Hello everyone! This posting was supposed to be published before the 4th of July. I was going for a kind of ‘fireworks’ effect in the Poundcake. Umm…I guess it worked in one way, since my first attempt exploded and ran all over the oven, then sunk in on itself. This, upon reflection, was due to the fact that I did not read my recipe with glasses on, so left an entire cup of flour out. Note to self: This is not a good strategy. However, despite the fact that it was awful to look at, it tasted pretty good. I baked a second cake, which is why this article is behind schedule. The second attempt worked better.
While cake #1 was baking, I started writing this posting. I got a big laugh out of the first paragraph when I came back to finish writing after the second cake was done. I’ve kept it because I think that it’s important to remember that if a little voice inside your head whispers that something is amiss, it usually is. Little did I know….
“I cannot lie to you about this because I feel that we are friends. I am sweating bullets right now. Why? Well, this Raspberry Swirl idea was just an idea, and one that I had never tried. Sure, I had baked this Pound Cake for years, but the swirl thing? Not really. Not ever. What could be the harm? What could possibly go wrong? At this moment, the timer on the cake will go off in ten minutes, and then we will both know. I was going for a beautiful, bright red fireworks kind of swirl in the cake, so that is our goal. I am praying it does not turn out a big old pink mess. Or that it will overflow all over the place due to the added jelly. But then again, who cares? Any of the above can be fixed, and I do enjoy living on the edge when it comes to cooking and baking, so there you have it. We will play the cards we are dealt. Until the timer goes off and the cake is cool enough to slice, I’ll just fill you in on all the steps that got us to this point:”
And now back to the present:
First, the swirly part. I used some homemade raspberry jam, and then thinned it a little to try and match the consistency of what I thought the cake batter would be. This in my mind was to avoid jelly sinking to the bottom of the pan. This is not a proven technique or one I have ever heard of, so might just turn out to be a very dumb idea.
And now we make the cake batter. This is very much like the old fashioned, traditional pound cakes that called for a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of flour and a pound of eggs. I confess that we indeed did use an entire pound of butter, a little over a pound of sugar, flour and eggs. I was curious so weighed everything. First get your butter and sugar creamed, and add eggs one at a time… When that is done, it looks like this.
Next we will use the technique of adding the remaining dry ingredients (flour, baking powder & salt) alternately with the wet ingredients (buttermilk and vanilla). So get your stuff ready in advance. Mixing on slow speed..
I could just stick my entire face in here and start eating it as is.
Now for the fun part – Make sure your LARGE sized bunt pan (or two loaf pans) are well buttered and floured. Add half of the cake batter, then make a well in the center with the back of a spoon, and drizzle on the jam. To make things easier, I put the jam into a squeeze bottle in order to be more artistic when it comes to the swirling part of this exercise.
Fill the bunt pan to about an inch and a half from the top with the remaining batter (this is where I was very nervous because I filled it, um… more).
Add the remaining jam.. And swirl!! I used a butterknife and a chopstick. Try to keep the jam to the middle if you can.
And now it’s time for the oven. Just to be on the safe side, I put the bunt pan on a cookie sheet just in case we have a spill over…again.
Bake at 350 degrees for a least an hour. This cake baked for an hour and 15 minutes. Cake is done when internal temperature reaches 210 or a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
All done! This cake came up about 1/2 inch over the side of the pan, but kept it’s shape so no spill over. You can see it kind of baked over itself in the center. Just wait about half an hour, then gently cut some of that away so it releases from the pan easily. Turn it upside down onto a big serving platter by placing the platter on top of the cake pan, then lifting the entire thing upside down to release. Be brave!! If some little pieces remain in the pan (like mine did if you look closely), just carefully remove them and stick them back on the cake. A little sprinkle of powdered sugar will hide all mistakes if it bugs you.
And now we’ll see if our swirling experiment worked!! Well, sort of.
Here are a few ways to serve this. Remember, it’s pretty rich so eat a lot. Always good to drizzle more Raspberry Jam down the slice, the add some fresh raspberries for some tart contrast.
But wait a second, it’s 95 degrees outside today. How about something cold to go with that? All you’ve gotta do is click on the link for some quick homemake Raspberry Ice Cream? Sounds like a plan.
Happy Belated 4th of July everyone! xoxoxo
RASPBERRY SWIRL POUND CAKE
Ingredients
- 1 pound salted butter room temperature
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups unbleached white flour
- 2/3 cup Raspberry Jam and an additional 1 cup for garnishing if desired
Instructions
- Preheat over at 350 degrees for 30 minutes prior to baking.
- Prepare large bunt pan by greasing and flouring, or by spraying with Pam Baking Spray (recommended).
- Cream together butter and sugar in a mixer at medium high speed until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating one minute after each addition of an egg.
- Stir together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
- Mix together buttermilk and vanilla. Set aside.
- With mixer running very slowly, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix just until blended, then add ½ of the buttermilk mixture, then 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then the final ½ of the buttermilk mixture. Finish mixing with the addition of the final 1/3 of the flour mixture.
- Spoon half the batter into the prepared bunt pan. Make a well in the center of the pan with the back of a spoon, and drizzle in 1/3 cup of Raspberry Jam.
- Spoon remaining batter in the bunt pan, make another well in the top of the pan and add the remaining 1/3 cup of Raspberry Jam.
- Using a butter knife and/or chopsticks, make a swirling pattern in the jam, making sure sure you reach down to connect your knife with the first layer of jam in the pan.
- Spoon batter into prepared pans (see note) and bake for about one hour to one and one-half hours, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan until nearly completely cool before turning out onto a serving platter.
- COOKS NOTES:
- This is a big recipe! You can bake it in two or three buttered and floured loaf pans (if you bake in two pans, bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half). If you use three pans, it will be closer to one hour. You can also bake this in two bunt pans or angel food cake pans. This cake freezes beautifully, and is wonderful to have on hand for an emergency dessert.
- If you don’t want to bake two separate cakes, just cut the recipe in half and make one.
- If you have an ‘oops’ moment and part of your cake stays in the pan and does not release – don’t panic!! Just try to piece it together as best as you can and use a strainer to sift powdered sugar over the finished cake. It will be your little secret there was an oops.
This pound cake is AMAZING! I love your recipes Roberta!
You are so kind my friend! Hope there was a bite or two left when you got home from work. Those girls looked pretty hungry!