require sugar syrup glazing afterward. (Though I did add some this time, it was not absorbed easily into the cake – perhaps because the cake itself is already moist enough.) At one point, I had an ambition to recreate all the recipes from Rose Levy’s 'The Cake Bible', but the taste leans too much towards Western preferences, making adjustments necessary, which takes time. Plus, after making them, there aren’t many people to finish eating them 🤣. Recently, I’ve been gathering groups of friends, both local and international, to be my guinea pigs, satisfying my desire to make both traditional and Western desserts 🌚. Whether you’re a beginner baker or a professional, I think this recipe is worth trying.
Ingredients
Steps
Prepare all ingredients. Place the butter in a large bowl to prevent splashing when beating. Combine the baking powder and cake flour in one bowl, and add the vanilla extract into the eggs. Preheat the oven to 175°C.
If the milk is too cold from the fridge, microwave it for 20 seconds, then mix it into the eggs. (You can also bring the eggs to room temperature by letting them sit out for an hour or placing them in warm water for 10 minutes.)
Butter must be softened at room temperature without melting. Cut it into small pieces and soften it over warm water or microwave on low for 10 seconds, checking frequently. Avoid overheating as melted butter cannot create the proper structure for the cake.
Softened butter at room temperature.
Add sugar and salt to the butter and continue beating.
Gradually add the egg-milk mixture in 5-8 batches, making sure each addition is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next. Cold or too much liquid at once can cause curdling. Ensure the mixture is warm, keeping the eggs over warm water if necessary.
A photo showing a curdled mixture. This can be rectified by warming the bowl over hot water and beating continuously. If there is separated liquid along with curdling, add 1/3 of the flour and mix gently. If it remains unfixable, restart from scratch.
This photo shows the corrected smooth and thick mixture after beating over warm water.
Sift the cake flour and baking powder into the mixture.
Fold and cut through the mixture evenly.
Line the mold with parchment paper for easier removal and cleaner edges. The mold is approximately 4*12*5 inches.
Pour the batter into the mold and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven at 165°C for 35 minutes. Cover with foil to prevent over-browning, and continue baking for another 25 minutes.
At 35 minutes, check the color. Adjust foil timing based on your oven. For a total bake time of 55-60 minutes, test with a toothpick; if it comes out clean, it's done. Avoid overbaking to keep the cake moist.
Cake is out of the oven.
The original recipe suggests baking at 175°C for 55-65 minutes. I’ve found that this leads to overly dark crusts. Instead, baking at lower temperatures results in a moister texture. Find what works with your oven.
This cake develops naturally beautiful cracks without scoring.
The cake is still very soft when hot, leading to less neat slices. After refrigerating overnight, the texture becomes finer and firmer. Cover the warm cake with plastic wrap and let it rest for two to three days to enhance flavor.
The original method by Rose involves beating butter, sugar, flour, and half the egg mixture together until smooth, then gradually adding the remaining egg mixture in two batches. Compared to my method of creaming butter first, Rose's method yields finer textures but requires exceedingly soft butter and a stand mixer to avoid lumps or overmixing. Both methods are worthwhile to try.