One pound flour, one pound eggs, one pound butter, and one pound sugar. That’s an old-fashioned pound cake, right? Add raspberries and use brown sugar and that’s a Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Raspberries, right? Well, if pound cake really were that simple, all pound cakes would be basically the same. Right? But how many times have you tried to make a pound cake, only to find it flat, heavy, dry, or just plain boring? Well, I’ve discovered a way to improve the texture of pound cake using a little modern technology. While we’re at it, let’s do something about its standard old boring presentation also.
Brown Sugar Pound Cake
First the texture: Thanks to a recipe by Chicago’s Ina Pinkney I can honestly say I’ll never have to serve a dry, dense pound cake again. Her pound cake is prepared in the food processor and takes just takes a few minutes to whip into shape. The secret to Ina’s success seems to come from melted butter. This liquid fat coats the flour proteins better than solid fat and thus limits gluten formation, giving this cake a tender crumb that melts in your mouth.
Upside-Down Brown Sugar Pound Cake
Now the presentation: I know the crack down the center of a pound cake is a badge of honor. And that’s good enough reason to show it off proudly, sometimes. But in paying homage to the crack most of us are missing creative opportunities to dress up our brown sugar pound cake in some unexpected ways.
What if you took everything you thought you knew about a Brown Sugar Pound Cake and turned it upside down? Literally. Suddenly this pound cake defies expectations. What could have been overlooked, garners all the attention, and it’s just a pound cake. A very good pound cake, for sure, but we’re not reinventing the wheel. After all, if you turn a wheel upside down it’s still a wheel.
But if you turned a pound cake upside down you’d have a spectacle on your hands. I mean on your plate. GREG
Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Raspberries
Print This Recipe Yield 12Source Adapted from Ina PinkneyPublishedSometimes I like to defy expectations and serve a pound cake upside down, teetering on its dome.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cup cake flour (plus more for pan)
- 1 ¼ cup brown sugar (may substitute granulated 1:1)
- 4 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla paste (may substitute 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 ounce fresh raspberries (plus more for optional garnish)
- 3 tablespoon raspberry jam (optional)
- white frosting (as needed, optional)
- ground or shredded dried coconut (as needed, optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the middle position. Butter and flour a 9‑inch loaf pan, preferably a straight-sided Pullman pan. (Do not use lid.)
Melt butter gently in a microwave or saucepan on stove top and let cool slightly.
Place sugar, eggs, and vanilla paste in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Whirl together for 2 to 3 seconds, until foamy. Stir the melted butter well. With motor running, drizzle the butter slowly through the feed tube into the batter. Blend for about 3 seconds once butter is incorporated.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl for about 30 seconds, until well blended. Add flour mixture to the work bowl, distributing evenly over the surface of the batter. Pulse 5 or 6 times until the flour is well blended. You may need to scrape down sides of the bowl and pulse again 2 or 3 times. Once the flour incorporated pour the mixture into a bowl and gently fold in 6 ounces raspberries. Continue to gently fold until well distributed.
Scrape the batter into prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes. Turn oven temperature down to 325 degrees and bake for 30–35 minutes more, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean but moist. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let it cool completely.
If you like, slice the cake lengthwise somewhere near the center and add a layer of raspberry jam. Replace the cut layer to reassemble to the cake. This step is optional.
Finish with a thin layer of white frosting (if using) and a coating of ground or shredded dried coconut (if using). Garnish with additional berries if you like.
Pound cake is one of my absolute favorite things in the world, Greg. I can’t wait to try this one… upside down! 🙂
Love that this is upside down — great idea! I could just go a slice of this now.
What a clever idea.
That’s so deliciously moist looking, I want to eat the picture! So many boring cakes that can use some of this creativity. Pineapple upside down meet your match (or better): Upside down pound cake.
Lovely, I will have to try it. There is nothing better than a good pound cake. Thanks for the melted butter food processor tip.
I’ve been waiting for this ever since you posted FB hints. I am so excited to try the food processor version — and brown sugar?? Heaven!
I always learn something new from your posts, and this time is no exception… I didn’t know about Ina Pinkney! What a dear! And as much as I love old standards, I adore turning tradition on its ear — or turning it upside down, as it were. Love, love, love the gorgeous new presentation you’ve given to this classic cake! Thank you for the delicious reminder to think outside the box.
I like spectacles like this! And can’t wait to try that technique! Very interesting!
I’d likely trim off the dome and eat it–then turn it upside down. I love brown sugar pound cake. Going to have to try the melted butter food processor trick!
Upside-down, right side up, either way it sounds fabulous to me. I make a sour cherry pound cake with mascarpone in it, which I love (and which rises beautifully even without baking powder). But this sounds right up my alley. I don’t think I could bear to turn it upside-down, though!