Making changes to cake recipes is tricky. You never know how the result will actually turn out. Will it be too dry? Will the oven time need changes? How much beating is enough? The pound cake recipe my sister sent me all those years ago called for baking in a bundt or tubular pan. Since the cake starts in a cold oven, slowly heating it to a very low temperature over a long baking time, using an angel food cake pan or other pan that separates at the bottom is disastrous. I say this from experience. The oven was a mess.
Difficulties with this Recipe
The only problem with the cake is that it has always stuck to the pan. It comes out in pieces. It’s still delicious. It can be used cut into a trifle. It can be used as a cake with fruit on top. It’s just not very pretty. An angel food tray would have been ideal as it is easy to run a knife around the edges to separate, lift up the tube part, then run the knife around the base. But you can’t bake in that kind of pan. I thought using a couple of loaf pans would work. The recipe is large and you could easily make 2 smaller loaf pans. A loaf pan has straight sides, making it easy to line with parchment, thus eliminating the problem of sticking to the pan. This is not possible in a bundt or other solid tube pan, as they are usually patterned. But, I was wondering, how about a silicone pan?
Changes and Substitutions
Today I decided to take the plunge and try the silicone mold. I also decided to change the recipe a bit. The old recipe tastes wonderful, so flavor was never the issue. I recently wrote an article about using coconut milk instead of regular milk or cream for recipes, and decided to give this a try. The original recipe called for lemon flavor. I substituted a very small amount of straight lime oil. These flavors give it a slightly tropical taste. Tropical sounded great to me, on a day that started with minus 12 degrees.
The original recipe calls for placing the pan in a cold oven and setting the oven temperature to 325 degrees. The time for the cake was 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Maybe because I added things to the recipe, with a little more liquid, a little more flour, and an extra egg, it took a full 2 hours to fully bake. Doing this again, I think I would start the cake in a preheated 325 degree oven and see how that affects the result. For now, even though I used the silicone mold, the cake still adhered. The taste is fantastic. Next time, the loaf pans will be the star of the day. Here is my recipe.
Tropical cake
3 sticks of unsalted butter
1/4 cup of oil
5 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
¼ teaspoon Boyajian Pure Lime Oil, or substitute the grated rind of one lime
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup coconut milk
Beat the first 3 ingredients together. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the seasonings. Whisk in the flour in 3 separate additions, interspersed with the coconut milk.
If you are using a silicone pan, spray the pan with cooking spray. Pour in the batter and place the pan on a small baking sheet in a cold oven. Bake for about 2 hours, or until a long toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan before removing.
If using 2 loaf pans, spray each with cooking spray, then cut two pieces of parchment for each pan. One piece should fit the length of the pan, also extending down the sides. The second piece should fit the width of the font, as well as extend out to the sides. Spray a second time, to ensure easy removal later. Place the loaf pans in a cold oven, set the oven to 300 degrees, and bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Thanks for taking the time to read my article. I hope it was informative and helped you on your own culinary journey.