Rose on the left, Dorie on the right.
Occasionally the feeling overcomes me that I’m not a very good baker because I’m missing a lot of 'tested til perfect' recipes from my repertoire. For example, if someone were to say to me, "Hilary, I need the perfect scone recipe", expecting me to whip one out of my trusty recipe box of perfection, they would be disappointed. I don’t know the perfect scone recipe. Ditto the perfect pastry recipe. Ditto the perfect buttercream recipe. But for all my failings, at least now I can say that I know - if not the perfect - then a very, very good classic pound cake recipe.
Last week I had the unexplained urge to make and eat pound cake. In fact, why not make and eat two of them? Because pound cake is composed of so few ingredients, I thought it would be neat to put two recipes head-to-head and see if all pound cakes are indeed created equal. I figured that because it is composed of so few ingredients, superior flavour and texture would really shine through in the winning cake.
I put two dynamo bakers head to head. Dorie Greenspan’s Perfection Pound Cake versus Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Perfect Pound Cake. Which one would turn out to be truly parfait?
Taste. Here, I couldn’t tell the cakes apart. The ingredients were nearly identical, albeit in different quantities. I tasted. And tasted. And tasted. I made myself slightly sick on pound cake and still couldn’t make out a genuine difference in flavour.
Appearance. Both recipes delivered a lovely, golden brown loaf. I gave Dorie's loaf the teensiest edge here, because the cake rose a bit higher and was bit more pleasingly formed.
Texture. The most discernible difference lay here, though it was still subtle. Dorie’s cake-making method involves lots of creaming in a stand mixer, which results in a cake with a tight structure and crumb. Rose uses the 'one bowl' method, with the butter and egg mixture being added to the dry ingredients and beaten for considerably less time. Both cakes became tighter in texture the next day, but I found Dorie's almost too tight, while Rose's was, I thought, a little more velvety. Here I gave Rose the nod.
Overall winner. Rose Levy Beranbaum's Perfect Pound Cake
This was a tough one, but in the end I crowned Rose’s cake the winner by the narrowest of margins, mainly because of the simplicity of the recipe. The cake was the quicker and easier to prepare of the two, and I enjoyed the ever so slightly looser crumb that the reduced beating time produced.
So is it perfect? Well, possibly not, but I don’t even know if perfect exists in the world of pound cake. So for me, for now, it is practically perfect.
Perfect Pound Cake
Recipe from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum
To create a perfect crack along the top of this cake, remove it from the oven after 15 minutes and run a large knife deep down the centre, before returning to the oven to continue baking.
3 Tbsp milk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cake and pastry flour, sifted (if not available substitute all-purpose flour)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
13 Tbsp (180 g) unsalted butter, softened
Preheat oven to 350F / 180C. Grease and flour a standard-sized loaf pan.
In a medium bowl lightly whisk the milk, eggs and vanilla extract.
In a large bowl using a handheld mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just to blend. Add the softened butter and half the egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (or high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1 minute. This will aerate the mixture and develop the cake’s structure.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Gradually add the remaining egg mixture in 2 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. If at any point it is becoming too brown, cover loosely with foil.
Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
19 comments:
Comparing and making recipes sounds like fun! Rose's cake looked perfect from the beginning, it looks very fluffy and light.
What an interesting and fun experiment. Will have to try Rose's pound cake recipe. I'm curious that it says to remove the cake from the oven after 15mins and run a knife down the middle to create a crack - did it work? I'd be scared the cake would fall and collapse.
Very kind of you to undertake this experiment in the name of science. :) I am the same way - I have very few "classic" or "perfect" recipes. Mine is an ever evolving repertoire which I really don't think is a bad thing. I've never been a big pound cake person but now I am strangely craving it...
I just baked pound cake last night....great minds. I used Paula Deen's recipe and was pleased. Both of yours looks good....next time the pound cake urge kicks in I'll try Rose's.
~ingrid
Great post :). Thank you for doing all the hard work for us so we can now make the better pound cake.
*kisses* HH
P.s. i'll eat the "bad" cake if you dont want it :D
Good work! I think it's hard as bakers to ever find anything that's perfect to our standards because we love trying something new. I tend to go by what my husband says is perfect because although he is picky, he's not near as picky as me when it comes to cooking/baking. When he gives me the nod that this is the one he likes then I try to stick with it otherwise he usually winds up disappointed and says "didn't we already have a recipe that we liked of this?" :)
This is deservant of "perfect."
This is deservant of "perfect."
You know I've never made a pound cake but I ought to pull my finger out and do it as it looks like my husband's type of cake!
mmmm pound cake...
You are not alone in your desire to have that one perfect recipe of everything in your toolbox. I've recently come to the realization that every time I try making a recipe, there will invariably be something different about it...and I think I'm ok with that...I think :)
Great job! I've always wanted to do a test kitchen bake-off! I will definitely have to give this pound cake a try! Oh, and I have an honest to god fabulously perfect buttercream recipe! Let me find it for you...
I feel the exact same way!I have some great recipes, but do I have the perfect this or that? Not always. This is another reason food bloggers are great. If we're all testing, we can come up with practically perfect recipes more quickly. Thanks for sharing your head-to-head pound cake :)
I love your commitment to scientific cake comparisons- they both look yummy though!
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Thanks for the review. I always find myself torn between the two. Both of them always had the perfect recipes. Having said that, i totally agree with you on Rose's one bowl method. It's so much easier and faster!
They both look really delicious! I love the idea of baking two very similar cakes side by side to compare. When I'm trying to compare I'm always hampered by the fact that I've forgotten what the first one tasted like by the time I try the second a few days/weeks later!
My loaf did not seem to rise nearly as high as yours and my crack was not nearly as profound although I ran a knife almost all the way to the bottom 15 mins in. Also, I only had to bake the loaf 45 mins.
I tested this recipe twice and I always fail to bake a perfect one. It's always wet (uncooked) from the bottom to the centre portion. ): any idea? I increase the baking time to 80mins yet it is still uncooked.
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