ISO: ISO all you ricotta pound cake fans, do you think I can bake it in my sunflower cake pan?

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heather_in_sf

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You know the pan, from Williams Sonoma? I'm going to a Kentucky Derby party Saturday and need an easy dessert to bring...

 
Hi Heather. Thought you might like a couple Kentucky Derby desserts.

These are from a Kentucky Derby Dinner that we did a few years ago. The Kentucky Bourbon Cake is from the Kentucky Derby Cookbook, published by the Kentucky Derby Museum. The Woodford Pudding is from a cookbook published by a junior league or similar organization. Sorry, I can't remember which cookbook.

 
Kentucky Bourbon Cake

Kentucky Bourbon Cake

1/2 lb. butter
1 lb. confectioners sugar
6 eggs, separated
4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbs. nutmeg
1 cup Kentucky Bourbon
1/2 cup molasses
8 oz. raisins, plumped in hot water and drained well
8 oz. dates, chopped
1 lb. pecans

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks and beat.
Sift flour, soda, baking powder and nutmeg; add dry ingredients alternately with Bourbon and molasses. Mix in raisins, dates and pecans.
Bake for 1 hour or more in a greased 10 inch tube pan or 2 to 3 loaf pans (depending on size). Do not overcook as it will lose the bourbon flavor; cool in pan. Glaze with eated white corn syrup while warm.

This cake gets better as it sits.

yield: 10 inch cake

Source: Kentucky Derby Cookbook

 
Judge H. H. Tye's Woodford Pudding

Judge H. H. Tye's Woodford Pudding

This was a favorite Kentucky dessert for many generations and there are many versions of it. Certainly it is closely related to an old English jam pudding. Some top it with a meringue, but since the Judge's recipe did not call for it, I give it here as itwas given to me.

1/2 c. softened butter or margarine
1 c. sugar
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 c. blackberry jam
1 c. milk
1 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon,
1/2 tsp. nutment
1/4 tsp. cloves
3 egg whites, well beaten

Cream the butter or margarine with the sugar. Add the egg yolks and blackberry jam. Sift flour with baking powder and spices. Add the milk and the butter mixture alternately to the flour mixture. Fold in the well beaten egg whites. Pour into a greased mold or pyrex dish and bake in a moderate oven (375 degrees) until pudding sets, 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. Serve hot with:

Pudding Sauce for Woodford Pudding

1/4 c. softened butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 well-beaten egg
1/4 c. brandy or whiskey, or more to taste

Cream the butter with the sugar. Add the egg. Put in a double boiler and stir until mixture thickens, but do not boil. Add the brandy or whiskey. Serve at once.

6 servings.

 
Ricotta pound cake tweaks

Hi Heather, I have now make this cake many times and have had the best results by making these changes:

use 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour - NOT CAKE flour
use 1 12/ tsp. of baking powder -NOT 2 1/2
beat butter and sugar for 5-6 minutes
bake at 325 (convection if you have it) for 65 minutes.

I got a lot of these tips from Traca's friend Cindy Mushet from "Art & Soul of Baking".

 
Oh thanks Julia, now one less thing to buy, always a good thing!

I didn't make it to the store for cake flour and ricotta but tomorrow! I'm looking forward to baking this off. One fun thing about this cake pan is all the detail in the pattern. To bring it out you reserve 1/4 cup of the batter and mix with melted chocolate, then use that as the dark sunflower center! I'll take a picture!

 
I have one in the oven as I write. I used AP flour subbing 2 T of cornstarch for

2 T of the flour. I always do this instead of cake flour. I also baked it in a bundt pan as I worried about a soupy center. Time is up and it's not done so will give it more time per Traca's note. We;ll see!

 
I'm curious as to the difference between using AP flour and cake flour

why the change and what made it better?

 
I've done it both ways and prefer the one with cake flour, the texture was softer.

When I bake it in loaf pan, I've always had to bake it for 15 additional minutes.

 
AP flour vs. cake flour in this recipe to avoid sinking in the middle

#14512: Marilyn, I sent Cindy Mushet from "Art & Soul of Baking" this thread...here's her response:
Posted by: Traca at 2:35 pm on Apr 22, 2009


Hi Traca, My first thought when something sinks in the middle is too much leavening (yeah, weird, the bubbles in the batter expand too much, bump into each other and pop). The measuring spoons should be level at the top. Just looking at the formula, it looks like there's more leavener in here than needs to be, but the rule of 1 teaspoon baking powder per 1 cup flour can be bent for certain textural results.

If that's not the issue, then my next guess would be the flour. You need enough gluten to hold the cake up - think of gluten as the frame of a house. Protein content in the flour is directly responsible for the amount of gluten that can develop with mixing. Cake flour has the least amount of protein and bread flour has the most. I think the addition of ricotta is causing the problem - brands of ricotta vary in their moisture content, and the batter may be too wet in some cases. You may need a little extra flour to absorb that liquid and provide structure. Maybe increase the cake flour to 1-3/4 cups and see if that helps. Or, use a flour with more protein, such as unbleached all purpose flour, which is able to absorb more liquid than cake flour, and provide more structure as well. I'd start with 1-1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour to substitute for the 1-1/2 cups cake flour.

By the way, with pound cakes, the butter needs to be about 65 F. to 68 F. for best results with creaming. That's cool to the touch and flexible - you could bend it into a sculpture and it would hold its shape. If the butter is warmer than that, your results won't be as good, since warm butter can't hold all the air bubbles that form during the creaming process, which results in a heavy, under-risen cake. For the best rise in these dense cakes, they need to be filled with air bubbles. The baking powder helps the bubbles enlarge in the heat of the oven, which in turn makes the cake rise. Keep the butter on the cool side, then beat with the sugar for a full 5 to 6 minutes, or until it looks nearly white. And make sure any other ingredients you add are at cool room temperature (not warm), so they don't "seize" the butter - adding something cold to the mixture makes it contract quickly, which also collapse air bubbles.

Hope something here helps! I'm going to try the cake - it sounds delicious!

Take care,Cindy

 
It's out of the oven and cooling, wow, does it ever smell good.

I can't imagine the depth of my patience knowing I can't have any until tomorrow!

So, I substituted 2T of flour with cornstarch and decreased the baking powder.

In my wonky oven in this wonderful non stick cast iron pan it baked for one hour. To get the chocolate middle I melted half of a dark Dagoba chocolate bar in the microwave for 50 seconds and added 1/4 cup of batter and spooned that into the center of the pan, then the rest of the batter...

Here it is cooling:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/3493336186_1a52d9304f.jpg

yummy huh!

I'll take a picture once it's cooled but it may be tomorrow!

Thanks Traca and everyone for your help!

 
I'm glad to hear you say that. I'm so pleased with the cake flour, I don't seem to get

around to trying it with the AP flour. But then again, I didn't have that sinking problem...

 
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