I was hoping some of you bakers out there will be able to help me with my problem. I baked my first pound cake from scratch for Thanksgiving, and while the flavor or the cake was on point, the cake is really dry. What did I do wrong, or what can I do in the futire to prevent this? I plan on baking another one for Christmas, but hopefully not this dry.
Thanks everyone for your responses. After reading through them, I realize I probably did over bake it. I was going to do a plain pound and a lemon pound for Christmas, but I may change one of them to a RUM cake.
Perhaps you baked too long? The proportions in pound cake are fairly standard. It would help if you added how you baked and recipe to the SWH.
Pour booze over it!
Seriously... poke it with a fork multiple times, pour some rum into it... then make a rum/pecan glaze to drizzle over the top & spoon around the sides.
Viola! Dish transformed...
This link has a recipe that includes a rum syrup to be poured over the cake.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/caribbean-rum-cake...
So pass around the forks, & dig in! T. =-)
You baked it too long or at too high of a temperature. Do you have a second thermometer in your oven so you can ensure that the thermostat is correct?
Also, you should do a practice cake or two before Christmas so that the next one isn't a holiday disappointment.
Don't over bake. And when it comes out, I like to drizzle with a light powdered sugar glaze.
Rum
Which makes it yummy.
If it happens again:
slice it then toast it and put a scoop of ice cream on it or cool ship and fresh fruit!
Dryness could be from "over" baking. You might try putting it in an air tight container with a slice of fresh bread in it. The bread will dry out and cake will take up moisture. Sometimes putting an apple cut up, will do the same.
Maybe the next time you want to make pound cake, look up other recipes and compare, perhaps another recipe will make a difference.
What recipe did you use?
Some are dryer than others.
If you Google 'moist pound cake recipes' you'll find a lot of different recipes to try.
This one sounds good to me (Cream Cheese Pound Cake) :
http://fromchapelhilltochickenville.blogspot.com/2012/04/...
If you used a standard pound cake recipe then you probably just baked it a bit too long. Pound cake recipes are generally pretty moist. Every pound cake recipe I have is basically the same - 3 sticks of butter or some combination of butter and shortening, 3 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, 5 eggs, 1 cup of liquid or liquid and leavening (my favorite recipe uses Sprite but many recipes use milk and baking powder) and some flavoring - extracts, fruit zest, etc.
Assuming your recipe wasn't very different, it was just baked a bit long.
I don't know if it works for pound cakes but when we make cookies, we store them in an air tight container and put a slice of bread or apple in the container to keep the cookies moist.
Worth a try!
