Perfect Pound Cake

Anything with the word “perfect” in the title gets a raised eyebrow from me. Really? Perfect?

It also seems like an invitation for me to muck it up.

However, this pound cake (from Foolproof) is about as close to perfect as you’re going to get in pound cake form.  I used the cathedral pan from Nordic Ware that we received as a wedding gift.  I was a little bit worried about all of the ridges and bumps in the pan, but the combination of baking spray with flour (which Ina finally recommends as a part of the recipe), and turbinado sugar dusted on the sprayed pan made that bad boy slide right out.  And even though the cake has no leavening agents, other than salt (does that even count?) it baked beautifully. It just goes to show that I know little to nothing about cooking chemistry.  Does that mean that this cake is Passover-friendly, maybe? I have no idea.

I do know that the vanilla beans and orange zest brought just enough flavor to make this interesting, but not too interesting to serve with peaches or fresh berries.  It even got the resounding endorsement of my husband (celebrity blogger!!), who was heretofore pound-cake-neutral.

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