Best Pound Cake Recipe, with Gingered Brown Butter Peaches
The Best Pound Cake Recipe I’ve ever tried! This all-butter loaf is moist as can be, full of rich flavor, and crowned with crackly, crumbly crust. You’ll love it topped with juicy Gingered Brown Butter Peaches!
Ok- confession time: I’m coming off a real bad case of blogger burnout.
Maybe you’ve noticed I haven’t been real present on Instagram. The ol’ Facebook page hasn’t been getting a lot of love either. Luckily summertime is all about easy no-bake recipes, or else I may not have even been posting anything at all.
The culprit was blogger burnout. It happens! I think my blogger peeps can back me up when I say that sometimes it’s just a part of the job. You go and go and go and go, and then suddenly, you just want to crawl into a hole and hide.
So that’s just what I did, more or less. It’s been nice, getting around to some house projects that have been “on the list” for far too long. I’m all caught up on laundry too! And I even took some time to just lay on my sofa and watch tv. Haven’t done that in I don’t know how long.
One of the other things that really helped me to get over the burnout was what my friend Jocelyn calls “soul baking.” Baking just for the love of baking. No trying to come up with a totally unique recipe based on keywords and SEO tricks, no photo shoots, no blathering on about it for 500+ words and NO POSTING IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Just cracking open a beloved cookbook and simply following the steps. Then serving it to your family while it’s fresh and warm, and relishing every morsel.
One warm sunny day, I wanted pound cake. Good, old-fashioned, all-butter pound cake like my grandma made. With fresh summer fruit and whipped cream. Bliss!
I turned to one of my favorite resources, The New Best Recipe cookbook. This is a great cookbook for basic, tried and true recipes. I made the pound cake, and it was everything I had wished for and more. I decided right then and there that when I was fully recovered from my burnout bout, I would be sharing the recipe.
So I made it again over the weekend. But this time it didn’t turn out quite the same. It was a little flat, and I had loved that towering loaf with the craggly-crunchy cake top. What did I do wrong? Did I miss a step? Did I not quite follow the directions exactly the first time? Did I f4rt around too long trying to nail this sweet in-process action shot?
I do not know, but I decided to make it once again, this time falling back on some of my own hard-earned baking knowledge. So this recipe is slightly different than the one from the book, but I think you will love the results. The crumb is fine as can be and almost creamy, and because there are no chemical leaveners of any kind, the flavor is pure butter and eggs. I’ve spiked it with my favorite vanilla bean paste, and we’re serving it sliced and topped with juicy brown butter gingered peaches.
I’m telling you- it’ll cure what ails ya!
I thank my best kitchen tools for giving me awesome results when I bake. Here are some of the essentials I used to create this recipe:
…and I can’t say enough great things about my new oven. This thing is not just a pretty face- it’s truly a workhorse in the kitchen!
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Best Pound Cake Recipe, with Gingered Brown Butter Peaches
Ingredients
For the Pound Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks), softened but still slightly cool
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, (at room temperature)
- 3 large egg yolks, (at room temperature)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste, (extract may be substituted)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
For the Gingered Brown Butter Peaches
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar,, lightly packed
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, (or vanilla extract)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 peaches,, pitted & peeled (fresh or frozen)
Instructions
To Make the Pound Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and mist a 9x5-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray. Lay a sheet of parchment in the bottom and up the sides of the pan, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium-high speed until shiny (about 15 seconds).
- With the mixer still running, slowly add the sugar in a steady stream.
- After about 30 seconds, when all the sugar has been added, beat the mixture on medium-high for 5 full minutes, until very fluffy and pale white.
- Place the eggs and yolks in a small bowl and beat with a fork.
- While the mixer is running, pour the eggs down the side of the bowl in a thin stream.
- Add the vanilla and salt.
- Turn off the mixer and place a sieve over the bowl.
- Sift in 1/2 cup cake flour, then fold carefully until just combined. Repeat twice, until all the flour has been incorporated.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf pan, and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pan.
- Slice and serve with Gingered Brown Butter Peaches and whipped cream.
To Make the Gingered Brown Butter Peaches:
- Place the butter in a small pot over low heat, and allow it to melt and then foam and sizzle. When the melted butter is no longer sizzling, watch it carefully as it begins to brown. Remove from the heat when it becomes a nutty brown color.
- Whisk in the brown sugar, fresh ginger, vanilla, and cinnamon, and fold in the peaches.
Major burnout happening over this way too. It’s the summer. It’s hard to stay confined to the house when it’s gorgeous outside and all you really want to do is lounge by the pool with a boozy beverage in hand. This post reminded me that I need to crack open a cookbook more often instead of using infinite amounts of brain power all the time. Love this cake and those glistening peaches.
Gosh you totally said it Jennie. That is really it in a nutshell, isn’t it. It’s all the brain power! Cracking open a cookbook can be such a huge relief sometimes. Let’s cheers to that. Poolside! Thanks so much and hang in there chica!
Oooh, I’ve totally experienced that too, Allie! In fact, I sort of have recently. I’ve been so busy with ‘life’ that I’ve had to cut down my posts from 2 a week to only 1. It doesn’t feel good, but at the same time through the experience I’ve ‘allowed’ myself to ‘just relax’ occasionally, as you describe, without feeling like I should be doing something. I think that’s essential sometimes to keep your sanity.
The pound cake sounds and looks fantastic. I love finding really good recipes for really simple things. This certainly fits that bill … and pinning!
I love finding really good recipes for simple things too. And I can’t wait to relax again soon. You’re so right, it’s totally essential sometimes! I’m glad to hear that you are slowing down and enjoying life. Summer is just too short not too! Thanks for the pin Helen!
Allie, that cake looks amazing, and the topping – what?!?! I could probably eat it with a spoon all by itself 🙂 July has been a tough blogging month for me. Total burn out, and I just needed some time with my family. Now I’m feeling rested and ready to jump back in!
It seems to be an epidemic! It must be a summer thing. Nobody wants to be in the kitchen or in front of the computer when they could be out enjoying the sunshine. Glad you’re feeling better now though!
Dang another over the top fabulous recipe. Delicious with fresh peaches being around NOW. I love the color
that the dish turned out. Made me immediately think of serving dishes, place mats and what kind of flowers
to have on the table.
Oh I love that! I love when I see a recipe and it just makes me want to throw a party, haha! So glad you like this Carol and thanks so much for the comment!
Pound cake is the ultimate comfort food! You could also substitute nectarines for peaches in this recipe since the two fruits are so similar. If I’m not in the mood for fruit, I often stir chocolate chips into my pound cake and top it with melted chocolate after it comes out of the oven.
Ooh gosh that sounds sinful! Great tip Gwen and I couldn’t agree more- pound cake is the ultimate comfort food. Thanks so much!
This pound cake with peach is fabulous! Soul baking sounds good! Blogger burnout-YES! But this cake is sensational! 🙂
Thanks Anu! Soul baking cures all, I do believe. So happy you like the cake and thanks so much for stopping by!
Baking for the sake of baking. You just reminded me how desperately I need to do that! I’ve been going through a bit of a burnout period too and haven’t cooked in over a week. I’m glad you got the break you needed! This recipe looks absolutely delish too 🙂
Aw, I hope you can take a break too and find your passion again! Sometimes you just need to step away and if you’re much like me, thinking about your blog every waking second, then I’m sure that’s warranted. Hope you feel better soon Megan and thank you so much for the sweet comment!
I totally feel ya on the blogger burnout. Besides that, I’m loving those gingered brown butter peaches!
Thank you so much Maryanne! It was so sweet of you to drop by! xo
The pound cake looks super delicious!! love the gingered peaches.. Yumm!!
Thank you so much sweetie! I could have eaten those peaches just by themselves 😉