Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Pound Cake


The first ever thing I baked and that also at the tender age of 10 years was a pound cake. My younger sister and I did it together in fact with the help of our mom. She gave us all the ingredients along with the measurements and there we go, both of us got busy on one long hot day of our summer vacations and thoroughly enjoyed that activity :) My sister measured out all the ingredients under my Mom's supervision and I was the incharge of the mixing department; I was operating the stand mixer. She brought all the ingredients to me one by one and I mixed the batter with the help of that machine. The batter was poured into a greased loaf tin and in it went to the oven to get baked and both of us waited anxiously till its done and couldn't wait it to be ready :) My Mom obviously was doing that step and the moment it came out of the oven, looking fluffy and spongy, both my sister and I exclaimed with joy and wanted to decorate it right away. My Mom then gave us some grated chocolate to sprinkle it on top of the warm cake and I remember, both of us said that we won't cut it till our Dad comes back home from work and look at our piece of art :) My Dad has always been a person who compliments genuinely and always appreciates and encourages; whether it is on our achievements, dresses or cooking, he'd always tell us that you did or look best. So how could he not liked the cake that my sister and I baked for the first time :) He generously praised our attempt and enjoyed a slice of it with a cup of his evening tea :) I wish my Mom took a photo of that cake with the camera as there were no mobile phones back in the day or else I would have taken it myself and would have posted it on the social media like the kids now-a-days do :P But considering the strictness of my Mom, no way I would have owned an iPhone if I was 10 today and Facebook would have been a far-fetched idea! I am honestly glad about that. I really am quite happy about my childhood and all the fun we used to have back then :) But times change and so does the behaviors and parenting styles too maybe. I will know that once I become a parent in future, In Sha Allah (God willing) :)


So back to the cake. From that day onward, my sister and I have made cake together a number of times but she being the studious one and although has a little interest in baking but has never been passionate about it the way that I have been. She's into a medical profession now so, do not get time to even go into the kitchen and I took hold of that department entirely as I am the baker at the house :) Whether its a plain pound cake or a fancy birthday cake, I'm the one who makes it at home oh, and I still use those same loaf pans that my Mom owns and I baked my first cake in :) I shall be sharing more of my cakes in the future posts but I have already posted a recipe of my Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake that you can find the recipe of here.
Pound cake, which is often referred to as plain cake, has gotten it's name cause of all the main ingredients used in making this cake weighing 1 pound. The cake recipe that is of my Mom's was in tablespoons instead of the cups and she used butter. Now, I converted them into the cup measurement and replaced butter with the oil as I got more into practice of baking and got familiar with the right texture of the perfect pound cake. You can use any oil such as corn, sunflower, canola, coconut and even light olive oil. Oil makes the cake moist and light and the texture doesn't come out dense also but if you want, you can use butter by all means; no hard and fast rule but a personal preference mainly :) I've tried using all of them at different times. We never buy a cake from the bakery unless it was extremely necessary or I was not around to bake one :D I even use a homemade pound cake in the desserts such as Trifle and feel that the texture and flavor of the homemade is always better than the store bought one. Check the recipe of this classic English dessert, Trifle here.

Let's get some baking Unleashed today! :D


Pound Cake (Plain Cake)

Ingredients:

Plain Flour: 1 1/2 cups 
Eggs: 3 medium sized (at room temp)
Caster Sugar: 1 cup 
Oil: 1 Cup (you can use butter if you like but I use oil in my cakes)
Baking Powder: 2 tsp 
Salt: 1/4 tsp.
Vanilla Extract or Essence: 1 tsp.
Milk: 1/4 cup

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven at 180 C/350 F/Gas Mark 4.
  2. Grease and flour a 9 x 4 1/2" loaf tin/mold. Set aside.
  3. Sift the flour and baking powder together and put aside.
  4. In a stand mixer's mixing bowl or any other regular medium sized mixing bowl, beat together sugar, oil, salt and vanilla essence with the help of an electric beater on a medium speed.
  5. Once mixed well, add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
  6. Now add milk and flour and beat on slow speed till all of the flour is incorporated. Do not over beat.
  7. Pour the batter into the greased mold and bake into a preheated oven for 30 mins or till the cake tester/skewer/knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
  8. Let it cool down a bit before taking it out from the mold and cooling it completely on a wire rack. 
  9. Cut into slices once cools down and serve.
  10. Keep it in an airtight box. Will stay well up to 2,3 days.
Makes 1 cake





That's all bakers! :) Baking time can always be adjusted according to the type of your ovens. I hope you enjoy making and eating them. Until next time, keep sharing the goodness of this greatest blessing, that has been bestowed in abundance upon us the lucky ones, with the less fortunate ones.
Thank you and please remember in your Du'as/prayers! :)

*Not be duplicated, rewritten or published without permission- Thank you! 












43 comments:

  1. Haven't had pound cake in a long time. Looks delicious!

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    1. Thanks Sophia! I hope you'd be trying this recipe soon :)

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  2. Madiha, your pound cake looks so moist and yummy!

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    1. Thanks so much, Sandhya! It really turns out moist and soft :)

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  3. I am pretty sure a pound cake was the first type of cake my mum let me be in charge of as well :) I used to love it, but haven't had one in so long! Looks delicious :)

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    1. I'm sure every kid loves to make this cake too :) I hope you'd be trying this recipe soon.
      Thanks very much for liking!

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  4. Pound cake look so moist & delicious...Thanks for sharing !!

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    1. Thanks so much, Jolly! This recipe does make a very moist and delicious cake :)

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  5. When I was a child I absolutely loved pound cake, except I called it 'dry cake'... not because it was dry but because it had no icing. My mother would always have to explain that to whoever's 'dry cake' that I wanted a slice of :)

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    1. Aww that's cute :) We called it plain cake and I think, every kid likes a cake with icing on it :) This is a sweet memory you shared.
      May Allah bless your mother's soul, Ameen Sum Ameen.
      Jazak'Allah Khair!

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  6. Wow...the first thing you ever made at 10 years old? Impressive. The first thing I ever made was mac and cheese from a box, but I forgot to drain the water...mac and cheese soup. I was devastated. LOL! Can't remember how old I was...probably around 10 as well. This cake looks delicious! I haven't had pound cake in ages...it looks so soft and moist and yummy!

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    1. Yes, I was 10 years old and did that under my mother's supervision :) Haha and I bet, that mac and cheese soup must have showed that how creative you're going to be in your cooking skills as you grow older :)
      Thanks so much for liking and I hope you do try the recipe someday :)

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  7. Looks really good and glad you got started cooking early. it is so fun.

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    1. Thanks so much! :) Yes, I started baking at quite an early age :)

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  8. Sometimes simple is the way to go as is the case with this pound cake recipe. It look delicious. Perfect with a nice cup of tea!

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  9. I absolutely love pound cake, this one looks excellent!! Such a pretty color!

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  10. I used to love pound cake. I need to come up with a good vegan version. Looks delicious!

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    1. I'd love to try a vegan version too :)
      Thank you!

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  11. Woah, your dad seems to be a cool guy! And I'm sure, if he likes the cake then I'll also like it :D

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    1. Haha yes, he is :D I hope you do :)
      Thanks very much!

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  12. This is a great looking poundcake, I will have to try it soon.

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    1. Please do and I hope you like it too :)
      Thank you!

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  13. I like this cake so much... I remember growing up where my mom made the same recipe almost... No butter ... Always oil hehe

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  14. Yummy! This looks so moist! :-)

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  15. Lovely recipe and the use of oil would actually make it pretty light too...Delicious!

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  16. Simple yet perfect.
    I bet every one loves a good pound cake

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  17. Wonderful cake with nice hue. Thanks for sharing your easy recipe :)

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  18. Cake looks so moist and yummy..Thanks for sharing !!

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