SOUR CREAM-RUM-PECAN POUND CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Pound cake is quintessentially Southern.  It is a versatile cake that lends itself to many interpretations and uses.  When made properly, pound cake is light and airy and a delight to eat.  I’ve made this Southern Living recipe twice:  once with white sugar and once with a combo of white and brown sugar.  Both versions were good, but the one with brown sugar had a caramel undertone that I particularly liked.  SL’s recipe is a plain pound cake.  The pecans and rum flavoring are mine. 

Orange-Glazed Pecan Sour Cream Pound Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Elvis Presley’s Favorite Pound Cake are two pound cakes that I rate slightly higher.

Sour Cream-Rum-Pecan Pound Cake with Chocolate Ganache Adapted from Southern Living Magazine Rating:  9 out of 10 Click for PRINTABLE PAGE

INGREDIENTS:  1 cup broken pecans 8 oz. sour cream, regular or light 1/2 tsp. baking soda 2-1/2 cups sugar 1 cup (8 oz.) unsalted butter, soft 6 large eggs, room temperature 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp. Morton kosher salt or table salt 1 tsp. vanilla (I used my homemade vanilla extract.) 1 Tbsp. rum + 1/4 cup rum for brushing on cake Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan.  Sprinkle pecans evenly over bottom.  Stir baking soda into sour cream; set aside.  In bowl of stand mixer, beat sugar and butter at low speed 6 minutes.  Beat at medium speed till light and fluffy, about 4 additional minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, on low speed.  Sift together flour and salt; add alternately with sour cream, on low speed, beginning and ending with flour.  Stir in vanilla and 1 Tbsp. rum.  Spoon batter carefully over pecans.    Run a knife through the batter to dissolve air bubbles, and rap bottom of pan on counter twice.  Place pan in cold oven.  Bake at 325F for 1 hour, 30 minutes, or till a wooden pick inserted in center returns with just a few crumbs.  Cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn cake out onto wire rack to finish cooling.    Brush warm cake, top and sides, with remaining 1/4 cup rum.    Drizzle or cover with chocolate ganache.  The ganache below is made with a Chocolove Orange Peel in Dark Chocolate bar.  The chunks in the ganache are bits of orange peel. To make ganache, heat 1/4 cup heavy cream over medium heat till steaming.  Off heat and add 1 cup chopped  bittersweet chocolate.  Stir till smooth and use immediately.

ORANGE-GLAZED PECAN SOUR CREAM POUND CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Chocolate and orange are two of my favorite flavor combos.  In this pound cake, they are superb.  First, I added orange zest and orange extract to a pecan sour cream pound cake recipe I found on allrecipes.com.  Then I brushed a syrupy orange glaze over the baked cake.  Finally, I covered the top and sides with a luscious chocolate ganache.  Served with vanilla or chocolate ice cream, this is a dessert made in heaven.
This pound cake is super moist and delicious all by itself, so feel free to leave out the chocolate ganache.  You can even leave out the orange glaze and it will still be good.  But for an extra-special dessert, make everything and savor each morsel.  It’s a big cake, and if you can’t use it all at once, you can freeze it in sections.  Pound cake improves the next day, and the next several days, but I tend to freeze everything right away and pull out of the freezer what I need at the time. 

Orange-Glazed Pecan Sour Cream Pound Cake with Chocolate Ganache Adapted from allrecipes.com Rating:  9.5 out of 10 Click for PRINTABLE PAGE

INGREDIENTS:  Pound Cake:  1 cup chopped or broken pecans 3 cups low-protein flour (I used White Lily All-Purpose) 1/2 tsp. sea salt 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 1 Tbsp. finely grated orange zest 2-1/3 cups white sugar 6 large eggs, room temperature 1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1-1/2 tsp. orange extract 1 cup sour cream, room temperature Grease and flour a 10” bundt or tube pan.  Sprinkle pecans on bottom of pan; set aside.  Sift together flour, salt and baking soda into a medium bowl; whisk to combine; set aside. In mixing bowl of stand mixer, use paddle attachment on medium speed to cream butter, zest and sugar till light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in flavorings.  Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream.  Pour the thick and cream batter over pecans in prepared pan.  Place pan in cold oven.  Turn oven on at 300F.  Bake 75 to 90 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake returns clean.  Let cake cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.  Brush orange glaze (recipe below) over warm cake and let cool thoroughly.  Frost sides and top thinly with chocolate ganache (recipe below).  Decorate top with whole pecans. NOTES:  When you check the cake for doneness, run your finger over the toothpick.  It may look clean, but if the pick feels gummy, bake it longer.  (My cake took 85 minutes for perfect doneness and super moist cake.)  If you purchase White Lily flour, be sure it is all-purpose, not self-rising.  Orange Glaze:  2 Tbsp. butter 3 Tbsp. sugar 1 tsp. orange zest 3 Tbsp. orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec or Cointreau 1 tsp. orange extract In small saucepan, combine butter, sugar, zest and liqueur.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Cook till syrupy, stirring as necessary.  Remove from heat and stir in extract. Chocolate Ganache and Garnish:  1/4 cup heavy cream 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips about 9 whole pecans In small saucepan, heat cream over medium heat till very hot.  Stir in chips till smooth.

ELVIS PRESLEY'S FAVORITE POUNDCAKE, ADAPTED

Poundcakes are delicious, but they are oh, so fattening with all that butter, sugar and flour, and this poundcake has heavy cream to boot. But once you taste this light, airy, buttery cake you won't care. I found the recipe on epicurious.com, but it's originally from Gourmet Magazine, September 2005. I felt it needed more flavoring, though, so I added lemon and orange zests and lemon and orange extracts in addition to the vanilla the recipe called for. IMHO, the flavor is perfect with those additions.
Instead of making the full recipe, I made a half recipe and used a 4" x 8" loaf pan and 6 standard muffin cups. My hubby opted for thick slices of the loaf cake, and I chose the smaller cupcakes. Split in half, the cupcakes toasted beautifully and were the perfect vehicle for some seasonal macerated fruit and gently whipped honeyed cream. This was a dessert made in heaven.

There are several reasons why this poundcake is so special. First off, it uses cake flour that's been sifted 3 times. Secondly, the heavy cream. And thirdly, after everything is mixed, you beat the cake for an additional 5 minutes, which will visibly expand and lighten the batter as you watch. And you can taste it in the finished product which is smooth, creamy, light and delicious. The cake is started in a cold oven, which feels a little weird, but it works. This is a top-notch recipe, but one that demands your total attention and strict adherence to directions. Good luck if you try it, and do let me know how it turns out.

Elvis Presley's Favorite Pound Cake
Adapted Half Recipe from epicurious.com and Gourmet Magazine
Rating: 10 out of 10

INGREDIENTS:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cup cake flour, sifted before measuring (I used White Lily all-purpose which is a low-protein flour similar to cake flour)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. orange zest
1/4 tsp. lemon extract
1/4 tsp. orange extract
1/2 cup heavy cream

Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven. Grease and flour 4" x 8" loaf pan and 6 standard muffin wells. Sift together the already sifted flour and salt into a bowl. Repeat sifting into another bowl (flour will have been sifted 3 times total).

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or 6-8 minutes with a handheld mixer. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in flavorings. Reduce speed to low and add half flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each additiion. Scrape down side of bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes. Batter will become creamier and satiny.

Spoon batter into pans; rap against hard surface to remove air bubbles.

Place pans in cold oven; close door; heat to 350F. Bake till golden -- test with toothpick -- when it returns clean, remove from oven to cool in pan 15 minutes, then run a knife around edges and turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling. Cupcakes will take 20-25 minutes (mine took 22 minutes); loaf pan will take 30-35 minutes (mine took 32 minutes). These freeze well. Delicious toasted. Top with fresh macerated fruit and honey whipped cream or ice cream, chocolate syrup, toasted walnuts and whipped cream.