The Show
Alton Brown delivered a winner with the latest episode of Good Eats. A good mix of fun in the beginning scenes. The stream of characters going by the window to accompany his monologue was hilarious. After that AB got down to business with pound cake. I enjoy the shows where he stays focused on one main dish since it gives him more time to spend on the background and science segments. It also gives him an opportunity to go into variations, such as the buttermilk pound cake and lemon icing in this show. It's cute that Alton works his daughter Zoey into Good Eats episodes. One wonders if that will eventually lead to a career in acting/film like her parents?p.s. Anyone else get the Graduate 'plastics' reference?
It's been a while since I made a new Good Eats recipe and pound cake just sounded too good to pass up! Yesterday, while grocery shopping I was unable to find cake flour. Well, it's a smaller market, so I figured they might not have any in stock. So, this morning I bundled up my toddler and hit the local megamart. They had everything but cake flour! At least I got my whole wheat flour for the cheddar beer bread, but that's tomorrow's post. I also had a minor hardware issue when I returned home and noticed my loaf pans are slightly smaller (8.5x4.5)! Then I remembered my wife had just purchased a bundt pan!
Butter and eggs sat on the counter while I re-watched the Pound of Cake episode. (didn't bother trying to find European butter) I even poked the butter with a thermometer and read 68 degrees! Things were looking up. It's an easy recipe and not too many ingredients, so it was basically a matter of following the procedures.
Rather than sit around stirring all day, I pulled out the Kitchen Aid and went to work. The only variations were the use of all purpose flour and a bit of nutmeg in the mix. Hey, it's Fall!
Into the waiting oven it went and hit 210 F at 58 minutes. Cooling rack for 10 minutes in the pan, then 10 minutes out of the pan while I made the lemon icing. Sorry, forgot to pick up lemons, so I had to use the ol' bottled stuff. The icing still has a good bite to it, even without the zest. I used a cooling rack and sheet pan during icing application. What Alton didn't mention was the benefit of easy icing sampling from the sheet pan afterward! The cake was a success! I should know, I just ate two pieces while writing this :-) The outside crust was a little tough, but that may be from the use of AP flour and a nonstick type bundt pan. The icing really makes the dish, but I'll have to try it with some mashed berries tomorrow. Alton's pound cake is definitely going into my book of regular recipes.
9 comments:
I swear by his pound cake in I'm Just Here for the Food.
I'm going to have to start making more of his recipes now that I have two of his cookbooks! I saw this episode the other night and knew this looked great. Glad you enjoyed it. If you ever need cake flour again, you can make it like this.
Thanks Jen. I'll have to try that next time and see if it helps.
Wow, that looks like something you would pay $8 for in a bakery. Very nice!
What is the recipe for the lemon icing? For some reason I seem to think he used orange zest.
AB mentions using orange or lemon zest and juice in the show. IIRC the icing is 1tsp zest, 2 or 2.5tbs juice, and 6oz powdered sugar.
The edges may have been tough because you may have left it in to long for the type of pan you used. Try wrapping a wet towel around it (Re wetting it through baking if you feel its needed) or you can purchase baking strips that you wrap around the pan. Looks VERY yummy!
@mclinton0026 Thanks, I'll have to look into that. I may just buy an uncoated aluminum pan since they are cheap, plus find some cake flour next time. It was still good though!
FYI, that's a tube pan, not a Bundt. Cake looks yummy.
Post a Comment