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Baking Blog: Million Dollar Poundcake
10 years ago
Ok, so, as the title says, this is gonna be the start of my new blog-ish thing I'm gonna do on here. I plan to post a link to a recipe that I made in my free time, then I will critique it a little, telling about how much I liked/didn't like something when preparing it, how it tasted and the like. It won't be very often that I do this, but it think it would be nice to just put this out there for all of you guys~ <3
And now, onto the Dish: http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/m.....r-pound-cake-0
•Preparation: (P.S.: give the ingredients a read first)
While this recipe does call for quite a few ingredients, the time it takes to prepare is very long. Mixing the butter on medium doesn't really get it as fluffy as it could have been. Nor did only 7 minutes actually get it to that point. I recommend mixing on high till it gets nice and airy. I also think that a good 10 minutes would work better than 7. The same goes for when you add the sugar, as it still feels grainy even after a good ten minutes of mixing on medium. Mixing it on high helps break down the sugar better and may cut time down, but only a little, since it does still take quite a while for it to break down.
When cracking the eggs, take the time to let it incorporate into the butter and sugar to the point of where it isn't visible anymore before adding the next one. It all around helps the process go along at a better pace for you once it's fully in there.
Adding in the flour and milk isn't all too bad, since you add it in alternating order. My only pet peeve about it would be it could be a bit messy as you have to keep switching between the two till it's all gone. When stirring in the extracts, be sure to get it all into the batter, but don't mix. Stir with a wooden spoon or whatever you might have for stirring.
Now, for the pan, be sure to grease and flour it well. If you were to use too much grease, you could accidentally end up frying the cake rather than baking it, and if you don't add enough, some of the cake might stick to the sides. Same with the flour, since it will help you be able to pull out the cake, though too much might make it stick as well.
Finally, the cooking time for said cake is quite a long time, an hour and 40 mins, so you might want to find something else to do while you wait. And once its fully baked in the oven, you'll need to wait for a while, around another 15-20 mins, for it to cool before attempting to pull it out of the pan.
Honestly, it is a bit of a hassle to prepare and get in the oven, but it is worth it to fully incorporate all the ingredients together. The final product is will make it all worth while.
•Final Product:
This cake lives up to its name quite easily. It's nice and dense, which is normal for a pound cake, and very rich. You can really taste the vanilla and almond extracts that you put into it, and it's very sweet. If you wanted to, you could even prepare a lemon glaze or dust it with powdered sugar, it makes it even more tasty. So, it was really worth the wait to make such a wonderful cake, and I do recommended making it if you have the time. Just know that you will need the patience, because this does take quite a bit to prepare.
The only problem I could see with this cake is actually how sweet it is. If it's too sweet for your likings, maybe use 2 1/2 cups of sugar or only 2. Though, it being too sweet shouldn't be too much of a problem if you have a sweetooth like myself~ <3
•Rating
So, if I had to give this a rating of some kind, I guess it would get.... A 4/5? Only because of how long it takes to prepare. Aside from that, it's almost perfect! <3
Well, I hope you enjoyed the critique (or the attempt at it xp) and I'll try to get more out there when I have the chance. Since this was a first time thing, I wanted to see what everyone thought of it first, so the next one will be a bit later.
So, enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment if you have a suggestion or a pastry that you would like me to try sometime. And I hope you all had a wonderful New Year, darlings~ <3
And now, onto the Dish: http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/m.....r-pound-cake-0
•Preparation: (P.S.: give the ingredients a read first)
While this recipe does call for quite a few ingredients, the time it takes to prepare is very long. Mixing the butter on medium doesn't really get it as fluffy as it could have been. Nor did only 7 minutes actually get it to that point. I recommend mixing on high till it gets nice and airy. I also think that a good 10 minutes would work better than 7. The same goes for when you add the sugar, as it still feels grainy even after a good ten minutes of mixing on medium. Mixing it on high helps break down the sugar better and may cut time down, but only a little, since it does still take quite a while for it to break down.
When cracking the eggs, take the time to let it incorporate into the butter and sugar to the point of where it isn't visible anymore before adding the next one. It all around helps the process go along at a better pace for you once it's fully in there.
Adding in the flour and milk isn't all too bad, since you add it in alternating order. My only pet peeve about it would be it could be a bit messy as you have to keep switching between the two till it's all gone. When stirring in the extracts, be sure to get it all into the batter, but don't mix. Stir with a wooden spoon or whatever you might have for stirring.
Now, for the pan, be sure to grease and flour it well. If you were to use too much grease, you could accidentally end up frying the cake rather than baking it, and if you don't add enough, some of the cake might stick to the sides. Same with the flour, since it will help you be able to pull out the cake, though too much might make it stick as well.
Finally, the cooking time for said cake is quite a long time, an hour and 40 mins, so you might want to find something else to do while you wait. And once its fully baked in the oven, you'll need to wait for a while, around another 15-20 mins, for it to cool before attempting to pull it out of the pan.
Honestly, it is a bit of a hassle to prepare and get in the oven, but it is worth it to fully incorporate all the ingredients together. The final product is will make it all worth while.
•Final Product:
This cake lives up to its name quite easily. It's nice and dense, which is normal for a pound cake, and very rich. You can really taste the vanilla and almond extracts that you put into it, and it's very sweet. If you wanted to, you could even prepare a lemon glaze or dust it with powdered sugar, it makes it even more tasty. So, it was really worth the wait to make such a wonderful cake, and I do recommended making it if you have the time. Just know that you will need the patience, because this does take quite a bit to prepare.
The only problem I could see with this cake is actually how sweet it is. If it's too sweet for your likings, maybe use 2 1/2 cups of sugar or only 2. Though, it being too sweet shouldn't be too much of a problem if you have a sweetooth like myself~ <3
•Rating
So, if I had to give this a rating of some kind, I guess it would get.... A 4/5? Only because of how long it takes to prepare. Aside from that, it's almost perfect! <3
Well, I hope you enjoyed the critique (or the attempt at it xp) and I'll try to get more out there when I have the chance. Since this was a first time thing, I wanted to see what everyone thought of it first, so the next one will be a bit later.
So, enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment if you have a suggestion or a pastry that you would like me to try sometime. And I hope you all had a wonderful New Year, darlings~ <3
