What makes a Pound Cake so heavy?!


Question:

What makes a Pound Cake so heavy?

Additional Details

2 days ago
I mean in comparison to a regular cake. Is it prepared differently? Or is it a different ingredient?


Answers:
2 days ago
I mean in comparison to a regular cake. Is it prepared differently? Or is it a different ingredient?

Air beaten into recipes is what makes them light and fluffy.

Pound cake used one pound of each of the following ingredients, butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, stirred together and baked. To explain about beating for a certain length of time would require more information than was necessary for the cake. The recipe was kept simple because it was easy to remember that way. Back when it first started being made not many people could read or write and relied on word of mouth and memory.

Source(s):
http://whatscookingamerica.net/history/c...

Pound cake recipes usually call for alot of eggs....so many eggs in such a small cake....makes for heavy - but oh so good!

I am going to say it is because of the butter, but as I can't say for certain but, here is some info for you:

Pound cake got its name from days of old when ingredients were measured in colonial kitchens on scales. Pound cakes had a pound of flour, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter, a pound of eggs and a pound of milk mixed together and baked in a hot brick oven.
- More here: http://www.mtnlaurel.com/recipes/deserts...

Also, store brands of butter may contain more liquid fat which will make your cake heavy.

Store brands of flour may contain more wheat, may be of questionable quality, and are often irregularly ground. This can also make your cake heavy and crumbly.
- More here: http://www.shaboomskitchen.com/h-baking-...

Good luck, hope I helped some!

the ingredients used and the amount of each ingredient used. compare a basic yellow cake recipe to a pound cake recipie. you'll understand why.
basic pound cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature for 30 minutes
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
Make cake:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter and flour loaf pan, knocking out excess flour.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer or 5 with a handheld. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in zest and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour and mixing until just incorporated.

Spoon batter into loaf pan and bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out with crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes, then invert onto rack and cool completely.

basic moist yellow cake (a little denser than usual but not a pound cake)
Ingredients
3 cups (330 g) cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (8 oz or 230 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (454 g) granulated sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (10 fl oz or 300 ml) buttermilk
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and line with parchment paper two 8x2-inch (20x5-cm) pans. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Cut up the butter into 1-inch pieces and place them in the large bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment or beaters. Beat for 3 minutes on MEDIUM-HIGH speed until the butter is light and creamy in color. Stop and scrape the bowl. Cream the butter for an additional 60 seconds.

4. Add the sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs one at a time.

5. Reduce the mixer speed. Stir vanilla into the buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Mix just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

6. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a knife. Lift up the pan with the batter, and let it drop onto the counter top to burst any air bubbles, allowing the batter to settle.

7. Center the pans onto the lower third of the oven and let bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake is lightly brown on top and comes away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Note: Let the cake cool in the pan. Storage: Double wrap the cake in plastic wrap. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Yield: Two 8-inch (20-cm) cakes

Used with permission of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., NY, NY. From The Well-Decorated Cake, by Toba Garrett




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