I have a habit of undercooking baked goods. OK, scratch that. I have a habit of undercooking everything. I’ve undercooked steak. I’ve undercooked ahi tuna. That takes a lot of skill and dexterity.
I guess I’ve just always been fairly convinced that there is nothing worse than something that is burned or overcooked. A gray steak has absolutely no appeal, no matter how succulent the filet cut was to begin with. The actual application of heat is everything, and I’d rather pull out a quickbread that’s a little doughy in the center than one with a crumb like styrofoam and a crust like cardboard.
But not this time. No, sir. I just tried the Pumpkin Pound Cake over from Desert Culinary. (Sidebar: I love this blog. I just discovered it a while back, and I feel like I’ve been missing out. I’ve already made two recipes from it–the other will be up here soon–and I can’t wait to make more!)
The cake came out perfectly. After about thirty minutes, the house smelled just like pumpkin, and I desperately wanted to peek, but I just sat at my computer reading my other food blogs and waiting. And waiting. Until the dreaded fifty minutes were up and I peeked. I checked with a toothpick. And then, something unheard of. Without cutting into the cake, I put it back in the oven.
I know. It’s a milestone for me. But when the cake came out ten minutes later, after a total baking time of one hour, I knew it was worth it. The Canadian and I have been snacking on this cake all week, and it is divine. Sweet, but not too sweet, spicy, moist and delicious. And not in the least undercooked.
I made a few changes:
1. As you can tell from the pictures, I skipped the buttermilk glaze. I wasn’t using real buttermilk in the cake anyway (I soured my own milk with lemon), so it didn’t seem worth it. The cake didn’t suffer.
2. I used light brown sugar, because the box was opened. It had started to clump a bit, but try as I might, I couldn’t get some of the smaller clumps to… un-clump. But it actually worked to my advantage: see those little pockets of dark brown sweetness? There were several floating throughout the cake, and they were a welcome surprise. I may have to do it again on purpose next time.
3. I didn’t dry the pumpkin on paper towels first. I’m lazy. It didn’t matter much.
4. I subbed the spices listed for a four spice powder sold here in France made up of cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper and cloves. It’s easy. I’m lazy.
5. I used all all-purpose flour.
Emilglia – Glad to see you made this cake! We thought it was an excellent way to use up the mashed pumpkin we had in the freezer.
I am exactly the opposite. I tend to burn baked goods. I’ve put a thermometer in my oven and watched the temp like a hawk, but I aways have to pull it out of the oven about 5 minutes before the lowest suggested time.
looks awesome! i’m the same way with underbaking but i’m getting better. i hate baking with apples and bananas bc then you really can’t tell when the bread/cookie/cake is ready bc it’s supposed to be mushy!