Friday, January 24, 2014

Cake of the Month: Pound Cake

It's time for the Cake Slice Bakers Cake of the Month for January 2014!


I apologize that my cake is 4 days late! Somehow the 20th always sneaks up on me! This past weekend I was in Portland, Oregon for a friend's wedding and I did not manage to get this cake baked before I left. 

The bride, Erin, and me. 
Today, the entire city of Houston is freaking out because the winter temperatures dared to dip below 32 degrees. I kid you not, I am home from work today due to inclement weather. We know not how to drive on even the thinnest patches of ice. Which is fine by me, I needed a day off.

Because I baked my cake after the due date, I had the extra advantage of reading the other Cake Slice Bakers' experiences and then deciding what changes I wanted to make. Originally my plan was to add orange zest, orange juice, and an orange glaze to my pound cake. But then I realized that both of my zesters were at my parents' home and that I just happened to have a Lindt Intense Orange dark chocolate candy bar. I don't really love eating this candy by itself, but I thought it might be good (or at least interesting) in the cake.


So, I chopped it up...

I love chopping chocolate.
I also added some slivered almonds to the top of the cake....


I do think it is a pretty cake...


But I agreed with some of the other Cake Slice Bakers that this cake was pretty dry and tasteless. I substituted orange juice in place of the milk (per the recipe's suggestion to try adding fruit juice) and I couldn't taste it at all. The orange chocolate chunks were good, but the surrounding cake was pretty bland.


Initially, I forgot to add the orange glaze. So, after I had already eaten the first piece, I drizzled this glaze over the rest of the cake (it's just powdered sugar and orange juice)...


The orange glaze vastly improved the cake's flavor and moistness (I had to eat a second piece to be sure!)...


The verdict on this cake is, based on taste, I wouldn't make it again. However, it was a pretty cake and it won't go to waste. 

Hope everyone's staying warm (or cool, if it's hot where you are)!



8 comments:

Paloma said...

Your cake looks perfect! What a great idea! Orange dark chocolate! YUM!

OvenDelights said...

It's good to know that this cake lacks when substituting the milk...I was tempted to make this with orange juice but after reading several posts I've changed my mind!
Your cake did bake up lovely though!

Laura@baking in pyjamas said...

Nice idea with the orange chocolate. Everything tastes better when there's a glaze on top lol.

Avril said...

Chocolate and orange flavored pound cake is brilliant! :-)

Hazel said...

I'm in the same boat as you... not a great cake and definitely needed more of one thing and less of another! Hazel x

ImWhisper said...

Glaze helps about anything eh?! LOL!
Sorry you weren't happy with the cake but it sure looked great!

:)
Holly

DomesticGoddessWannabe said...

So sorry you didn't like the cake. It really did look gorgeous and the pairing of orange and chocolate should have been super yums!

Unknown said...

Melanie, it's sad to hear that you didn't like the cake like some of us. However, I definitely agree with you that your cake looks pretty :) Hopefully, our next bake together will be a better one :):)