If you live in L.A., there’s a good chance you’ve come in contact with Cecilia. Her desserts have graced the pastry cases at Lincoln and Little Flower in Pasadena and many a sweet event about town for the last decade. When Cecilia heard we had a 20-lb. block of Straus Family Creamery butter at the school, she got to work making the simplest, most sinful pound cake we’ve ever tasted. Note: why does European-style butter make baked goods like pound cake more tender? Their higher fat (Straus comes in at a hefty 85% compared to regular butter at 81%) and lower water content means there's less water to help gluten development and more fat to keep the gluten proteins from binding.
Ingredients
4Eggsat room temperature
1cupGranulated sugar200 g
1tspBaking powder
½tspKosher salt
8ozStraus buttermelted (224 g)
¼cupStraus whipping cream60 g
1-¼cupsAll purpose flour150 g
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Line one large Pullman loaf pan or two smaller, standard loaf pans with parchment paper.
Place the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the eggs on medium speed for a couple of minutes.
Stream in the sugar, baking powder and salt, beating until your mixture looks thick and ribbon-like.
Stream in the butter, followed by the cream.
Sift the flour over the bowl and mix on low speed until just combined.