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Rarely can any dessert compete with a professionally-made pound cake. The moist, fluffy treat always tastes best when obtained from a bakery, but it’s not impossible to recreate that same quality at home — even with store-bought cake mix. We went to an expert to get the best tips for turning your boxed cake mix into a bakery-worthy pound cake.
Pound cakes always deserve high-quality ingredients, but for Sandy Folsom, School Director of the Wilton Sweet Studio, how you use the ingredients is what matters. The studio has a three-day baking class that will teach you how to make the perfect pound cake and more, but if you can’t attend the course, Folsom offers great methods for elevating the treat at home. “When it comes time to add your eggs, make sure to do so one at a time and beat really well in between so they get fully incorporated into the butter and sugar,” she advises.
The lecithin in eggs helps provide the batter with structure, but the ingredient also contains water, which can make the batter uneven and lumpy. Gradually adding in the eggs and mixing after each one ensures everything is dispersed evenly, leading to a well-emulsified batter and rich cake. “Stop and scrape down the bowl as needed,” Folsom adds. “Perfect mixing makes the perfect pound cake.” Also, make sure you aren’t using cold eggs when baking, since they won’t emulsify properly, making the batter difficult to mix.
Try these methods to give your pound cake a professional look
Achieving the right batter consistency with your homemade pound cake will help it to taste incredible, but it’s also the key to making it look like it came straight from a bakery’s display case. “After you add your flour, make sure the batter is quite thick and sticks to the mixer’s paddle attachment — that will make your cake extra rich with a tight crumb that gives a processional look and delicious taste,” says Folsom. For a smooth crumb, add in the flour a little at a time. Put the mixer at a low speed to ensure everything is well-incorporated without overmixing the batter.
Along with making sure the crumb is tight and seamless, Folsom recommends using a baking pan that will automatically give your cake a decadent look. “To bake a perfect pound cake, you’ll want to use a fluted tube pan that is really greased well, as pound cakes tend to want to stick,” she says. “The fluted tube provides a pretty cake that doesn’t need a lot of decoration to make an impact.”
Something with plenty of curves, like Kundalini’s Non-Stick Fluted Cake Pan, leaves pound cakes with a shaped look that doesn’t require any further primping. After greasing the baking pan, go in with a light dusting of flour. This way, the cake will get an evenly browned crust and release more easily from the pan.
