When I treat myself to a nice cup of coffee at a coffee shop I generally like a little baked treat to go along with my beverage and I usually go for either a scone or a slice of pound cake.
More often than not I’m underwhelmed by coffeehouse pound cake that I likely paid $1.75 for. Not that it’s bad, it just never seems to be as good as it could be. Much of what distinguishes “great” from “okay” is texture. A really good pound cake is tender but with a course dense texture. The right balance of these elements creates a unique toothsome chew that sets great pound cake apart.
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake, is great pound cake. It has the seemingly impossible combination of a course, yet tender texture and a rich buttery sweet flavor. You might be thinking that drenching it in rum give this cake an unfair advantage, well, I only drenched mine with citrus simple syrup and it definitely qualified as a great pound cake in my book.
As far as cake goes, it’s an easy one to make requiring nothing more than simple hand mixing. Bonus points are added for utilizing melted butter which eliminates the need to think ahead to bring the butter to room temperature. Unlike a traditional pound cake, which is simply a pound of butter, sugar, flour and eggs; this version takes advantage of the leavening power of baking powder for lift. One note, mine cooked much quicker than the suggested 55-60 minutes, so keep an eye on it.
Last week I discovered that a little jam and frosting can transform a simple pound cake into an impressive layer cake. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to apply that concept again this week. I filled the layers with freshly made strawberry ginger jam (recipe posted soon) and frosted it with coconut buttercream I had stashed in the freezer. Transforming a pound cake into a layer cake is my favorite baking discovery of this entire Tuesdays with Dorie odyssey. It has endless applications and is hands-down the quickest and easiest way to create a beautiful layer cake.
Thanks to Wendy of Pink Stripes for the delicious pick this week. If you need a dessert to take to a 4th of July celebration this weekend, this would be a great choice. You can even make it a day ahead because it really is better the next day.
Happy 4th of July!
Recipe Link
Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 131 recipes completed 89 to go!
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What a great idea filling it with the jam. This is one of those,”Why didn’t I think of that?” moments.
Yes, it is a great idea to make a layer cake out of pound cakes, but only if it’s Dorie’s. This was soo good.
Love the layered pound cake. Very pretty
It looks so pretty with the jam and frosting; those flavors would be wonderful with the rum version too. I’m digging the loaf cake/layer cake concept. I need to remember that the next time I need to bring a cake somewhere.
I have never thought about making a layer cake out of a pound cake. Love it!!
Mmm, I’m glad to hear how good this is as I missed out last week… will definitely have to make it up.
Yours looks wonderful with the jam filling!
oh, man! what a gorgeous layer cake that made, and the flavors are spot-on!