Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Double-Vanilla Pound Cake

Before i start let me share with you a small anecdote between me and my mum so that you will know why i have not been posting as often as i like!

**Starting to prep ingredients for baking mum came into the kitchen and stood beside me silently.

me: looks at mum and ask yes mummy?
mum: concentrating at a piece of paper in her hands
me: mummy?
mum: *starts waving the paper in my face* starts talking girl ah don't you get tired of baking?
me: *shocked* mummy how could you ask me this when you know this is my hobby!
mum: *silent for a moment* then she place the paper she has been waving in my face onto the table you see you see because of your hobby electrical bill shot so high!
me: hello are you sure it's because of my hobby?? i don't use the oven everyday hor! especially since you have been finding excuses not to let me bake!
mum: its for your own good what you always bake into the wee hours of the night then not enough rest not good for you.
me: *thinking mum has a new tactic again* so you are just putting on a show with the electrical bill?
mum: you think i actress ah then walks away
me: ........

that's my mum! lol!

Recently I've been borrowing lots of bakery books from the library and 1 of them happens to be The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet. Its a very good book i must say and her instructions are very clear, a very good book for a beginner.


Its nearing Christmas and after much flipping and browsing i settled on a pound cake recipe, the very one that caught my eye from the very beginning! I'm not sure whether pound cakes are consider festive cakes but nevertheless i am baking this for my christmas gathering =D!




Bake in a mold i recently purchase! doesn't this look like a log cake but without any decoration? well i'm suppose to decorate it but but but lets just say everything went hay-wired at the last moment. hehe!














If you see closely, there are specks of black particles in it! I splurge on some vanilla beans hehe and i must say they are worth the money it makes the cake really fragrant!
The texture is very very fine and uber soft! it literally melts in your mouth due to the fine texture, not too buttery, sweetness is just right so won't you give it a try?


I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! (Dec 2010) hosted by Passionate About Baking!
The closing date is 26 December 2010 all are welcome to join with or without blog please do support!
For more details please click here.


And before i forget, i would like to thank Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids for presenting these 2 awards to me i'm so honored to receive them! She's a very sweet lady and her bakes are fantastic too! Please hope over to her blog to have a look!










Double-Vanilla Pound Cake
(adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet)


Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
170g unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature (i changed to whipping cream)

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly coat a baking pan with butter/oil and fit it with a parchment paper to extend up both long sides to the top of the pan.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar: Place the sugar in a large bowl, use a paring knife to split the vanilla bean  lengthwise, then turn the knife over and use the dull edge to scrape the seeds into the sugar. Blend on low speed until the seeds are evenly dispersed. Add the butter and beat on medium-high until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  3. Beat the eggs in a small bowl. On low speed, add the eggs to the butter mixture about 1 tbsp at a time, allowing each addition to completely blend in before adding the next. About halfway through, turn off the mixer and scrap down the bowl, then continue adding the eggs. Mix in vanilla extract, and scrap down the bowl again.
  4. Sift cake flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. With the mixture on the lowest speed, add the flour mixture and whipping cream alternately, beginning with one-third of the flour mixture and half of the whipping cream; repeat, then finish with the flour mixture. Scrap down the bowl and finish blending by hand if necessary.
  5. Scrap the batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45-55mins, until firm to the touch and passed the skewer test. Transfer to a rack to cool completely before serving.


37 comments:

Bakericious said...

Jess, my husband had told me too about the increasing of electrical bill cos of my baking:P. I am going to tell him he is behaving like aunty hahaha.... but I just one ear in one ear out, cos I know the main reason is not the bill, he just dun wan me to stress over the baking, dun wan me to stay up so late or wake up at wee hrs to do baking heeheehee...

the pound cake looks great, I love the crumbs.

j3ss kitch3n said...

lol jess we are in the same position! i love the crumbs too!

lena said...

same here..there was also one time my husband mentioned about the bill and asked why i had to stress myself..well, it's not stress..it's fun, it's experimenting and just love doing that! i still have no idea yet for the aspiring challenge

j3ss kitch3n said...

lena its really about the fun in baking and experimenting! there are times when my bakes failed and i had to secretly throw them in the dustbin without letting my mum know else she will start nagging again!

Lena, i also had no idea what to bake but i just check with Jane she told me that any bakes are related to the them itself so i think you can start baking alrdy!

Zoe said...

hey Jess, I laughed when I read about your dialogue with your mum. Apart from the bill issue, I think she is curious in what you are doing. My parents used to do that to me too...then now is my husband and son.

I saw this round baking tin when I went back to Singapore but didn't buy them because my luggage is full and also I didn't how to use it. Seeing your nicely shaped pound cake, I'm looking forward to buy this at my next Singapore holiday.

I'm so flattered by your comments. You have such a great blog and it's my honour to present you these awards :D

j3ss kitch3n said...

Zoe i hope i had made your day lol! contact me when u come to sg ok! i will pass you the tins! =D

WendyinKK said...

Let's see if my bill dropped.
I haven't been baking for almost 2 months!!!
My hubby complained too, I think 2 years ago.
But now, no more. Haha.

BTW, the top view of the cake looks really good :)

Bakertan said...

hey Jess,

This book is really good for its explanations and I bought it after trying out just one recipe. I have never used vanilla beans. Bet it makes the cake extra flavourful. Gonna make this when I have the chance.

hanushi said...

Hehe... your mum is like my mum, always finding excuses for not letting me bake. She told me recently cos cny is coming, I shd pack all my baking stuffs in a box and not bake... :S

j3ss kitch3n said...

Wendy, lol i hope that without baking for 2 months really made the bill dropped else it would be in vain.

Bakertan, yup yup this book is extremely clear cut in its explanation making sure you will understand each step and i love it! the vanilla bean really makes the cake extremely flavorful and the fragrance!

hanushi lol ^5 my mum is pestering me to clear my baking stuffs too she say CNY is coming and she doesnt want to see my things lying all about the kitchen urghh!

Yummy Bakes said...

This cake has a very nice golden brown color. Great great with a cup of coffee ...

茄子 said...

是咯,每次电单到手老公也是会这样对我说。哈哈。。我才管他,不过又是oven 又是 mixer,其实难逃责任。我才不会因为电费而减少烘焙呢!!:P

hanushi said...

Our mum will make good friends. Hahaha... :) the things they will say or do r the exactly the same.

j3ss kitch3n said...

yummy definitely a breakfast/tea break cake!

茄子: 我跟你不同哦, 老公念多了老婆生气不里老公就赢了!可是面对妈妈却不能哦! 不然是妈妈不里我哦! ;(

j3ss kitch3n said...

hanushi lol got chance we get together with our mums let them know each other make them busy then no chance to nag at us le!

Small Small Baker said...

That's why I didn't bake too much too. Not because of the electrical bill. But sometimes my kitchen is just too small to do baking stuff and she will think I'm blocking her way. :(

Btw, I thought your vanilla cake is not that relevant to the theme cos it's not really christmas related. Unless you put on the decorations and make it look like a log cake, that will be accepted.

Your #1 Fan said...

The pound cake look so good. -drools- Nice shape too. And don't we all just love to splurge on vanilla beans. Hehehe.
Thanks for sharing.

p/s: I think electric bills and time are the issues for most of us. D; (Been refraining from baking and showing withdrawal symptoms. Could be use as an excuse to bake. Lol)

j3ss kitch3n said...

SSB that's the way with mothers ain't they haha.
ok noted will submit another one with decoration!

j3ss kitch3n said...

Jet thank you for you compliments! as for the vanilla bean lol i got another splurge and its the vanilla bean paste i had been eying for so long!
yeah most of the times its the bills and timing lol but well at least we get to enjoy what we enjoy most!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Hehe your mum sounds like a scream! :P

Jean said...

lol! my mom said the same thing to me too!! big fan of vanilla here! double vanilla makes the cake even more so yummy to me :P

hanushi said...

Hehe, btw, the cake looks lovely... love the shape of your tin. :)

Cheah said...

The cake looks great, crumbs or no crumbs. Like the first picture, looks like a log cake.

ann low said...

I agree with Cheah, looks like a log cake. Pass me some please :)

DG said...

Yum Yum ... i can smell the fragrance cake :) it must to be delicious ... I have something similar to this mould too, going to dig out and make use of it. Thanks for sharing!

Victor said...

Wow, what a great looking pound cake!

j3ss kitch3n said...

Lorraine she does sometimes lol!

jean i think that's typical of asian mothers in general!

hanushi thank you =)

Cheah thank you =)

Ann anytime! its my pleasure!

DG thank you!

Victor thank you for dropping by!

Love2cook Malaysia said...

Hehe, that's a cool dialogue with Mum! :D

Luckily my Hubby is not the complaining type. So no worries if my electricity bill shoots up..wait till I bake often than now. ;)

First time to your pinky lovely blog! I just browsed through and I should admit that U love baking! :D

The pound cake looks divine!

j3ss kitch3n said...

thanks love2cook for dropping by and yes i do admit i love baking compared to cooking lol~

Unknown said...

Very beautiful cake, I've never tried vanilla pound cake before... Thks for sharing the recipe ^_^

Viv said...

i have the same cookbook and i love it! so far ive only made the souffle on the cover tho :P oh and the banana choc bread!

this looks so yummy...love how its so soft and fine...hmmmm.

hehe your mum's too funny.

鲸鱼蓝蓝蓝 said...

很松发的样子:)

Wen said...

What a fluffy and moist butter cake! Love the mould too!

j3ss kitch3n said...

neyeeloh please try it you will love it!

viv i was thinking about trying the souffle too! is the results very good?

鲸鱼 嗯的确很松发哦!

wen thank you =D

tigerfish said...

Now,start decorating to make it a Christmas log cake!!!

j3ss kitch3n said...

tigerfish lol i'm cracking my head over how to decorate it!

Bake for a Queen said...

Your mom is so cute :D

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