Brown Sugar Pound Cake

This is sad. I mean, just look at these cakes.  Not one of them came out of the pan smoothly.  The real sad part is this is one of the best tasting pound cakes I have ever made.  I LOVE this recipe! It's from one of my very all time favorite cake books:

 Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott.

I've had nothing but luck with that book. Southern Cakes makes their brown sugar poundcake recipe in a traditional bundt pan, but I prefer to make my pound cakes in little loaf pans.  I usually end up giving 75% of my cake away so mini loaves are just so easy to wrap up for gifts.  Plus they slice so nicely.  I've made many pound cakes before but this is my first brown sugar pound cake.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect as far as taste and texture.  Well, the flavor ended up being such an intense caramel flavor.  It's just an unbelievable difference that the brown sugar makes compared to granulated sugar.  The texture was very surprisingly soft & fluffy.  I thought it would be dense and heavy.  Not at all!  I'm so in awe of the flavor of this!  I originally planned on drizzling it with a caramel glaze after it cooled but since it turned out so shabby and just plain horrible looking, I didn't waste my time or ingredients.  All the cakes in these photos are the ones that came out of the pan. There were 2 other loaves that totally came apart when I tried to remove them from their pans.  My loaf pans are non stick, I sprayed with Pam AND I lined the bottom with a parchment strip which is what I always do with quick breads or cakes that I make in these pans.  I didn't let the cakes sit too long after removing from the oven because I noticed the sides were fairly caramelized near the edges of the pan and were becoming quite crispy and really sticking to the edges.  I had to run a very sharp knife along the edges and I thought that would result in a smooth removal.  Not so.  I've never had a cake stick so horribly.  It's just a shame because this cake is so damn good.  I hope someone else could try this recipe and have a better presentation.  Let me know.  Next time I bake this cake, I might skip the Pam spray and actually grease the pans with Crisco & flour.  Any other suggestions?  But please know, as shabby as these little loaves look, they are so delightfully delicious!  Just plain scrumptious!

Brown Sugar Pound Cake
From Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott


3 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup milk (whole)

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) butter, softened (unsalted, European)

One 1-pound box (about 2 ¾ cup) dark or light brown sugar

½ cup sugar

5 eggs (room temperature)


HEAT THE OVEN to 325 F. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube or bundt pan. (I used 7 mini loaf pans)




COMBINE the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to mix well. Stir the vanilla into the milk and set aside.

IN A LARGE BOWL, beat the butter with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy (about three minutes). Add the brown sugar in 3 batches, and then add all of the white sugar, beating well after each addition.

ADD THE EGGS, one by one, beating well after each addition. Add half the flour, and then half the milk, beating at low speed only until the flour or milk disappears into the batter. Add in the rest of the flour, and then the remaining milk, in the same way.

QUICKLY SCRAPE THE BATTER into the prepared pan and bake at 325 F for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until the cake is nicely browned at the edges, springs back when touched lightly at the center, and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

COOL THE CAKE in the pan on a wire rack or a folded kitchen towel for 20 to 30 minutes. Loosen the cake from the pan with a table knife, and turn it out onto the wire rack or a plate to cool completely, top side up.