Almond Pound Cake

The other day while grocery shopping, I passed the bakery section and saw a loaf of Almond Pound Cake and started salivating, you know, the whole Pavlov's dog thing. I haven't had baked goods since the week before Christmas; well, actually, I did break and have a cookie on Christmas day, but still. Lately, I'm starting to crave things like hot fudge sundae's or hot pretzels or a slice of pound cake with a nice lemon icing on top because of the certain foods I'm eating and those I can't eat. I haven't totally caved, but the cravings are still there. So to help overcome this carving for a slice of pound cake, I figured I would bake one. Hopefully just the smell of it baking and maybe, just maybe, a SMALL taste of leftover batter will put the beast to rest. I'm not totally confident that I won't have a piece so this pound cake will be taken to a gathering tonight so I'm not tempted to have a slice with my tea later this evening!

I'm trying out a new recipe I found for Almond Pound Cake. I usually use my Sour Cream Coffee Cake recipe and add things like pure almond extract, almond flour, and almond paste. I wanted to find something similar but doesn't use the sour cream.  I just did an internet search for Almond Pound Cake and read through several before finding one that has ingredients I was looking for. So this is a first time cake and my guinea pigs, I mean, taste testers will have to let me know what they think, since I WON'T be having a slice!

Ingredients: 1.5 c butter, 3 c sugar, 5 eggs*, 2.5 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder, .5 c almond meal*, .25 tsp sea salt, 2 tsp pure almond extract, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, 2 c milk, .33 c almond slivered

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 350 and prepare pan* with either a cooking spray that has flour in it (Baking Joy) or grease and flour the pan. (2) Beat butter until cream them slowly add in sugar. Beat until fluffy. (3) Add eggs to the batter, one at a time. Beat mixture another 2 minutes. (4) In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt and almond meal. (5) Add extracts to milk, set aside. (6) On low speed, add a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until incorporated. Add half of the milk mixture to the mixing bowl and incorporate. Continue adding flour then milk then flour until all the flour and milk are incorporated into the mixing bowl. (7) Sprinkle slivered almonds on the bottom of the prepared pan (optional) and then pour batter into the pan. (8) Bake until done, about 55 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. (9) Cool slightly then invert on cooling rack or pan and cool completely. Frost/glaze after cake is completely cooled.


*Eggs are better at room temperature.
*Bob's Red Mill has an almond meal that can be used. We use it when we make our macarons. If you don't want to pay the price for the almond meal (can be around $11 per bag at a grocery store), you can ground up almonds in a food grinder.
*You can use a bundt pan, a loaf pan, a tube pan, or any pan you want.
*I might top this cake with a almond glaze or a dusting of powdered sugar or serve it plain. All depends on what I feel like doing after the cake cools.

Lemon Crumb Coffee Cake

Bundt #3: Lemon Crumb Coffee Cake. I'm still on a citrus kick, if you haven't figured it out. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...Seriously, a while ago, I picked up a bargain book at Borders that had a variety of ideas for baking. I loved shopping Borders and the bargain sections for good finds, whether it be for pleasure reading, for my classroom, or for trying out new ideas. I picked up this great chocolate book and made this elaborate chocolate box with a caramel mousse filling. Fresh fruit and caramel shards were then added to the top. It was DELICIOUS. But anyway, I tried this recipe for a lemon crumb cake. Of course, I didn't check to see what I had in the fridge before starting the process of making the cake and had to substitute some things but the cake turned out moist with a rich, lemony flavor and the crumb topping just made it perfect. So enjoy this recipe. This isn't the one I original tried but the one I ended up making.

Ingredients: (topping) 1/2 c brown sugar, 1/4 c flour, grated zest of 1 lemon, 3 TBSP cold butter, cut into small pieces. (cake) 2 c flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, .5 tsp baking soda, .25 tsp sea salt, 1/4 c chopped lemon-peel*, 1 stick butter, .25 c sugar, 1 c buttermilk (or yogurt), 2 eggs beaten, grated zest of 1 lemon, 1 tsp pure vanilla and pure lemon extract

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a bundt pan (or a pan of your choice)*. Combine crumb toppings in a small bowl and rub until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Set aside. (2) Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt into a large bowl. Stir in lemon peel and make a well in the center of the bowl. (3) Put butter in a saucepan and set on low until melted. Remove and add sugar, buttermilk, eggs, lemon zest, and extracts. Whisk. Pour mixture from saucepan into well and stir until just blended. (4) Spoon half of batter into pant and sprinkle half of crumb topping over batter. Spread, evenly, the remaining batter over the crumb topping and top with remaining half of topping left in bowl. (5) Bake until golden and tester comes out clean, approximately 1 hour. Remove and cool on wire rack before loosening it from the pan.

*I some times use a loaf pan or a buckle pan or a cake pan or a spring pan when making coffee cakes. It just depends on how I feel and what the cake is for.
*I used candied lemon peels. To make, dissolved sugar in water in a saucepan. Boil mixture, then dredge lemon peels in mixture and roll in sugar and place on a wire rack to drip dry. Some grocery stores or specialty stores might have candied lemon peels.

Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake

Bundt cake #2 of the week: Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake. A different version of our Sour Cream Coffee Cake but with a lot more cinnamon and with pecans instead of walnuts.  Our original coffee cake recipe is from my in-laws side of the family. Since it is one of our 'secret' recipes, I can't post it but I did hunt up a recipe that is similar to the one we use and produces a tasty cake that you would enjoy.

Kiss My Bundt is a bakery in California and is the brain child of a southerner by the name of Chrysta Wilson. Chrysta started her bakery original as a web-based company and then opened her own shop. Maybe one day we will be able to open our own little shop.  Enjoy this recipe. It's a really good one.


Ingredients: 2 tsp pure vanilla, .25 c whole milk, 1.75 c sour cream, 3 c flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, .75 tsp salt, .75 c butter, 1 c sugar, .5 c brown sugar, 3 eggs (room temp), 1 c pecans (finely chopped), 1.5c brown sugar, 3 TBSP cinnmon

Instructions: (1) Preheat to 350. Prep pan with either Baking Joy spray or grease and flour it. (2) In a small bowl, add vanilla, milk, and sour cream. (3) In another bowl, add pecans, 1.5 c brown sugar and 3 TBSP cinnamon. (4) Sift flour, soda, powder, and salt. (5) Cream butter and then add sugars in slowly; mix until fluffy. (6) Add eggs, one at a time and beat on medium speed after each addition. (7) Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then 1/2 of the milk mixture. Repeat until you end with the flour mixture. (8) Pour 1/3 of the batter into the pan. Sprinkle 1/2 of the pecan-brown sugar mixture on top of the batter, then add another 1/3 of the batter on top. Sprinkle the remaining pecan-brown sugar mixture on top and add the last of the batter. (9) Bake until cake tester comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool cake for about 10 minutes and then invert cake on a cooling rack. Cool completely.

*You can add a glaze to the cooled cake or leave it plain; totally up to you.

Cappuccino Bundt cake

While looking for something entirely different last weekend, I noticed several bundt pans in the corner of the cabinet. I decided to try out some different bundt cake recipes using these forgotten pans.

Recently when my grandparents moved from their hometown to a town closer to my aunt, my grandma gave me her bundt pan. You can definitely tell that this pan was well-loved. I had a favorite bundt pan but now I always use grandma's. When I don't feel like making a Big bundt cake, I sometimes make baby or mini bundt cakes. With the baby or mini cakes, I can freeze some or give some away as gifts. We are thinking about offering mini-bundt cakes at the farmers market this upcoming season.

I took a basic vanilla bundt cake recipe and decided to add coffee to it to make a Cappuccino cake for those friends of mine who are coffee lovers. I really don't like coffee; I'm more of a tea drinker. So when I make anything with coffee, I have to have my taster testers tell me what needs to be added or changed. They stated that maybe a little more coffee next time but otherwise, it was a good bundt cake.

Sometimes I leave a bundt cake plain or frost it with a cream cheese frosting, Buttercream frosting, a glaze, or a ganache. If I make this bundt cake again, I might try either a cream cheese frosting or a chocolate/vanilla/coffee Buttercream frosting on top and use maybe chocolate covered coffee beans as garnish.

Ingredients: 2.5 c flour, 2.5 tsp baking powder, .5 tsp salt, .75 c butter, 1.75 c sugar, 3 eggs (room temp), 1.5 tsp pure vanilla, 1.25 c whole milk, 2 tsp coffee extract, 4 TBSP instant coffee granules.

Instructions: (1) Heat oven to 350. Prep bundt pan (spray with Baking Joy or greased and floured). Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. (2) Beat butter on medium speed until creamy. Slowly add sugar and continue beating until fluffy. (3) Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. (4) Add vanilla and coffee extract and coffee granules to milk. (5) Add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with milk mixture. Begin and end with flour mixture. (6) Transfer batter to cake and fill pan to about 3/4 full. Bake until cake tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes for a big bundt pan or less for baby or mini pans.

*We get a majority of our extracts from Cook's Vanilla. They have a great selection of Pure and Organic extracts from nut, coffee, citrus, berry, liqueur flavors to even gluten-free flavors.
*I usually will add extracts and coffee granules to the milk first so they have a longer time seep.

Next bundt recipe I'll try, later on this week, and post will be a version of our Sour Cream Coffee cake but with Cinnamon and Pecans.