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How to Bake a Perfect Cake & The Very Best Ever Lemon Pound Cake

Very first time in life making a pound cake.

For some reason, baking this thing made me feel old and grandma-playing-Bunko-in-my-parlor-ish.  As gorgeous and sexy as thing is, something about pound cakes just screams grandmas. And Bunko.  Also, what even is that.  Never mind, focus on the cake…

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If you go straight to Zumba right after you make this thing, I promise you’ll cancel out any grandma points you earn by making it.

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Before you invest a bunch of time and effort into this thing though, let me give you some pointers.

I have been baking cakes for quite some time.  Originally, I hated it because it was so much easier to just by a mix, especially because my cakes kept coming out all stupid.  Eventually I perfected my process so that there was no stupid involved and, while buying a mix is still way easier making a from scratch one is way more deliciouser which is the most important factor in cake baking like a boss land.

5 Tips on How to Bake the Perfect Cake from Scratch

1. Get your oven ready right.  Yes, you have to preheat it.  It won’t cook evenly or rise correctly if you don’t.  Also, put the rack in the middle.  Not nearer the bottom, not closer to the top.  In. The. MIDDLE.  Even baking is super important.

2.  Don’t over beat. If you beat the crap outta the thing expect it to lay in your pan once you bake it like the dead body it is.  Light, fluffy cakes require a proper beating, not a slaughter.  Recipe’s advise you to fold in the flour for a reason.

3.  Let your ingredients come to room temp.  Apparently it all goes back to even baking.

4.  Properly grease your pans.  I have mad bad luck with using cooking spray.  Butter or shortening work better and lead to fewer screaming at my bundt pan episodes.

5.  Let it cool.  I know you want it in your belly, stat, but that just isn’t feasible if you want a decent cake.  Let it cool so you don’t destroy it when you take it out of the pan.  And so the icing doesn’t slip off onto the floor.  And so that you don’t sustain second degree burns to your esophagus.

Remember, I’m no expert so if your cake comes out crap after you even follow all of these instructions, don’t blame me!



Comments

  1. Nooo!! Red velvet is supposed to made with BEET JUICE! I’m sure yours was delicious – and certainly looks fantastic, but McCormick is trying to short-circuit the real deal.

  4. oh dear godddddddd

    i will be going to teh store and baking all things delicious now.

    my taste buds thank you but my butt…not so much as it is going to get a little wider ;)

  5. I made a red velvet cake once, years ago. I don’t recall it being all that great. I also recall having to throw the cheap aluminum pan away because it stuck so bad. I have come a long way in my proper use of an oven instruction following capabilities, so perhaps I’ll give it another shot (my girls pretty much only want lemon cake with lemon icing (neither of them likes chocolate anything. I KNOW! What kind of mutant, robot, non-girls am I raising over here?)).

    That banana bread looks wonderful!

  7. How did you connect pound cake with dice-rolling grandmas?

    I might use your banana bread recipe. I don’t have a “go to”.

    There are people who will defend to the death that it’s a special recipe; not just chocolate cake with food coloring.

  11. That pound cake looks so good. I’m still recovering from the 5 hours of baking I did for Noah’s first birthday so will have to file it away to bake when I get some inspiration. I’ve had a chocolate chip scone recipe on my baking craving to do list for awhile so maybe I’ll do them both at the same time. My baking need seems to dissolve over the warm summer months..oh wait, it’s still spring right!? crazy weather today but I loved it. :)