FOOD NEWS
How To Give Pound Cake Its Signature Lift Without Baking Soda
BY PEGGY AOKI
Pound cake is made from a few ingredients and no raising agent, like baking powder. Instead, it gets its light crumb texture from the technique used to mix the butter and sugar.
Sometimes called "creaming," the action of beating butter with sugar in a mixer adds bubbles of air to the cake batter. The rough grains of sugar help to break up the dense butter.
During the mixing, air is trapped in the butter. In the heat of the oven, the air expands, lifting the dense batter just enough to make that traditional firm pound cake texture.
Start with a mixing bowl of room-temperature butter, then add the sugar. Start with your mixer on low speed to prevent the ingredients from flying out of the bowl.
Once the sugar is all mixed into the butter, raise the speed to medium or higher. Stop and scrape in any butter that clings to the side of the bowl after a minute or so.
You’ll know that the mixture is ready when you see the color change from buttery yellow to a light, almost white color, and the butter is fluffy.