THOUGHTS OF NUTMEG TRAPPED IN A POUND CAKE…& FOODBUZZ
Deeba @ PAB
“Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I’m taking with me when I go.”
Erma Bombeck
NUTMEG POUND CAKE…spicing it up
NUTMEG, the spice of choice for this months’ Think Spice has weighed heavily on my mind. Ever since I saw that Aparna @ My Diverse Kitchen, a fellow DB & an Indian blogger (like me) from Goa, was hosting the event this month, I decided I had to send something in.
Freshly grated…
Piney, terpeney and citrus-like aromatics combine with sweet and bitter tastes to provide Nutmeg with its distinctive flavor.Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), native to the Moluccas (the Spice Islands of Indonesia) is unique among spice plants, producing two distinct spices. The seed is dried, shelled and sold either whole or ground as the spice Nutmeg. The outer fleshy network is also dried and ground producing the spice know as Mace.Nutmeg is used in cakes, confections, eggs, cheese, meat dishes, sausages, sauces, vegetables, and in eggnog and several cocktails and punches.
Think Spice is the brainchild of Sunita @ Sunita’s World & was one of the first blog events I began contributing to. Of late, I have missed a couple of months, but am happy to be back here. Only point was, hmmmmmmmm…nutmeg?I’ve used nutmeg in a lot of curries but it never has an overpowering nutmeggy taste, if you know what I mean. Had already posted it in a rice pudding / Indian kheer, which it lent a beautiful flavour to. Turned to the ever reliable Internet & it did throw up some interesting choices…eggnog nutmeg cake, vanilla nutmeg cake, Armenian nutmeg cake( made it eons ago;nice nutty cake-recipe here). I had on hand a cup of sugar & 3/4 cup butter, which I had already creamed for cookies, & then had suffered a drastic change of mind! The Internet being the ever dependable resource, came to my rescue. Ooooh, what did we have here?A NUTMEG POUND CAKE from Ace Recipes. Absolutely brilliant because it matched my creamed proportions of butter & sugar perfectly!!
Thinking cap on…I was thinking ‘NUTMEG CAKE’
This was a fun cake to make, but I did have a minor disaster. The ever enthusiastic baker in me didn’t read ‘wellbuttered’,which occurred somewhere in the middle of the written recipe (not my fault is it???), & I just normally buttered the bundt pan as for a pound cake (not thoroughly). I should have slathered the butter on, making sure no area was left uncovered.
CRUMBS…that disappeared in next to no time!
I paid the price as the cake hung on to thepan in the 2 places I missed & cracked the beautiful cake. Otherwise…the cake had an outstanding flavour. Spicy in the sweet sense; pleasing in every which way, with a mocha heart within! Delicious & a light crumb too. I think this will bake well in a well line normal 9″ round cake tin, or a spring form too. Will bake it again to enjoy the beauty of the cake. Thanks to you, Aparna, I tried a new flavour…the nutmeg didn’t disappoint!! Was a hit with everyone, kids included!
NUTMEG POUND CAKE
This spicy pound cake has a mocha center that just naturally occurs when you pour the cocoa portion of the cake mixture over the light batter. For a more attractive presentation, use a fancy tube-type pan with an 8 to 10 cup capacity.
The recipe as adapted from Ace Recipes Ingredients: Dark cocoa – 3 tbsp Instant coffee powder – 1 tsp Baking soda – 1/8 tsp Hot water – 3 tbsp (or just enough to make a thick paste; add a tsp at a time) Butter – 3/4 cup ; at room temperature (or margarine) Castor sugar – 1 cup (granular should be fine too; I used powdered coz my batter was originally meant for sugar cookies) Eggs – 3 All-purpose flour – 2 cups Baking powder – 2 tsp Salt – 1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg – 1 1/2 tsp ( I grated about 3/4th of a fresh nutmeg; the aroma was divine) Cinnamon powder – 1 tsp Milk – 1/2 cup; at room temperature Method:
In small bowl mix cocoa, coffee powder, baking soda and hot water to make a thick paste. Set side.
In large mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until smooth.
Beat in eggs until fluffy.
TIP: Butter and eggs must be at room temperature or creamed mixture will not turn out light and fluffy. If mixture is cold and curdled in appearance, place bowl over warm water for a few minutes, then proceed beating until fluffy.
Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg cinnamon.
Add to creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until smooth.
Take 1/4 of the batter in a bowl & stir reserved cocoa mixture. Keep aside.
Pour 1/2 of the remaining white batter into a wellbuttered, tube-type pan of 8 to 10 cups capacity. Smooth it out.
Pour the cocoa-coffee batter over this; smooth it out (can even marble or swirl at this point if desired).
Cover this with remaining white batter, smooth out & bake at 180 degrees C for 45 to 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Leave in pan for 10-15 minutes turn out gently & leave on rack. The cake has a beautiful crumb, & is wonderful warm.
Extremely light & moist, the mocha heart gives the cake a whole new dimension!
Before I end this post, I have one more thing to add…BIG THANKS to Foodbuzz for the wonderful eco-tote & mini moo cards they mailed me. The cards came to me ages ago, & I received the bag a couple of days ago, with a personalised badge included. Take a look. Thank you…I am very touched & love the bag!
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