Cold Oven Pound Cake - Do Not Preheat!

Have you ever made a cold oven pound cake? I hadn't even heard of cold oven pound cake until my friend Donna suggested I give it a try. "It's the best pound cake ever!" she exclaimed with such enthusiasm - immediately piquing my interest.

Cold oven pound cake is made using a typical pound cake recipe, but it's baked for a longer time in a cooler oven that hasn't been preheated.

Was it simply that Donna tasted a better than average pound cake recipe, or does baking cold oven pound cake really make a difference in the end result? I was determined to find out!

Is Cold Oven Pound Cake Better?

Using the exact same recipe, I baked half of my pound cake cupcakes in a preheated oven at 350 F for 25 minutes and the other half starting in a cold oven heating up to 275 F for 60 minutes. I then subjected my friends and family to blind taste tests (not that they minded).

EVERYONE liked the cold oven pound cake better! Some people went so far as to say that the cold oven ones were like a completely different dessert. The difference was in the texture. The cold oven pound cake was denser and had less of a crumb. It was what you would expect from pound cake. I'm not a food scientist (I can't explain why this works), but I would suggest that you try this technique the next time you make a pound cake.

Cold Oven Pound Cake Recipe

The key ingredient in pound cake, of course, is BUTTER. Pound cake gets its name from the fact that the classic pound cake recipe contains a full pound of butter. For my cold oven pound cake (in cupcake form), I used butter compliments of Challenge Butter. Challenge Butter is not sold here in St. Louis, but it is available in other parts of the country. I figured that if they were going to send me butter, I needed to make something super buttery! (By the way, check out Challenge Butter's website for a chance to win a 7-day/6-night trip for 4 people to the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Montana’s Paradise Valley, just North of Yellowstone National Park.)

The cold oven pound cake recipe I used was from Annie Laurie on Bakespace. It was one stick shy of the traditional full pound of butter. Annie says that her mother was famous for it, and I can understand why. I am reprinting the recipe below with my notes and modifications to make cupcakes instead of a cake.

Makes 24 cupcakes (Note: Read the comments on this post.  People have reported that it makes many more than 24 cupcakes.  Maybe even double that.  You may want to halve the recipe.)

• 1 1/2 C unsalted butter
• 3 C sugar
• 6 eggs (cold)
• 3 C sifted cake flour (I used all-purpose flour since that was all I had on hand, and it worked well)
• 1 C whole milk, VERY cold (I used 2%)
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 t almond extract (Use any extract here that you like. I used coffee extract.)
  

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
3. Beat in flour, one cup at a time, alternating with milk.
4. Add extracts.
5. Beat on medium-high to high speed for two minutes, scraping down sides of bowl.
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
7. Place on middle rack in a COLD oven and bake at 275 F for 1 hour.
   

The Frosting

I frosted these cupcake with banana whipped cream with cacao nibs. But an advantage of such a plain cake is that you can top it with whatever flavor frosting you most love!

Flashback


This is not the first time that I have made pound cake cupcakes (although it's a first for the cold oven variety). I made mini pound cake cupcakes to dip in chocolate fondue for Valentine's Day. You might consider trying that same technique with this recipe for the holidays. If you make these as minis, simply bake for half the time.

Pound Cake Cupcakes

Pound cake cupcakes, as you might expect, are rich and dense - but, most importantly, they are versatile. Like their full-sized cousins, pound cake cupcakes can be served with whatever topping your creative mind can dream up. Just in case your mind is at a loss, I'll be giving you two Valentine's Day-appropriate pound cake frosting ideas this week. One is classically beautiful and one is a twist on a typical chocolate ganache. Stay tuned.

Pound Cake Cupcake Recipe

The pound cake recipe that I used is from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet. I found the recipe on Robin's blog, Caviar and Codfish. Robin had such great things to say about it, but my favorite line was, "I’ll surely make it again. Every time I need a hug." Virtual hugs to Robin for sharing the recipe!

The pound cake recipe is officially called double-vanilla pound cake. In my reprinting below, I will provide you with options to punch up the vanilla flavor even more or take it down some, to your taste.

Makes 12 regular cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes

• 3/4 C sugar (If you have some vanilla sugar on hand, this would be a good time to use it.)
  
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 T pure vanilla extract (You could use vanilla bean paste here instead. If you use vanilla bean paste, you could skip the addition of the vanilla bean.)
  
• 2 C (7 ounces) sifted cake flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• ¹/3 C (3 ounces) sour cream, at room temperature

1. Place the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.
   
2. Use a paring knife to split the vanilla bean lengthwise, then turn the knife over and use the dull edge to scrape the seeds into the sugar. (Save the pod for another use - like making vanilla sugar.)
   
3. Blend on low speed until the seeds are evenly dispersed.
   
4. Add the butter and beat on medium-high until the mixture is very light—almost white in color, 4 to 5 minutes.
   
5. Beat the eggs with the vanilla in a small bowl.
   
6. With the mixer running on medium speed, add the eggs to the butter mixture about 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to completely blend in before adding the next.
7. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk together.
   
8. With the mixer on the lowest speed, alternate between adding the flour mixture and sour cream, ending with the flour mixture.
   
9. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
10. Bake at 350 F. For mini cupcakes, bake for 12 min. For regular cupcakes, bake for 20 minutes.