PERFECT COLD OVEN POUND CAKE

By BobD

Ingredients

• 12 SERVINGS
• A 100-year-old recipe claims that starting in a cold oven yields a pound cake that is especially tall and boasts a crisp crust.
• 3 cups cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter , softened
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs

Details

Servings 12
Adapted from cookscountrytv.com

Preparation

Step 1

You'll need a 16-cup tube pan or angel food cake pan for this recipe; if not using a nonstick pan, make sure to thoroughly grease a traditional pan.

INSTRUCTIONS

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position.

Grease and flour 16-cup tube pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl.

Whisk milk and vanilla in measuring cup.

With electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined.

Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of milk mixture.

Mix on low until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Use rubber spatula to give batter final stir-don't worry if the batter looks slightly separated.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top.

Place cake in cold oven.

Adjust oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake, without opening oven door, until cake is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 65 to 80 minutes.

Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto rack.

Cool completely, about 2 hours.

Serve.

(Cooled cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.)

RECIPE TESTING

A Cold Oven Really Makes a Difference Curiosity led us to try baking our Cold-Oven Pound Cake in a preheated oven. The cake baked more quickly (no surprise), but it was squat and lacked the thick crust we'd come to expect.

Evidently, the hot oven stopped the small amount of leavener in our recipe before its work was done. And it turns out the crust on our Cold-Oven Pound Cake is formed by moisture in the oven reacting with starch in the batter. A hot oven is drier than a cold oven (heat evaporates moisture), so there wasn't enough moisture in the preheated oven to form a nice, thick crust.