Light Pound Cake

Light Pound Cake
Source: Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.), pg. 111.

This "light" pound cake is reminiscent of a sponge cake. It does have a light, airy texture and it is very moist. We thought it was delicious and very good served with sweetened fruit in syrup. I loved the slightly crunchy top.

Maida says that you can ruin the recipe by underbeating the eggs at the beginning or overbeating the flour and butter additions at the end. The recipes says to beat the eggs for about 25 minutes. This sounds excessive to me and I'm not sure if she was referring to using a hand-held mixer. I mixed it for about 15 minutes in my stand mixer. You will need to cover the mixer with a towel to avoid a mess! I did not have any problems with it and it turned out fine.

1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup unsifted unbleached flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
Optional: confectioners sugar (to sprinkle on before serving)

Adjust oven rack one-third up from the bottom and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10x4 inch tube pan (she recommends one with a fancy design - I just used my plain one since it is the only one I have that is large enough). Dust with fine dry bread crumbs and set aside.

Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat. Set aside to cool.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Beat the eggs with the vanilla and sugar on high speed until the mixture is pale and falls in a slow ribbon when the beaters are raised (15-25 minutes). (See the note in the introduction (above) about this step.

Lower the speed and add the cooled melted butter.

Add the dry ingredients and mix only until incorporated. Do not overbeat.

Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes until the top springs back when gently pressed with the fingertips. If the top is getting too dark, cover loosely with foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Cover with a rack to invert the pan and remove the cake. Let stand until completely cool. She says that the top may fall slightly and this is okay. One small section of my cake fell a bit while it cooled. Maida recommends serving this in thin slices sprinkled with confectioners sugar.