Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe | CDKitchen.com (2024)

FAQs

Why is my lemon pound cake dry? ›

It's likely that not enough air was incorporated into the butter and sugar. Make sure you take the time to cream the butter and sugar prior to adding eggs and flour. Take your eggs, butter, sour cream out of the refrigerator and allow to get to room temperature.

Starting your pound cake in a cold oven also impacts the texture of the cake. A longer bake time and lower temperature allows the leavening more time to work before the cake sets, resulting in a taller, fluffier cake.

When a cake is wet in the middle it is because the edges have cooked faster than the centre. This happens because of the way the cake cooks naturally in the tin – the sides of the cake tin heat up first.

Incorporate too little air and your cake won't rise enough. Too much air and your cake will collapse because it simply can't hold onto all that air. Overbeating can add too much additional air and/or large air bubbles which the cake can't support, causing it to collapse in the oven.

Using an air-tight container is the best and easiest way to keep your cake from getting exposed to air. However, if you don't have one of those, you can wrap your cake in cling film, or if it's iced, place a large inverted bowl over it to trap the air.

Adding a tablespoon or two of sour cream to your cake batter can help make it more moist. Sour cream's creamy and light texture can help keep your cake from becoming dense and dry. Sour Cream Coffee Cake is a great example of how sour cream can enhance the flavor, texture and moisture of a cake.

Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Not 350°F. Generously grease a 10-12 cup Bundt pan with butter or nonstick spray. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Cake flour – This flour works considerably better for pound cake than using plain/all-purpose flour (see in post for comparison). It rises better, and has a more tender crumb. Measuring cake flour: If using cups, sift flour into a large bowl first, then scoop out a cup of flour.

Cool Before Flipping

When you remove your cake from the oven, don't flip it out of the pan right away! Instead, let the cake cool for ten minutes in the pan. Then, placing the wire rack over the base of the cake, invert the pan. Peek under the wire rack and see if the cake has dropped out.

There are several possible causes for what is called a sad streak in a pound cake. One is that there wasn't enough stirring in the early stages of preparing the batter. The other is that the cake needs to 'set' the crumb when you first remove it from the oven.

Why does my cream cheese pound cake fall? ›

The most common reason for this or any type of pound cake falling is that the cake was exposed to cold air before it was baked through. This happens if you open the oven door too often while the cake is baking or take it out of the oven before it is fully baked.

Be careful not to overbeat the butter-sugar mixture, especially on a hot day — you could rupture the air cells and cause the batter to be heavy.

Pound Cake: To keep: Good at room temperature for 3-4 days, refrigerate if not eating for 4-7 days, freeze if needed beyond these timeframes. To reheat: No need to reheat, best served at room temperature, if frozen, let stand on counter to warm up to room temperature for a few hours.

Too much flour or too little liquid such as milk or eggs, for example, will cause the batter to be thick and less 'flexible', and result in cracking on the surface as the cake bakes, as well as a heavy, dense texture.

When it's done baking, let the cake sit in the pan for 10 minutes: no more, no less. It's enough time for the cake to firm up some after baking so that it doesn't fall apart, but not so much time that the cake gets stuck to the pan. Ten minutes is the sweet spot.

It's a heavy cake (as pound cakes should be!) with a dense, velvety crumb, but there's nothing dry or crumbly about it. While this cake can hold it's own, it's even better when served with homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit.

If your cake is dry, there are a few things you can do to fix it. One option is to add a wet ingredient, like water, milk, or fruit juice. You can also try heating the cake in the oven for a few minutes. If your cake is really dry, you may need to add some oil or melted butter as well.

Soak your cake in milk

Soaking your cake in milk is one of the best ways to moisten a dry cake.