Monday, April 6, 2015

Avocado Pound Cake

Avocado Pound Cake by freshfromthe.com

Have you ever gone to the grocery store, all ready to buy certain things with specific meal ideas in mind, only to find they are literally out of every single thing you wanted? Welcome to my weekend! I mean, sheesh. Was it because of the whole Easter holiday business or what? Nonetheless, I was foiled. I wanted to make some homemade ice cream to share with you this week, but no.

Instead, I searched for what I had already sitting around in my kitchen, waiting to be used, and discovered I had some very ripe avocado on my hands, and I've always wanted to try baking with avocados. Of course, I could have also made avocado ice cream, but... but... sigh. Ice cream was not meant to be. Nor was a broiler chicken with potatoes, but I digress.

Avocado Pound Cake by freshfromthe.com

Let me tell you about this Avocado Pound Cake. The original recipe calls for cornmeal, which of course I don't just keep lying around, so instead I put in a bit more flour to make up the difference. In the end, the middle of the cake drooped a little, but it still cooked all the way through. I'm not sure what caused the middle to drop here - was it because of my baking soda? Too much mixing? The lack of cornmeal? Whatever the case, oh well. The cake still tastes delicious, and that's the most important part, right?

Avocado Pound Cake by freshfromthe.com

One thing I especially enjoy about this pound cake? The crust is super yummy. Normally I am not a crust person, but this crust kind of turns into this sugary crunch that may be my favorite part of the whole thing! Otherwise, the avocado adds a nice extra moistness to the cake, but not an overly avocado flavor. In fact, you may not even know it has avocado in it if someone didn't tell you first.


Avocado Pound Cake

Ingredients
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 ounces buttermilk
  • flesh of 1 ripe avocado (about 1/2 cup mashed)
Cooking Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray your loaf pan (or grease and flour it, if you prefer).
  2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside for now. Set out your eggs to come to room temperature at this time as well.
  3. In your stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it's nice and soft. Add in the sugar and beat until that's light and fluffy, about four minutes. Add in the avocado and beat for another minute to get it incorporated, making sure to scrape down the sides and get all that goodness in there.
  4. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. Then mix in your vanilla extract.
  5. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add in half of your flour mixture, then all of the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour mixture. Only beat that until just combined.
  6. Pour that into your loaf pan and place in the oven, turning it down to 325F. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine took longer than this, but I used an 8 inch loaf pan rather than a 9 inch, so that is why. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before you invert onto a cooling rack to let it cool all the way.
  7. Slice and enjoy! 
Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker
Avocado Pound Cake by freshfromthe.com

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