Baking Experiment- Pound Cake with Craisins and Almonds

Schools have closed for the summer and I feel that after a marathon I am finally due for a bit of rest. Relaxed no rush days will be the norm for the next couple of months.

I have read baking is an exact science unlike cooking where straying from the list of ingredients and measurements is usually not disastrous. Whereas with baking usually sticking to the measurements and steps is a good thing. Alas, I feel alive only if I tweak and change a bit of this and that. They have worked most of the time but in the last one I did one too many substitutions and the result though not a complete disaster was not a grand success either. The kids ate them with their usual enthusiasm and also give a bit of praise in the process. Thank God! for kids. On the other DH's face said it all. The cake turned out denser than usual and a tad sticky. With the craisins the cake looks beautiful though.

The recipe I have and which never fails calls for 2 cups of flour and 2 sticks of butter. I substituted with a cup of whole wheat flour (atta - used for making chapatis), cut out one stick of butter, added 16 oz of unsweetened flour. I should have stopped there, I added a 1/4 cup more whole wheat flour because the batter was slightly loose which probably was the undoing. I tried the same recipe before but with 2 sticks of butter and the Whole wheat flour and it was really good. I will present here only the recipe that worked and gave good results and I will stash the experiment for now till I actually have it working.

Pound Cake with craisins and almonds
1. 2 Cups Flour (1 cup whole wheat flour + 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour)
2. 2 Sticks butter (16 tbsp)
3. 4 Eggs
4. 1/4 cup milk (optional)
5. a pinch of salt
6. a pinch of baking powder
7. handful almonds run through the food processor once
8. handful of craisins
9. 3/4 cup sugar
10. 1/2 cup maple syrup
11. 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
- Preheat the oven to 375F
1. Prepare the cake pans by coating the sides with butter ( I used a loaf pan)
2. Beat the butter and sugar together with a egg beater
3. Whisk the eggs separately
4. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt to mix
5. Add the flour to the butter and sugar mixture slowly and whisk it in.
6. Add the eggs as the mixture starts to get dry.
7. Add the milk only if the mixture is too dry
8. Add the vanilla extract
9. fold in the crushed almonds and craisins.
10. Pour it into the pans and let bake for 40 minutes till the sides are brown and a knife inserted comes out clean.

Have a great summer everyone. Will talk to you all from near the equator when we meet next time.