Have you ever wanted to break away from a recipe and make it your own? Me, too. And while I don’t claim to be a great baker, I have baked enough to know that recipes are often very similar and changes can be made without messing up the recipe. Something as simple as changing the flavoring in a cake can make a huge difference.
Do you remember a couple months ago I posted a recipe for a Cream Cheese Pound Cake? It is absolutely the BEST pound cake recipe ever. If you haven’t tried it, please take my word and do. In fact, it was so good I decided to experiment and you won’t believe the variations I have used to make this same cake.
And the great thing is: You can do it, too!
To begin with I decided I wanted to add coconut to my Cream Cheese Pound Cake. I added 1 cup sweetened coconut plus some coconut flavoring. It was wonderful. (Sorry. no pic)
Next, I made the Cream Cheese Pound Cake and iced with chocolate icing. It was divine. I used HALF the recipe for my chocolate icing from my Chocolate Layer Cake. I don’t normally ice my pound cakes but this was nice.
I couldn’t resist making a cake chocolate ~ Cream Cheese Chocolate Pound Cake: The cream cheese lends a cheesecake like flavor to the chocolate….Served with vanilla bean ice-cream…Perfect.
I always loved making a Marbled Cake with my Mama when I was a little girl….so, why not? Marbled Pound Cake. You know, cause sometimes you want chocolate and sometimes you don’t….. ….Perfection.
Simply divide the batter into 2/3 and 1/3 and add cocoa to the 1/3 portion. Spoon into greased and floured pan and swirl. Bake as usual.
This was all working out so well that I decided to combine the two…. chocolate, coconut and the cream cheese pound cake…. “Almond Joy Pound Cake”….was born. I added coconut flavoring to the batter and to the chocolate icing, topped with almonds and sprinkled with coconut. wow….
I would say the Almond Joy is my favorite…but I really like a plain cream cheese pound cake with coffee, too….
The cream cheese becomes richer and more flavorful each day. This cake rises beautifully and stays moist until the very last slice.
Here is the scoop: Want to create your favorite Pound Cake Recipe?
Start with my Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe:
Chocolate Pound Cake: Remove 1/3 cup flour and add 1/3 cup cocoa powder use vanilla flavoring
Coconut Cream Cheese Pound Cake: Add 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut and 2 tsp coconut flavoring in place of vanilla extract. For variation top with a Vanilla or Lemon Glaze
Almond Joy Pound Cake: Make Coconut Pound Cake above and ice with 1/2 recipe of chocolate icing that is flavored with 1 tsp coconut flavoring. (Keep in mind that this icing will not take as long to cook since it’s only halftone recipe…. maybe 4 minutes.) Top with sliced toasted almonds and sweetened coconut.
Marbled Pound Cake: Remove 2/3 of batter to a separate bowl. To the remaining 1/3 batter add 2-3 TBLS cocoa powder and mix until combine. Spoon half the plain batter into well greased and floured pan. Spoon chocolate batter on top and remaining plain batter onto of that. Swirl with a kitchen knife in an “S” pattern. Bake as usual.
Or what about a Lemon Glazed Pound Cake? Add Lemon Zest to batter and Lemon flavoring. Top with a Lemon Glaze found on my whipping cream pound cake recipe.
The sky is the limit. Don’t be afraid…experiment. Just stick to the original recipe and switch it up a bit. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Happy Cooking!