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Chocolate Pound Cake


ravum

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I've made the chocolate pound cake from Alice Medrich's book.The recipe can be found Here

The cake bakes up fine and a toothpick comes out clean but totally collapses on cooling.

What should I change?

After reading the article containing the recipe, and its ensuing thread, I guess I might suggest trying a cake with a better track record?

Low fat pound cake sounds like a misnomer to begin with, considering the original pound cake was so named due to it's ingredient list of 1 pound each flour, butter, sugar and eggs.

The fat and eggs provide a lot of the structure. In this particular recipe the 1/4 tsp each of baking soda and baking powder is a bit unusual. If a cake collapses in the middle after its done, the leavening is suspect. In a cake with little strutural integrity of its own, this would be even more noticable.

After insuring your baking powder if still active, I'd try doubling it.

SB (has suffered a lot of collapses)

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i think the fact that the butter and sugar did not cream but remained crumbly is important. Creaming the butter and sugar until fluffy provides air that the protien in the eggs can coat. since this step went awry, the cake relied on the egg and the little bit of leavening to hold its structure.

i have some time today and i'm going to make this recipe and see for myself if i have the same problem, because some recipes are just screwy or written unclearly and i want to see if this is the case. i noticed the recipe called for "plain" flour. i assume this means all purpose. Thats what i'll be using. did you use AP or cake flour?

Hopefully this evening i'll let ya know how it went.

...and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce it tastes alot more like prunes than rhubarb does. groucho

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  i noticed the recipe called for "plain" flour.  i assume this means all purpose.  Thats what i'll be using.  did you use AP or cake flour?

Hopefully this evening i'll let ya know how it went.

Thank you bakerboy.I did use all purpose flour and creamed the butter sugar mixture very well.

I did consider that I had underbaked it,but a toothpick did come out clean.

Shrcb,I'll try doubling the leaving too.Although it isnt technically a "pound cake" ,I've usually had success with Alice MEdrich's recipes and considered baking this as a lightened butter cake.

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Well, i made this recipe to the tee. batter looked nice, fluffy. baked it for 50 min. at 350. i didn't think it would take that long but after 40 min. it still looked like it could use some time so i gave it another 10 min. It still appeared a bit underdone but a toothpick came out whistle clean and the recipe has that caveat: "don't overbake", so i yanked it and let it sit for about 20 min. I noticed the center dropping slightly on cooling. I unmolded the cake and it looked OK. The bottom, which is now the top was sunken a bit. i let this cake rest for another 15-20 min. Then i cut it directly in half to see whats doin dead center. The whole center was molten(undercooked). i could have left that cake in another 30 min. easy. i don't know what the "don't overbake" thing was all about.

Now, i was surprised to see the whole center underdone but my wife had some friends over and they were VERY impressed that i baked a molten chocolate cake...and proceeded to devour it. So your results are similar to mine: cake underdone; toothpick coming clean;and everybody gobbling it up.

I basically like the recipe. i don't like the recipe for the pan it calls for...cause its really not a pound cake. If i had baked this in a half sheet pan or a 9 inch round, it would have been fine. i did get some pics of the cake and i'll upload them just as soon as i'm smart enough.

...and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce it tastes alot more like prunes than rhubarb does. groucho

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Heres a pic of the cake after it was cooled and cut. I'm afraid that if i had bake this until it was done at the recomended 350F, it would have been overdone. As it was, the cake was starting to get overdone around the edges at the 50 min. mark.

gallery_7750_788_231749.jpg

....and yeah, it was really good, for turning out so lousy :wink:

...and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce it tastes alot more like prunes than rhubarb does. groucho

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My guess is that it was underbaked. Like bakerboy, it tested done with a toothpick before it really was. I find a touch test more reliable (press the center of the cake lighly with your finger, if it bounces back, it's done).

I wouldn't add more leavening. If anything I'll bet that would make it fall even more. And Alice Medrich usually has quite well balanced recipes.

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yeah, i definately wouldn't add more leavening. Thats not going to accomplish anything. If i were to do over i would bake it in a different pan (sheet or round). If i had to bake it in a loaf pan i would preheat my oven to 350F and lower the temp to 325 and bake it at least 20 extra min.

My oven thermometer read 348 when i put the cake in. Its an older oven so i double checked it.

Actually, dishing this batter into a muffin tin and baking it at say 375F for 15 or 20 min. just might give you some nice little molten chocolate cakes.

...and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce it tastes alot more like prunes than rhubarb does. groucho

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Actually, dishing this batter into a muffin tin and baking it at say 375F for 15 or 20 min. just might give you some nice little molten chocolate cakes.

Thank You bakerboy.At least I know it wasnt just me but the recipe that was at fault...

The molten cakes sound like a good idea.Maybe thats what i'll do them next time.

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