Classic Lemon Pound Cake

Shani
-
35
Classic Lemon Pound Cake

This post contains affiliate links. While I receive a small commission if you purchase from these links, they are products that I use and trust in my own kitchen.

BBs, I won’t bury the lede: this Classic Lemon Pound Cake is some kinda special. It’s my ever-so-sentimental tribute to my Mommy, Gloria. Because she was positively famous for her lemon pound cakes.

I spent a very long time debating (internally…and it was a fight, I tell you) whether to even release this recipe, since I had so many great childhood memories of watching my mother make her famous cakes, and because I didn’t want my version to tarnish my memories of that time. I also didn’t want to tarnish people’s “favorite” pound cake recipe, and have my name be mud at every Thanksgiving hereafter. So there was that. 😂

The “rough draft” of this cake was also the first recipe I ever developed, and I felt very protective of it.

But I decided, after two and a half years, that it was time to release the recipe. And the result was this:

this is an overhead photo of a lemon pound cake

About this Lemon Pound Cake

This Lemon Pound Cake is specifically for those who love love love lemon. It is not for the faint of lemon heart. If you’re sometime-y with lemon, then I assure you that this cake is not for you.

But those who love lemon? Who crave lemon? Whose one true pound cake love is lemon pound cake? I’ve got you. This cake has lemon at every level. In the cake. In the simple syrup. And in the glaze. And it’s not half-hearted lemon either. You will use every part of the lemon, from the zest to the juice (and the pulp if you’re really feeling frisky). You will achieve peak lemon-sugar-vanilla balance without opening your lemon extract.

This cake is that girl. When you open that cake box at your Christmas gathering this year, be prepared for a waft of lemon scent that arrests the entire room.

this is a side view photo of a lemon pound cake
this is an overhead photo of a lemon pound cake

Lemon Pound Cake Ingredients

Lemon Juice: The cake calls for 63 grams (1/4 c) of freshly squeezed lemon juice. The simple syrup calls for 2 tbsp. The glaze? Another 2 tbsp. The lemon juice and lemon zest combo means that you will never need to use lemon extract in this cake. Please don’t use the lemon juice in a bottle. Call those kids into the kitchen. They love using a juicer and their little arms don’t get tired. 😂

Lemon Zest: You’ll use the lemon zest to make lemon sugar for your cake. The technique of rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar releases the oils from the zest even better, which gives a big boost of lemon flavor. You’ll also use the zest in the lemon glaze atop your cake.

Granulated Sugar: It goes without saying that the tartness of that lemon needs something sweet to create the perfect lemony balance. However, did you know that granulated sugar is also responsible for caramelization? That beautiful crust on the outside of your pound cake? It is largely because of the sugar in your recipe!

All-Purpose Flour: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love the pleasantly plump texture of a good pound cake, and the lemon pound cake is the reason for that. In my experience (and with my cakes), that beautiful texture comes from all-purpose flour. That particular flour is absolutely perfect for this cake.

Baking Soda: Lemons are an extremely acidic ingredient. Because of that, baking soda was the proper leavening for this pound cake.

Kosher Salt: Salt is very important in any dessert; it balances the sugar and keeps the dessert from becoming cloyingly sweet. If using table salt for this recipe, cut the amount in half. In this dessert, the sugar/lemon/salt balance teeters on a sword’s edge, but it works!

Unsalted Butter: This particular cake has an amazing balance of sweet and tart, and it really needs salt to balance the whole thing. That being said, it’s important to really control the amount of salt in this recipe, so I’m recommending unsalted butter for this recipe. Also, butter helps this cake become lighter! Specifically, the process of creaming butter and sugar creates air pockets that assist with cake rise.

Cream Cheese: There’s a very luxurious quality to this cake that makes it different from typical lemon pound cake. It’s because of the cream cheese! That additional fat element helps give your taste that melt-in-your-mouth quality without sacrificing wonderful flavor.

Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor. This recipe calls for six eggs, which might seem like a lot. Trust me, it’s perfection.

Vanilla Bean or Vanilla Extract: You can use either; this is a matter of personal preference. If you want to “tame” the lemon flavor a bit more and give a touch more complexity to your cake, feel free to use 1/2 of a vanilla bean. If you’d prefer to have the lemon flavor come through more boldly, use the vanilla extract.

Whole Milk: Yes, whole milk. NOT buttermilk. You’ll add the lemon juice to the milk, which will cause it to curdle and give it a great buttermilk tang.

Beginners Start Here

If you’re new to baking, or if you want to learn how to do some of the more tricky baking techniques, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Classic Lemon Pound Cake.

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey. Happy Reading!

This is a photo of a slice of classic lemon pound cake

Important Tools Used in this Classic Lemon Pound Cake

So happy to announce that Begin with Butter has its own Amazon Storefront, where you can find all of the amazing equipment that I used in this special cake! Want even more specific links? Check out the links, below.

I do get paid a commission when you purchase, but these are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

If you have these tools already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

Enjoy the recipe BBs! Happy baking, and may all of your pound cakes have perfect caremelization!

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Classic Lemon Pound Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 10 reviews

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This classic lemon pound cake is that girl.  It’s the one that brings it all together: the perfect balance of bright lemon flavor, incredible pound cake texture, and blissful nostalgia!

  • Total Time: 5-7 hours
  • Yield: 18 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the Cake:

384 g (3 c) all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

173 g (.75 c) unsalted butter, room temp

58 g (.25 c) cream cheese, room temp

500 g (2.5 c) granulated sugar

1.5 tbsp lemon zest

6 eggs

1/2 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract)

250 g  (1 c) whole milk

63 g (.25 c) freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the Lemon Simple Syrup:

67 g (1/3 c) granulated sugar

84 g (1/3 c) water

1/8 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 

For the Lemon Glaze:

360 g (3 c) confectioner’s sugar

3–4 tbsp lemon juice

1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1/2 tbsp lemon zest (optional)

Instructions

To Make the Batter:

  1. Set your oven to a true 325°F.  An oven thermometer is extremely useful here, since most ovens will not reach 325°F when set to 325°F.  
  2. Zest and juice three medium lemons (or four small lemons).  Separate the zest from the juice in two small bowls.
  3. Combine 250 grams (1 c) of whole milk and 63 g (1/4 c) of lemon juice in a medium bowl.  Stir to combine.  Set aside and allow this mixture to “sour” for 5-10 minutes.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine the granulated sugar, 1.5 tbsp of the lemon zest, and vanilla beans (if using). Scrunch the lemon zest into the granulated sugar to release the citrus oils and combine the vanilla beans. This process takes about 3-5 minutes, so don’t rush it!  Once done, set aside. 
  5. Sift together the all-purpose flour, kosher salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
  6. Add the room-temperature butter and cream cheese to the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.  Mix with your hand or stand mixer until the fats are completely smooth and combined. Add the infused granulated sugar and cream until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  7. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each egg until completely incorporated into the mixture.  Scrape the sides and bowl as needed to ensure even mixing.
  8. If using vanilla extract, add the vanilla and mix thoroughly. (If using vanilla bean, you can skip this step.)
  9. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
  10. Add all of the milk mixture and mix until just combined.
  11. Add the second half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.  Using a rubber spatula, give the sides and bottom of the bowl a final scrape, and then fold the batter several times to ensure that the batter is evenly mixed.
  12. Prep a 10- or 12-cup bundt pan as you normally would (I use butter and flour to prep pans for this cake)
  13. Bake for 60-70 minutes in a true 325°F oven, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 212°F-215°F.  

To Make the Lemon Simple Syrup:

  1. Add sugar, salt, and water to a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Remove from the heat as soon as the sugar is completely dissolved.  The simple syrup should have a watery consistency.
  2. Add pure vanilla extract and lemon juice and stir to combine.
  3. Allow the cake to cool in its pan for ten minutes, then invert and place on top of a cooling rack.  Brush simple syrup on the cake and allow to cool completely.  If you are using a bundt pan that has very intricate detail, it’s best to allow both the simple syrup and cake to cool completely before brushing the simple syrup.

To Make the Lemon Glaze:

  1. Slow and steady wins the race with glaze!
  2. Add the confectioner’s sugar, fine sea salt, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 tbsp of lemon zest (if using), and vanilla extract to the bowl.  Mix with a small whisk until the confectioner’s sugar is moistened.  The mixture will not be glaze at this point.
  3. After the confectioner’s sugar is moistened, add lemon juice, 1/2 tsp at a time, mixing thoroughly (but gently!) before adding another 1/2 tsp, until the glaze is smooth. The final glaze should have the consistency of thick honey. 
  4. Use a spouted measuring cup, spoon, or squeeze bottle to add the glaze to the completely cooled cake.
  5. Enjoy!

Notes

  • Save yourself the headache and zest and juice your lemons before you do anything else.  😊 
  • To store, you can keep on the countertop for up to five days.
  • Author: Shani
  • Prep Time: 45 minutes
  • Cook Time: 60-70 minutes
  • Category: Dessert

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us @beginwithbutter on IG — we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

Shani
-
9
Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

This post contains affiliate links. While I receive a small commission if you purchase from these links, they are products that I use and trust in my own kitchen.

Hi there! It’s Fall, which means that Pumpkin Season is officially upon us! That also means that the time for this Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake HAS ARRIVED!

Pull up with your pumpkin spice tea and your coziest cardigan, Beloved. This one’s quite a read. It also includes a picture tutorial so that we can make it together!

In this Post:

About Pound Cakes

The quintessential American pound cake got its name from its ingredients. A pound of flour, a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs, and a pound of butter. In theory, you should be able to take (roughly) a pound of each of those ingredients, with some milk, maybe a splash of leavening, salt and other accouterments added, and come up with a delightfully dense, rich cake with a tight crumb.

For many Black Americans in the United States, the words “pound cake” evoke powerful memories. To this day, pound cakes appear at weekly Sunday dinners and also at special holiday dinners. Pound cake travels neatly with the beloved family who’s leaving to go home after a wonderful visit. Pound cake can be a vehicle for ice cream, but also does just fine by itself. Pound cake still represents home to those who have moved far away from family.

My first memory of pound cake included me watching my mother use her Cuisinart hand mixer to mix her famous 7-Up cake, while telling me stories about what it was like to grow up in Demopolis, Alabama. She told me stories about her first crush, about growing up as the youngest of seven(!) children, and about how my grandmother was love personified while she mixed that batter. We also had some challenging conversations when she told me–over pound cake–what it was like for her as a young Black girl to come of age in the Deep South during the 1950s and 1960s. And every single one of those stories meant everything to me. They mean even more to me now that she’s not here and I’m raising my own children.

When she was done telling stories, that 7-Up cake would be in the oven and and a beater would be in my hand. I understood my assignment. That was the magic of pound cake for me; it was a connection between me and the family that was very far away. Pound cake, to me, meant connection. That connection endures to this day.

There are innumerable stories about Black people boarding buses and trains from Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and the entire Southeastern United States, heading north and west to Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and New York during The Great Migration. Those migrants carried with them with bags of homemade rolls, fried chicken, and pound cake. It is a cake that endures even today, connecting generations of families in a special way that many foods cannot.

It is why, when I re-opened my custom bakery (The Gloria Bakery) in fall 2021, pound cakes were prominently and proudly featured on that menu.

About This Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

This pound cake in particular was really fun to develop. First of all, it involves pumpkin spice, which I’m told is pretty popular in the fall. Also, because pumpkin is full of water (it is about 94% water), it presented an interesting challenge for me to get the texture just right.

I love the tight crumb of a well-executed pound cake. It’s just so…satisfying. Plus, I can walk around the house with a slab of pound cake and not have it crumble all over my clothes. #NoJudgmentZone

To maintain that tight crumb with this pound cake, I ended up using pumpkin puree (not canned pumpkin pie filling) for the bulk of the liquid in this amazing cake. While you can replace canned pumpkin puree with the fresh stuff, it’s difficult to know the water content of a particular pumpkin, and whether that means you’d have to add more butter, or reduce the buttermilk.

The Technique for this Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

Mise en Place

The cake in this recipe has a lot of dry ingredients, which can make it seem like a much more complicated bake than it really is. But once those dry ingredients are tucked into their bowl and stirred together, the rest is easy peasy!

As usual, Beloveds, the secret is in the mise en place. Any recipe can look complicated before your ingredients are neatly prepared and ready to go.

For this recipe, my mise en place (before sifting my dry ingredients) looks something like this:

For you eagle-eyed readers out there, the final recipe calls for six eggs.

As you can see, my dry ingredients are together in their bowl, and all of my other ingredients are separated and measured as well. At this stage, I’m ready to mix!

In the Mix

Like many standard American pound cake recipes, this one uses the creaming method. The creaming method simply means that you mix room-temperature (70°F) butter and sugar together until the mixture has increased in volume, the the color is lighter, and the texture is much less grainy. You can click here to read more about it.

There’s video too! Click here to learn the stand mixer technique, or here to see how it’s done with a hand mixer.

Proper creaming is absolutely essential for this recipe to succeed. If you’re looking for help to figure out proper creaming technique, I hope that blog post and those videos help you achieve the pumpkin spice pound cake of your dreams!

Here’s what the creamed butter and sugar should look like:

Once the butter has reached this stage (~3-7 minutes on low/medium speed in a stand mixer, or ~5-12 minutes on medium speed with a hand mixer, as long as you’re using room temperature butter), you’re ready to add your eggs. For eggs, add them one at a time and mix each one on medium speed until thoroughly combined. For a recipe with six eggs, I usually scrape the bowl after the third and sixth eggs.

Once all of the eggs are incorporated, your batter should look dreamy and luscious.

Time for your two teaspoons of vanilla and another good mix until incorporated:

After the vanilla, give your bowl a good scraping with that silicone spatula. This is the last time during this mixing session that you’ll be able to mix mix mix to your heart’s content with a machine.

Because now it’s time for that flour mixture. First, add the first half of your flour and mix on lowest speed until just combined. You can even leave a few streaks of flour at this point:

Remember, Friend, that the introduction of flour means the start of gluten development. And too much gluten development will mean a tough cake!

Once you’ve gently mixed your first batch of flour, add all of your pumpkin at one time. Again, mix until just combined. With half of your flour already onboard, you’ll want to reduce the mixing time at this point.

From the “after” picture, above, you can see that the the pumpkin is mostly incorporated, but it’s not completely mixed into the batter. That’s okay! You can stop mixing at this point. Time for your second flour addition:

The mix on the right is where you should stop mixing with a machine. It’s at this point that my handy-dandy silicone spatula comes into play.

My silicone spatula takes my batter from this…
To this.

I use the silicone spatula to get a get a good final scraping in my mixing bowl. Going around the sides and bottom of the bowl, I collect all of the loose flour and then do 10-15 good turns around the bowl. The result is always a smooth batter that’s not over-mixed and is ready for the oven. This is a thicker batter, and that’s okay!

Into the Oven!

This next part is not a popular opinion.

But I’m going to tell you anyway.

I don’t prepare my cake pans before I start mixing my cake batter. I know this is not a normal recommendation, so feel free to disregard it.

If you’re still reading, hear me out!

In my experience, butter and flour left in a cake pan for too long can cause an unappetizing crust on the outside of my finished pound cake. And, since the outside of the cake is so prominently featured on a pound cake, who wants that?!

One day, purely by happenstance, I forgot to prep a pan before mixing my cake batter, so I just took four minutes after the batter was done and prepped the pan at that time. I’ve done it that way ever since, using the good old butter/flour combo to make sure that things don’t stick. Before I prep my pan, I also check my cheap-o oven thermometer to make sure that my oven is truly at 325°F. (For my top oven, this means setting it to 350°F.)

You have to work pretty quickly if you choose to prep your pan after your batter! That’s why it’s helpful to take out some extra butter for your pan at the same time that you take out the butter for your recipe.

With all bundt pans, you have to butter them to within an inch of their lives before moving on to the next step. Please, Family, do not fall for the “non-stick” cake pan claims. THEY ARE NOT TRUE. I’m also not a huge fan of cooking sprays, since I find they don’t help produce the caramelization that I like to see on the top of my bundt cakes.

This is what I mean by “butter them to within an inch of their lives”:

After you’ve reached this stage, add flour and maneuver the pan around until you’ve covered all of the buttered surfaces. It’s important to remove any remaining flour when you’re done with this step (I remove extra flour by banging the pan over a countertop or clean sink):

After this step, I gently pour my batter into my prepped pan and gently even out the top with my silicone spatula:

Then it’s onto a baking sheet and into my 325°F oven for 70-80 minutes. The cake is done when a cake tester comes out clean and the top springs back under your finger, OR when an instant-read thermometer reads somewhere between 210°F and 215°F.

At this point, you can place the cake on a cooling rack and place the cake and cooling rack on top of some parchment paper. Allow it to cool for about ten minutes.

After the ten-minute timer goes off, invert the cake on top of the cooling rack, gently put it down atop the parchment paper, and say a very quick prayer (if you pray).

Then, gently lift the pan and wait for release. While there will inevitably be a few tiny crumbs that are left on the pan, as you can see, the beautiful detail from the cake pan is clearly present in the finished cake.

The Game-Changer: Simple Syrup

::Friends, come close::

This next tip is the real difference between home bakers and pros.

Two words: simple syrup.

Simple syrup is equal parts water and sugar boiled together until they achieve a watery-syrup texture. There are innumerable variations on a “simple” simple syrup, but the most common one is the plain one. For bundt cakes, I find that 100 g (.4 c) of sugar and 100 g of water (.4 c) is the perfect amount.

I make the simple syrup by just adding those two ingredients together, bringing them to a boil, then reducing to a simmer just until all of the sugar is dissolved. I do not want simple syrup that has the consistency of corn syrup or maple syrup. I prefer that it be closer to a watery texture, so that it doesn’t grab crumbs from the warm cake when I’m brushing it onto my cake with a pastry brush.

For a great video tutorial on how I use simple syrup on my cakes, check out my YouTube video, entitled “Three Tips for Making Great Cakes”! Specifically, you can jump to 3:15 in the video for the simple syrup technique.

Or you can watch the whole thing because I kinda love it.

I brushed simple syrup on half of the cake and snapped a quick picture so that you can see the difference:

The Final Glaze

This, Friends, is the hardest part of the proceedings. This is the part where you wait.

Once that warm cake is brushed with warm simple syrup, it’s time to leave.

No, really. Go do something else. Because it’s going to be 3-5 hours before you can touch this cake again for the final glaze. It needs to be completely cooled before you do this last step.

To make the glaze, mix the confectioner’s sugar, fine sea salt, cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of whole milk, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and maple extract (not mandatory, but it gives you even more maple flavor) in a medium bowl.

Whisk the mixture gently until combined. Don’t worry about lumps! Just keep stirring gently. You might need to add up to one more tablespoon of whole milk, one 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Be patient!

You’re done when the mixture has the texture of thick honey.

This is a photo of glaze at the beginning
This is a photo of a final maple cinnamon glaze.

At this point, you can either use a spouted measuring cup or a plastic squeeze bottle to pour the glaze on your finished, cooled cake.

This is a photo of a spouted measuring cup.
This has been a go-to for glaze lately.

That’s it! You’re done! Time to enjoy this wonderful taste of fall that was inspired by the humble, amazing pound cake.

This is a photo of a pumpkin spice pound cake.

You’re ready! I hope you love this pumpkin spice pound cake as much as my family does. If you tried it and love it, tag me on Instagram @beginwithbutter so that I can see your masterpiece!

The Recipe

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Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 2 reviews

Print Recipe

A delightful fall treat that incorporates classic Southern bundt cake techniques with a delicious pumpkin spice blend!

  • Total Time: ~5-7 hours
  • Yield: 14 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the cake:

  • 384 g (3 c) all-purpose flour, plus two tablespoons for dusting bundt pan
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 227 g (1 c) butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing bundt pan
  • 500 g (2.5 c) sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 425 g pumpkin puree, fresh or canned (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 63 g (1/4 c) buttermilk

For the Simple Syrup:

  • 100 g (.5 c) granulated sugar
  • 100 g (.4 c) water

For the Maple Cinnamon Glaze:

  • 220 g (2 c) confectioner’s sugar
  • 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1–2 tbsp whole milk

Instructions

For the Cake Batter:

  1. Set your oven to 325°F.  It’s highly recommended to use an oven thermometer for baking, since ovens themselves are often inaccurate when it comes to temperature.
  2. Soft together the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
  3. Combine the buttermilk and pumpkin puree in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
  4. Place room temperature butter into a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) and mix by itself on medium speed until smooth.
  5. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add sugar to the smooth butter.
  6. Mix on medium speed for 3-10 minutes, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl every 1-2 minutes, until the butter/sugar mixture is light and fluffy.  For more on how to properly cream butter and sugar (one of the most important steps!), click here.
  7. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl after the third egg and the last egg.
  8. Add vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined.
  9. With the mixer on low speed, gently add half of the flour mixture.  Mix until almost combined, with a few streaks of flour remaining.
  10. With the mixer off, add all of the pumpkin puree/buttermilk mixture at one time.  Mix until just combined.
  11. Add the rest of the flour, again mixing until combined (or until you see no more streaks of butter in the mixture).  There may be just a few streaks of flour remaining.  (See photo above.)
  12. Remove the mixer from the bowl and finish mixing the recipe by hand by scraping the sides and bottom with a silicone spatula and doing a final mix (about 10-15 turns).  
  13. Prep your 10-cup bundt pan using the reserved, softened butter and flour.  
  14. Put batter into the prepare pan and bake at 325°F for 70-80 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out completely clean.  Alternatively, you can check with an instant-read thermometer.  The cake will be done when the internal temperature reaches 210°F to 215°F.
  15. After removing the cake from the oven, place on top of a cooling rack for ten minutes while you make the simple syrup.

For the Simple Syrup:

  1. Combine granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan.
  2. Heat on medium-high heat until mixture is boiling.  Reduce to medium-low heat and simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved.
  3. Remove from heat immediately once the sugar is completely dissolved.  Use a pastry brush to brush simple syrup on the whole cake.  Allow to cool completely (3-5 hours).

For the Final Glaze:

  1. Combine maple syrup, maple extract, confectioner’s sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  
  2. Stir gently with a small whisk until smooth.
  3. Using a squeeze bottle or spouted measuring cup, pour the glaze over the inside and outside of the cake.  Some of the glaze will spill over the sides.  
  4. Allow the glaze to set up for 15-20 minutes and enjoy!

Notes

  • This is a big, flavorful cake.  You’ll need at least a 10-cup bundt pan to make sure that it doesn’t overspill.  The combination of leavening and the air pockets from your creamed butter and sugar will make it overspill a smaller bundt pan.
  • This can be halved and made into a pumpkin loaf as well!  A 9″x5″ loaf pan is best for this one.
  • It’s especially important to measure the confectioner’s sugar for the final glaze on this cake.  Too much (>100 g) will cause the glaze will develop small holes after setting.  It will still taste delicious, but it’s a disappointing way to end all of your hard work.  
  • To store: This cake needs to be refrigerated once it’s complete.  It can last for up to seven days in the refrigerator.
  • Author: Shani
  • Prep Time: 40 minutes (active)
  • Inactive Time: 3-5 hours
  • Cook Time: 70-80 minutes
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice
  • Calories: 477
  • Sugar: 55.1 g
  • Sodium: 175.9 mg
  • Fat: 16.1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 78.5 g
  • Protein: 6.2 g
  • Cholesterol: 116 mg

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us @beginwithbutter on IG — we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

I hope you enjoy this little taste of fall from Begin with Butter! If you make it, don’t forget to tag @beginwithbutter on Instagram so I can cheer your success!

-S ??

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    Recipe Writing for Beginners

    Shani
    -
    0
    Recipe Writing for Beginners

    Welcome to Begin with Butter! This blog is your 360° blog for all things baking. We encourage you to come for the recipes, and stay a spell to take in all of the wonderfully fun content about baking techniques, ingredient science, and equipment recommendations! Today, I’m excited to share recipe writing for beginners with you. In this post, you’ll learn some of the most important tips that will help you write incredible recipes for future generations of bakers. You’ll be a part of an amazing club of food historians, and I can’t wait to welcome you.

    Baking is an incredibly rewarding and fun activity that spans generations: so many of us have fond memories of watching our mothers and grandmothers be the queens of their kitchen domains. Some of us even remember our mothers and grandmothers, in loving script, carefully writing recipes on a 4”x6” index card so that they could give those recipes to their friends and family members. 

    What a special gift it is to see, even today, those handwritten recipes still in the family’s rotation. Friends, when I see my mother’s recipes from the 80’s in my aunt and uncle’s kitchens, it just…transports me. 

    We still need those recipes today. And today, I’m going to give you seven tips for how to get started writing recipes that your family will cherish for many years to come.

    In this Post:

    Recipe Writing: The Primary Goals

    BB, when I sit down to write a recipe, I want to write for clarity. If my recipe reader cannot make heads or tails of a recipe because it’s convoluted, confusing, or incomplete, then I haven’t done my job as a recipe writer. So, writing a clear recipe that helps people feel confident about the recipe that they’re about to embark upon (and the ingredients they’re about to expend) is the most important part of my job.

    Do mistakes happen? YES! All the time! But the good news is that we can always correct those mistakes to make our recipes even better. If we begin with clarity in mind, though, it will help us as we write those recipes, whether we’re using a keyboard or a pen.

    There’s a second, sweeter goal that I keep in mind when I write recipes. You see, when you commit a recipe to paper (or a blog 😊), you are creating something that is part of recorded human history. And that is no small thing. ❤️

    Think about it. One of the primary foundations of your family, your culture, and your history is the food that you grew up with. And many of the foods that help you identify with your family, culture, and history are foods that have done the same wonderful thing for generations of your family members before you. But how have those recipes survived hundreds (or thousands) of years?

    They were passed from hand to loving hand until they reached yours. In more modern, recorded history, those recipes have often been written on index cards, in careful script, by the keepers of those recipes, the caretakers of those recipes, and they have been passed down to future generations. Those women (in my family, these are all women, but there are some men who have done this too) are mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and food historians. And, by joining the ranks of recipe sharers, you are joining a special group of people who are dedicated to maintaining food culture.

    Write What You Know

    This is age-old advice for writers, no matter the topic. Write what you know. It’s so apropos even in recipe writing, because the ultimate goal of recipe sharing is to share recipes that can be duplicated by hands other than yours. 

    There are a few ways to develop the deep expertise that you need to become a recipe expert. First, you can develop that expertise from years and years of watching and studying the people who did the recipe before you. For example, my mother had an OUTSTANDING recipe for collard greens. They were an integral part of my childhood. I watched her process: from the cleaning (oh, the cleaning!), to the creation of the pot liquor, to her special seasonings, to the jalapeno (at the end, Shani!). She taught me, in deep detail, how to make them, what to put in them, and the amount of each ingredient. She taught me how to test the texture and the spice level. She showed me every step that she took with that recipe. And she did that over, and over, and over again. From that “training”, I could easily and confidently write a collard greens recipe on a 4”x6” index card and share it.

    The next way to develop deep recipe knowledge is through real study of a topic. I’m not talking about bouncing around the internet, looking for resources; I mean dedicated, focused study of the thing that you’re trying to learn. My baking career falls solely into this second category. You see, I was unable to learn baking from my mother because her teaching style and my learning style just wouldn’t click. So, I dove into textbooks (The Professional Pastry Chef and Ratio are must-reads!) and made a focused, concerted effort to methodically learn the ins and outs of baking from a professional perspective. It took years of study and practice, but now I can confidently write a Lemon Pound Cake recipe that can successfully be duplicated in home kitchens across the world.

    Finally, you can do a hybrid of the two! When I wanted to write my Baba au Rhum Pound Cake recipe, I consulted a legitimate Italian baker and learned about the intangibles that make that dessert so special. Then, I studied the components of that dessert extensively and tested it more times than I can remember. When it was finally ready for the blog (as part of the Twelve Days of Pound Cake 2023 event), I knew that I had a cake that paid careful homage to the original recipe, while also being a respectful BwB version of that recipe. 

    I say all of this to say, if you don’t know something, it’s perfectly fine to learn it! Your lack of expertise and experience now doesn’t mean that you’ll be banned from writing a recipe once you learn what you need to know. So, go forth and learn! It’s truly one of the most fun parts of this job.

    Test Your Recipes First

    This one might not be intuitive! You see, sometimes, when we’ve made something a few dozen times in our lives, we could literally stand there and make it blindfolded. And while we might unconsciously reach for the right measuring spoons every single time to execute the recipe (this is literally me with my taco seasoning recipe), when asked to write down specific recipe amounts, we might go completely blank.

    Seriously. Don’t ask for my taco seasoning recipe because I don’t know. 😂

    If you’re going to start writing recipes for other people, I encourage you to put your recipes through an actual recipe testing process. Write down the recipe before you start. Make the recipe according to your own directions, following your own recipe amounts (don’t cheat!). Tweak the recipe as necessary (it’s common to find clunkily-written instructions that could be clarified!). When you tweak, though, you should only tweak one thing at a time. That way, if something goes wrong, you know exactly who to blame. (I’m looking at you, cumin!)

    For extra credit, make a successful attempt and then do it again to make sure it can be duplicated! This is the absolute best way to test your recipe to make sure it’s ready for prime time.

    It’s also the best way to make sure that the recipe that you give your friends and family members has clear instructions that they can successfully execute, as if they were in your kitchen making that recipe with you. 

    So, is it a teaspoon or three tablespoons of dry mustard? Is it ½ teaspoon or a teaspoon of kosher salt? Or is it even kosher salt at all? These are things that you’ll want to work out before you share a recipe with someone else. They need that instruction, and they’re looking to you for help.  

    Use Full Recipe Descriptors Instead of Abbreviations

    This is a mistake that I am currently correcting on my site, and it is a PAIN. Best practices for recipes dictate that we write full descriptions instead of abbreviations. Some examples:

    • tablespoon instead of tbsp
    • teaspoon instead of tsp
    • cup instead of c
    • gram instead of g

    The reason is simple: legibility. It’s much easier for readers to decipher “tablespoon” from “teaspoon” than it is for them to decipher “tbsp” from “tsp”. And some readers have not been taught the difference between those two measurements, so having the full words written out will improve reader understanding.

    Say it with me: reader understanding is the goal in recipe development.

    Don’t be like me and wait until you have almost 200 recipes on your site to correct this error. If you start this way, it will be much easier down the road. 🤗

    Pick Your Default Measurement System and Use it Consistently

    There are two measurement systems that recipes commonly use: Imperial (think: cups) and metric (think: grams). And, listen BB, while I am an evangelist for metric measurement in baking, these are your recipes. That means, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to use Imperial or metric measurements in your recipes.

    There are millions of recipes written either way. This is not my decision (or anyone else’s) to make for you! Remember what I said about writing what you know? Well, that extends here too. While you can always build your skillset with the other measurement system and change the game later, when you’re starting, use what you’re most comfortable with, and, most importantly, what will help your recipe reader replicate your recipes.

    Pay Attention to the Order of Ingredients Listed

    This is yet another thing that helps recipe readers gain clarity! When you’re writing a recipe, the order of ingredients is also very important! 

    There are two places where the order of ingredients matters: if you have a number of ingredients that need to be combined (think: dry ingredients in baking), you should list them all together, differentiated by the weight or volume amount. So, for example, when I’m listing my ingredients for my Vanilla Pound Cake recipe, the dry ingredients look like this:

    • 384 grams (3 cups) all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt 
    • ½ teaspoon baking soda

    The dry ingredient with the largest quantity (all-purpose flour) is listed first, and the dry ingredient with the smallest quantity (baking soda) is listed last.

    The other order of ingredients that matters is this: your recipe should be written in a way that uses ingredients in the order that they are used in the recipe. Going back to the Vanilla Pound Cake recipe, here are the ingredients:

    • 384 grams (3 cups) all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon fine salt)
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 227 grams (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
    • 500 grams (2 1/2 cups) granulated sugar
    • 6 eggs, room temperature
    • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    • 250 grams (1 cup) buttermilk, room temperature

    As we said before, the dry ingredients appear at the top of the recipe, together (and in order of weight/volume). The other ingredients are listed in the order that they’re used in the recipe! Once again, that will help you create clarity for your readers. When they’re doing their mise en place, they’ll be able to line up their prepped ingredients in the order that they will go into the recipe.

    It’s a win for everyone!

    Just. Start.

    Friends, I know it can feel daunting to put that first recipe on paper. You might worry about getting the measurements exactly right, or whether your instructions are clear enough, or if you’re “qualified” to join the ranks of recipe writers. But here’s the beautiful truth: every single recipe writer, from your grandmother jotting down her famous cookie recipe to Julia Child herself, started exactly where you are – with that first recipe.

    Will your first attempt be perfect? Probably not! And that’s absolutely okay. My first written recipes needed plenty of tweaking (just ask my poor taste-testers!). But here’s what’s far more important than perfection: every recipe you write helps preserve a piece of culinary history that might otherwise be lost forever. Think about it – how many family recipes have already disappeared because someone thought “I’ll write it down later” or “I’m not ready yet”?

    You are already part of the grand tapestry of food history. Every time you make your great-aunt’s signature dish or modify a classic recipe to make it your own, you’re contributing to that legacy. By writing down your recipes, you’re not just preserving them – you’re passing forward the love, memories, and flavors that make our culinary heritage so rich and beautiful.

    So grab that index card, open that laptop, or pull out that notebook. Start with the recipe you know best, the one that makes you smile, the one your family always requests. Write it down, test it, refine it. And if you need help along the way, remember that you’re not alone on this journey. Reach out to me at bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com – I’d be honored to help you preserve your piece of culinary history.

    After all, the most precious family recipes aren’t the ones written perfectly – they’re the ones written at all.

    I hope you find this encouraging and helpful on your recipe development journey! I’m here to help you in any way that I can.

    Hi! I’m Shani!

    My name is Shani Whisonant, and I’m the Chief Butter Ambassador and owner at Begin with Butter and the Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy. I’m serious about your baking achievement. 😊 Whether you’re here for a recipe or you’re wanting to solve a baking conundrum, I’m here to help you!

    Read More!

    Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins

    Shani
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    0
    Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins

    This post contains affiliate links. While I receive a small commission if you purchase from these links, they are products that I use and trust in my own kitchen.

    Hi BB! Welcome to Healthy-ish January at Begin with Butter! I’ve been looking forward to this month and can’t wait to share what I’ve developed just for you. First up: whole wheat blueberry oat muffins that will positively knock your January socks off. These muffins can be an important part of a healthy-ish meal; they’re full of fiber, they’re 100% whole wheat, and, by the way, they’re undeniably and unbelievably delicious. 

    Listen, I refuse to post anything on my blog that doesn’t meet my standards. These muffins exceeded my expectations exponentially.

    In this Post:

    About These Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins

    On cold winter mornings, there’s nothing like a warm, filling breakfast. But let’s face it. In January, while we want something filling, the options can often be…sub-optimal. Our palettes crave texture, and flavor, and satisfaction, and a lot of “healthy” options lack one (or more!) of those things that truly make us feel satisfied when we eat. 

    I don’t know about you, but those three qualities are the things that make me enjoy what I’m eating. And, whether it’s pound cake or kale salad, I must enjoy it. 

    Friends, that’s exactly why these whole wheat blueberry oat muffins have become my winter morning salvation! These beauties completely redefine what whole grain baking can be. Made with 100% whole white wheat flour, they achieve that dreamy, light-as-air texture you’d expect from your favorite bakery, while still delivering the wholesome goodness your body craves. Each warm bite brings you delightful bursts of sweet-tart blueberries, perfectly complemented by hearty oats that add just the right amount of satisfying texture.

    What makes these muffins truly special is how they prove that wholesome doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor. With just the right amount of sweetness and the most incredible aroma of warm grains and berries filling your kitchen, they’re that perfect balance of treat and nourishment we’re all searching for in January. They’ll keep you cozy and satisfied through your morning without weighing you down. And that, dearest BB, is the Golden Ticket to satisfaction at any time of the year.

    Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins: Recipe At-A-Glance

    Prep Time: 30 Minutes

    • 10 minutes for flax egg prep
    • 10 minutes for milk souring
    • 10 minutes for measuring and prepping remaining ingredients

    Total Time: 45-50 Minutes

    • Allow muffins to cool for 5-7 minutes after baking, then enjoy immediately

    Equipment Needed

    Key Times and Temperatures

    • Bake Temperature: 375°F (13-18 minutes)
    • Internal Temperature: 205°F

    Yield: 12-18 Standard-Sized Muffins

    • These can also be made into 19-24 mini muffins or 6-9 oversized muffins

    Other Notes

    • This recipe is written with flax eggs, but you can use two room-temperature chicken eggs
    • Made with 100% whole wheat flour and old-fashioned oats
    • This recipe can be fully vegan if you choose; check recipe notes!
    • Best eaten warm
    • Freezer-friendly for up to 2 months
    • Skill Level: Beginner to Intermediate

    Ingredients in these Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins

    When you understand the science of ingredients, you’re on your way to unlimited creativity with your baking!  Let’s take a brief but fun trip to learn the scientific secrets behind each ingredient, so that you can not only make these muffins, but deepen your baking knowledge as a whole. 🧁

    White Whole Wheat Flour: Made from hard white wheat berries, this flour gives us all the nutritional benefits of whole wheat with a lighter, less bitter taste than traditional red wheat flour. If you’re using hard red wheat flour instead, combine 113 grams (1 cup) wheat flour with 128 grams (1 cup) all-purpose flour for the perfect texture.

    Leavening (Baking Soda & Baking Powder): Baking powder and baking soda work together not just to help our muffins rise beautifully, but also to promote that gorgeous golden-brown caramelization we love on top.

    Kosher Salt: Beyond balancing sweetness, salt helps in developing gluten structure and enhancing all the flavors in our muffins. It’s a wonderful multi-tool, so make sure not to skip it!

    Old-Fashioned Oats: Hearty oats aren’t just packed with fiber and protein – they team up with our whole wheat flour to create a satisfying breakfast that keeps you full all morning long.

    Butter: At the beginning of the mixing, we mix melted butter with our sugar and stir until it’s lighter in color. If you’re using vanilla bean, you’ll want to add them to this mixture as well. Doing this pre-mix ensures a consistently-mixed muffin batter, without over-mixing.

    Granulated Sugar: I gave this recipe a modest amount of sugar, while ensuring it’s just enough to help with browning and give a gentle sweetness. It’s all about balance!

    Flax Meal + Water: When combined, these create our flax eggs, which are lower in cholesterol and higher in fiber than chicken eggs. Just remember to sift out those hulls before mixing – we want silky smooth flax eggs!

    Chicken Eggs (Alternative): Not into flax eggs? No worries! Regular eggs work perfectly here too – just make sure they’re room temperature.

    Vanilla: Whether you’re using extract or fresh vanilla bean, this ingredient enhances the natural sweetness of our blueberries and adds incredible depth of flavor. (If you’re wondering, I have a strong love for vanilla bean in this recipe!)

    Milk: Whether you choose whole milk, 2%, or oat milk, they all bring different but equally delicious results to our muffins. Each option adds moisture and helps create that tender crumb we’re after.

    Lemon Juice or Vinegar (apple cider or white vinegar): This ingredient works with any milk choice to create a DIY buttermilk, tenderizing our whole wheat flour and adding a subtle tang that makes these muffins extra special. I have a strong preference for lemon juice, but apple cider vinegar works too! You can use plain buttermilk, but there’s actually more acid in the milk/vinegar mixture than regular buttermilk, which leads to better tenderizing of the flour!

    Blueberries: These little gems aren’t just bursts of natural sweetness – as they bake, they release moisture that helps create perfectly moist muffins.

    Techniques for Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins

    Muffins and quick breads are an incredibly quick way to make an extremely efficient, delicious breakfast treat that can freeze beautifully and be available for multiple days! But there are a couple of notes that will help you avoid common pitfalls of making quick breads and working with whole wheat. Check out the video, below, for all of the techniques that will help you achieve confidence and success!

    After the video, if you’re still wanting to learn more techniques (I love you for that btw), take a gander at the following resources. They cover so many fun techniques that will take your baking to the next level, and will allow your confidence to soar to new heights!

    These resources are super helpful as you’re building your baking skills. I hope you enjoy them!

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How do I keep these muffins from becoming dense?

    Dense muffins mean over-mixed muffins. This happens when the flour has been mixed too much, causing too much gluten formation, and too much gluten formation means that the muffins will take on a bready texture. To avoid this, carefully fold the flour and the blueberries into the mixture.

    Are these healthy? Or just “healthy-ish”?

    These muffins are healthy-ish. While they use a healthier flour, oats, and flax eggs, they still use wheat flour, sugar, and butter. This isn’t a diet food, but it’s part of a balanced diet, and they’re designed to help you feel full longer than a traditional muffin would.

    Got more questions? Feel free to send an email to bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com and you’ll get a real answer from a real person! We’re here to help you improve your baking knowledge so that you can be a more confident baker with all of your future bakes!

    The Recipe

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    Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins

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    These Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins contain 100% white whole wheat flour, but they’re still deliciously fluffy! They’ll keep you full, longer, and they are a perfect addition to a healthy-ish lifestyle!

    • Total Time: 45-50
    • Yield: 12–18 muffins 1x

    Ingredients

    Scale
    • 226 grams (2 cups) white whole wheat flour (I tested with King Arthur’s Golden Wheat Flour for this recipe, but there are a number of them available on Amazon) – see note about how to make this recipe with hard red wheat flour.
    • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 81 grams (1 cup) old-fashioned oats, plus more for topping the muffins
    • 114 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled but still liquid (also works with vegan butter)
    • 150 grams (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
    • 2 tablespoons flax meal, hulls sifted out (see note about flax eggs and chicken eggs)
    • 63 grams (1/4 cup) water
    • 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, or 1/4 vanilla bean
    • 188 grams (3/4 cup) whole or 2% milk (also works with oat milk)
    • 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice (apple cider vinegar works too, but lemon juice is best)
    • 167 grams (3/4 cup) blueberries, fresh or frozen (not canned), plus more for topping the muffins

    Instructions

    1. Heat your oven to a true 375°F. An oven thermometer will help you determine where you need to set your oven in order to reach this true temperature. (See note about why this true temperature is so important!)
    2. Add sifted flax meal and water to a small bowl. Stir well to combine. Allow to sit for about ten minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, while you prepare the other ingredients. (Want to learn more about flax eggs? Check out this blog post!)
    3. Combine milk and lemon juice in a small bowl. Allow to sit for ten minutes to “sour”.
    4. Place butter in a microwave safe bowl. Melt until just liquefied and allow to cool.
    5. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt in a large mixing bowl. 
    6. Add sugar and butter to a small bowl. If using a vanilla bean, add the vanilla beans to this bowl as well.  Stir together until the mix is fully combined, the vanilla beans are distributed evenly, and the mixture is slightly lighter in color.
    7. Add the rest of the wet ingredients (flax eggs, vanilla extract if using, and “soured” milk) to the butter/sugar mixture. Whisk together until fully combined. The mixture should be lumpy at this point.
    8. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold together until fully combined. Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl during folding so that there is no unmixed flour.
    9. Combine the blueberries and old-fashioned oats in a small bowl or deli cup. Stir to combine the oats with the blueberries. Fold the oats/blueberry mixture into the batter until they are evenly distributed. The muffin batter will be very thick at this point.
    10. Spray muffin pan with baking spray and brush each muffin cup to distribute the spray. (You can also use muffin liners, but I much prefer this method.)
    11. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to add muffin batter to each prepared muffin cup. Finish by adding 2-3 more blueberries to the top of each muffin, and then a sprinkle of oats to the top of each muffin.
    12. Bake for 13-18 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and beautifully domed. Remove from the oven test for doneness: perfect doneness is 205°.
    13. Allow the muffins to rest in the muffin pan for 3-5 minutes, then remove immediately to a cooling rack. Enjoy the muffins while warm. 
    14. Once fully cooled, freeze leftovers for up to two months. To reheat: place a muffin in the microwave for 45-60 seconds on 70% heat. Then, heat at 10-second intervals until the desired temperature is reached.

    Equipment

    Notes

    • Meal prepping? Make a double batch and freeze what you’re not going to eat immediately!
    • I wrote this recipe for use with white wheat flour, since it’s a lighter wheat flour that’s made with hard white wheat instead of hard red wheat. If you’re using hard red wheat flour, write the recipe for 113 grams of hard red wheat flour and 128 grams of all-purpose flour to get the same effect.
    • Flax eggs are lower cholesterol, lower in saturated fat, and add fiber to these muffins. But you can also add chicken eggs to this recipe and get an amazing result.
    • The wet ingredient mixture might be lumpy and that’s to be expected. The final batter will be very thick and that’s to be expected too!
    • Author: Shani
    • Prep Time: 30 minutes
    • Cook Time: 13-18 minutes
    • Category: Breakfast and Brunch

    Did you make this recipe?

    Share a photo and tag us @beginwithbutter on IG — we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

    Conclusion: Welcome to Healthy-ish Baking!

    I’m really excited about these wonderful muffins, BB. They offer all of the qualities that make me feel so satisfied with my favorite breakfasts: they’re warm (which is important in January 🥶), they’re positively delicious, they’re texturally incredible, and they scent the kitchen with the most wonderful fragrance. 

    These blueberry muffins will be on steady rotation, this January and well beyond. I hope you love them!

    When you make them, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @beginwithbutter! I can’t wait to see how you make them your own. ❤️

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    Hi! I’m Shani!

    My name is Shani Whisonant, and I’m the Chief Butter Ambassador and owner at Begin with Butter and the Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy. I’m serious about your baking achievement. 😊 Whether you’re here for a recipe or you’re wanting to solve a baking conundrum, I’m here to help you!

    Read More!

    Christmas Stunner: Apple Cinnamon Star Bread

    Shani
    -
    0
    Christmas Stunner: Apple Cinnamon Star Bread

    This post contains affiliate links. While I receive a small commission if you purchase from these links, they are products that I use and trust in my own kitchen.

    BBs, I have tested and tested and tested and tested this Apple Cinnamon Star Bread. I tested it for such a long time that I almost missed its Christmas debut!

    But alas, I could not miss the opportunity to share this absolutely incredible recipe with you, as well as give you the opportunity to make this stunner for Christmas morning. 

    There are three fabulous ways to finish this Apple Cinnamon Star Bread: confectioner’s sugar (easy, traditional, and beautiful), melted apple jelly (also easy, and my personal favorite because of the incredible glaze it lends to the bread), or my cream cheese glaze, which makes it more like a cinnamon roll. ❤️

    To ensure your success, I’m even including a video tutorial that will walk you through the entire process. Make sure you watch it before starting; consider it an important part of your mise en place.

    Video Tutorial (Mise en Place)

    Before you begin making this stunning Apple Cinnamon Star Bread, I strongly encourage you to watch this tutorial video from start to finish. While nine minutes might seem like a long time, it is a crucial part of your mise en place – just as important as measuring your ingredients or bringing your butter to room temperature. The video walks you through crucial techniques for making brioche and demonstrates the intricate (but totally doable!) shaping process that makes this bread so incredibly beautiful.

    Seeing these techniques in action will help build your confidence, showing you exactly what your dough should look like at each stage and how to achieve those beautiful twisted layers. Even experienced bakers will benefit from watching the shaping portion, as it’s much easier to replicate this Apple Cinnamon Star Bread when you’ve seen it demonstrated. Trust me – these nine minutes will make all the difference in your baking success! Enjoy!

    Now, let’s MAKE THIS RECIPE! Dearest BBs, this is one for the ages, and it is completely accessible to bakers of every level.

    If you want to see shaping of this loaf done in real-time, check out this Christmas Eve Instagram Live!

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    Apple Cinnamon Star Bread

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    This Apple Cinnamon Star Bread will positively wow your Christmas guests. This traditional bread can be finished with confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon sugar, or apple jelly for the ultimate Christmas treat.

    • Total Time: 0 hours
    • Yield: 18 servings 1x

    Ingredients

    Scale

    For the Dough:

    • 125 grams (1/2 cup) whole milk
    • 3/4 tablespoon yeast
    • 3/4 teaspoon turbinado sugar (optional, but assists with yeast blooming)
    • 467 grams (3 2/3 cups) all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 tablespoon salt
    • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
    • 4 large eggs, room temperature
    • 188 grams (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
    • 1 egg plus 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash
    • Confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon sugar, apple jelly, or cream cheese glaze to finish (optional)

    For the Apple Cinnamon Sugar Filing:  

    • 57 grams (1/4 cup) butter, melted and cooled (but still liquid)
    • 400 grams (2 cups) brown sugar (light or dark)
    • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
    • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
    • 180 grams finely diced apple (~1 medium apple or 2 small apples)

    For the Egg Wash:

    • 1 egg
    • 1 teaspoon water

    To Finish:

    • cinnamon sugar

    OR

    • 75 grams (1/4 cup) apple jelly, melted

    OR

    • confectioner’s sugar

    OR

    Instructions

    To Make the Dough:

    1. Place the whole milk into a microwave safe 2-cup measuring cup. Heat for 30-45 seconds, or until the milk reaches about 110° Fahrenheit. Add the yeast and turbinado sugar (if using) and whisk together to combine. Allow the mixture to sit for 8-10 minutes to allow the yeast to bloom. (Need help figuring out what “bloomed yeast” looks like? Take a look at this article!)
    2. Crack the eggs and place them into a separate container or bowl.
    3. Cut the room-temperature butter into tablespoon sized pieces and set aside.
    4. Place all-purpose flour, salt, and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk to combine, then make a small well in the center. 
    5. When the yeast is done blooming, add the eggs to the well, followed by the yeast mixture. Use the paddle attachment of your stand mixer and mix on low speed until the flour is hydrated and shaggy-looking.
    6. Place the dough hook attachment on your stand mixer. Mix the dough with the dough hook until the mixture starts to look like a more cohesive dough. At this point, the dough will stick to the bottom of the bowl and will be very thick. This is expected at this point, since you’ve not yet added the butter. Resist the temptation to add more liquid!
    7. Allow the dough to mix for 2-4 minutes before adding any additional flour, if necessary, one tablespoon at a time. The dough should be smooth but bulky at this point. It should pass the windowpane test at this point. If the dough is extremely wet and does not pass the windowpane test after 5-6 minutes, you might need to add more flour.
    8. If extra flour is needed: add flour, one tablespoon at a time. After each addition of flour, mix the dough for 30-45 seconds, or until the flour is fully incorporated. Do not add more than one tablespoon of flour at a time to this dough. You should not need more than 2-3 tablespoons of flour; this brioche dough is supposed to be quite sticky at the outset.
    9. Once the dough passes the windowpane test, begin adding the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Mix on medium speed (speed 2 on a KitchenAid mixer) after each addition, until the butter is fully incorporated in the dough.
    10. Once all of the butter is incorporated in the dough, mix for an additional 4-5 minutes on medium speed, or until the dough once again passes the windowpane test. The dough will be sticky, so I recommend spraying your fingers with nonstick cooking spray before doing the test.
    11. Once the dough is ready, remove it from the bowl and shape it into a rough ball. Spray the mixing bowl with nonstick spray and place the dough back into the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean towel and place the dough on a countertop for 1-2 hours, or until the dough passes the poke test. This is called bulk fermentation, or rise. Note: it’s fine to check the dough at intervals, then re-cover it! It’s better to know when your dough is done, rather than allowing it to overproof!

    To Make the Filling:

    1. Add the melted and cooled butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, fine sea salt, fresh lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar) and apples to a medium bowl. Stir to combine and set aside.

    To Make the Bread:

    1. Once the dough passes the poke test (the dough fills in very slowly when poked), gently punch down the dough to remove as much gas as possible. Use your digital kitchen scale to separate the dough into four equal parts. Make each dough ball into a rough ball.
    2. Roll out the first dough ball to about 12” in diameter. If the dough shrinks while rolling, allow it to rest for about five minutes and then try again. 
    3. Once you’ve rolled out the dough to 12”, place it on a piece of parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Spread some of the apple filling onto the dough with an offset spatula or butter knife, stopping about an inch from the edge of the dough.
    4. Roll out the second dough ball to about 12” in diameter. Place directly on top of the first dough/filling layer, sealing the edges of the dough together with the blades (pinky side) of your hands. Spread some of the apple filling onto the dough with your offset spatula or butter knife, again stopping about an inch from the edge of the dough.
    5. Repeat step 16 with the third dough ball.
    6. Roll out the fourth dough ball, again to about 12” in diameter. Place directly atop the third dough/filling layer, and gently seal all of the dough circles together with the blades (pinky sides) of your hands.
    7. Place a 2 ½” biscuit cutter (or glass) in the center of the stacked dough circle. Press down gently enough to make a small indentation in the center (to make a small indentation), but not hard enough to penetrate the dough.
    8. Imagine your dough as a clock face. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough from the indentation to the edge at 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 9 o’clock, and 12 o’clock. This will make the dough into four quarters. 
    9. Cut each quarter into four roughly equal pieces (three cuts per quarter).
    10. Using both hands, gently lift and twist two pieces of dough in opposite directions, three times. Squeeze the excess dough together and tuck underneath to form a u-shape. 
    11. Repeat this step for all 16 pieces of the dough. Use your hands to gently shape the loaf into a circle. Step back and appreciate the beautiful loaf that you’ve just created. (I’m proud of you!)
    12. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and and allow the dough to proof (rise) for 45 minutes. While the dough is rising, pre-heat your oven to a true 425°F.
    13. When ready to bake, combine one egg with one teaspoon of water to create an egg wash. Use a pastry brush to spread egg wash over the entire loaf.
    14. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-25 minutes, or until the loaf is a deep golden brown. Remove from the oven and very carefully remove the loaf from the baking sheet to a cooling rack. 
    15. If finishing with confectioner’s sugar: dust the loaf with a light coating of confectioner’s sugar, 3-5 minutes after removing from the oven. Enjoy while warm.
    16. If finishing with apple jelly: heat the apple jelly in the microwave until nearly liquified (~45-60 seconds, depending on the wattage of your microwave). Using a clean pastry brush, spread the apple jelly over the entire loaf while the loaf is warm. Enjoy!
    17. If finishing with cinnamon sugar: mix ¼ cup granulated sugar with ¼ teaspoon cinnamon. Stir to combine. Wait for 3-5 minutes after removing the loaf from the oven, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the entire loaf. Enjoy while the loaf is warm.
    18. If finishing with cream cheese glaze: Make the cream cheese glaze according to the instructions. Pour the glaze over the warm loaf and enjoy.

    Equipment

    Notes

    • Don’t want to include apples? No problem! Simply omit the apples and the double the butter! The rest of the instructions remain exactly the same.
    • This bread can stay on the countertop for up to two days. It can also be wrapped and frozen for up to two weeks.
    • To prep for Christmas morning: make the dough and allow it to do its first rise (bulk fermentation). Shape into the special star shape and place, covered, in the refrigerator overnight. On the special morning, remove from the refrigerator and allow it to rise at room temperature for about an hour, or until the dough is slightly puffy and the chill from the refrigerator is gone.
    • Author: Shani
    • Prep Time: 45 minutes
    • Rest Time: 3-24 hours
    • Cook Time: 18-25 minutes
    • Category: Breakfast and Brunch

    Did you make this recipe?

    Share a photo and tag us @beginwithbutter on IG — we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

    Check out the Most Recent BwB Recipes!

    Half and Half Cake
    Sweet Potato Sock it to Me Cake
    The Best Cream Cheese Glaze
    Bourbon Brown Butter Vanilla Pound Cake
    Gingersnap Pound Cake
    Sweet Potato Cranberry Pound Cake

    Half and Half Cake

    Shani
    -
    0
    Half and Half Cake

    This post contains affiliate links. While I receive a small commission if you purchase from these links, they are products that I use and trust in my own kitchen.

    Y’all…this Half and Half Cake is the best kind of line jumper. And I am someone who cannot stand a line jumper. Like, when we go to amusement parks, I am always the person who will tap your shoulder and say “excuse me, there’s a little bit of a line back here.” 😂 (My kids love this by the way.)

    Why is this cake a line jumper, you ask? Because she wasn’t supposed to be posted until next year. But y’all made such a kerfuffle on Instagram about this cake that I had to post it in time for your holiday tables.

    (psst…want the tips for how to prep this ahead so that you can glaze and go on the big day? Check out this post: Storage Tips for Make-Ahead Desserts!)

    This cake will finally help you resolve the spats that inevitably pop up when you ask whether people want vanilla cake or chocolate cake. You can give them both without sacrificing one or the other. One of the big gripes about marble cakes is that the chocolate cake often ends up underbaked, while the vanilla ends up dry. Well, both halves of this Half and Half Cake are perfectly moist (🙉), they each give big flavor, and, for the marble cake lovers among us who love both vanilla and chocolate, there’s even some marbling that happens where the two flavors meet for a lil’ razzle dazzle.

    This just might be the perfect cake.

    In this Post:

    About this Half and Half Cake

    This cake was absolutely borne of necessity. You see, I have a beautiful, vivacious, sweet, chocoholic-of-a daughter who cannot get enough chocolate. She was actually the inspiration for the Ultimate Chocolate Pound Cake, and she has fallen head over heels in love with my Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake…she also gave me very specific instructions for how she’d like to see the ratio of chocolate to vanilla in my S’Mores Pound Cake…heavy on the chocolate. 

    My sweet, sweet, food-critic-of-a son literally detests chocolate. If it’s not vanilla or some derivation thereof, he’s not touching it. If there is a *puff* of chocolate in the air, his nose gets all crinkly and he acts like he might become faint from the disgust. And don’t let chocolate touch something he actually wants to eat, because…yeah no.

    But give him anything NOT CHOCOLATE that’s heavy on the vanilla, and he is absolutely insane with delight. The Very Vanilla Pound Cake came from my hurt feelings after he told me that the fourth cake didn’t “have enough vanilla”. And this boy will tear up a Snickerdoodle anything (see Snickerdoodle Pound Cake and Snickerdoodle Cookies). So long as it’s not chocolate.

    My poor husband doesn’t care. He’s such a good man.

    Y’all see my dilemma. So I had to put this to bed once and for all, and make a cake that everyone could consume happily. Chocolate for the chocoholic. Vanilla for the vanilla virtuoso, and a marbled middle for the wonderful man in my life who’s made it all possible. A literal win-win-win. And the cake sacrifices NOTHING to make everyone exceptionally happy.

    Half and Half Cake: Recipe at a Glance

    ⏰ Prep Time: 60-70 minutes

    • ~25 minutes for mise en place (getting all ingredients measured and ready, friends!)
    • 45 minutes for batter (it needs additional time because you’re going to split the batter in two to create separate chocolate and vanilla cake batters!)

    🔥 Bake Time: 60-70 minutes at a true 325°F

    🕒 Total Time: 5-7 hours

    🕒 TL;DR, Cake Details Edition: A striking bundt cake cleanly divided into two distinct halves – pure vanilla and rich chocolate – with a naturally marbled effect only where the two batters meet, and crowned with my brand-new, Rich Vanilla Glaze

    ⭐ Why You’ll Love It: Each half maintains its distinct flavor integrity – pure vanilla for purists, deep chocolate for chocoholics, and a perfect marble middle for those who want both. No compromises in taste or texture…ever

    📝 Tips for Success: 

    • Bring butter, eggs, AND buttermilk to room temperature for best results 
    • A kitchen scale is essential for precise measurements of flour, sugar, and butter to achieve perfect half-and-half results 
    • Natural cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed) works best with the baking soda 
    • Don’t substitute the buttermilk – it’s key for tenderness 

    🔪 Special Equipment:

    • Kitchen scale (absolutely necessary for perfect results with this cake)
    • 12-15 cup bundt pan
    • Stand mixer or hand mixer

    💭 Make Ahead: The cake can be wrapped well and frozen for up to 3 months. The vanilla simple syrup can be made up to a week ahead and stored in an airtight jar in the refrigerator. The vanilla glaze can be prepared 1-2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

    Ingredients in this Half and Half Cake

    Let’s talk about the amazing science happening in your mixing bowl with this Half and Half Cake. Understanding your ingredients will help you tremendously on your baking journey, as you develop the confidence to start tinkering and playing with recipes. By learning the baking science behind the ingredients, you’ll be able to confidently personalize recipes, with an expectation that you’ll have great outcomes!

    All-Purpose Flour is our cake’s foundation – it creates the building blocks that give your cake its beautiful structure. When we measure it by weight (yes, that kitchen scale is your best friend!), we’re ensuring every slice has that perfect, tender crumb. All-purpose flour, with a higher protein content than cake flour, is key for success in this recipe.

    Baking Soda is the tiny but mighty chemist in your batter! (cue visual of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew from the Muppets. 😂) It teams up with the acid in our buttermilk and our natural (not Dutch Process) cocoa to create bubbles that help your cake rise into a fluffy dream.

    Natural Cocoa Powder isn’t just any chocolate – it’s specifically chosen because it’s naturally acidic, which means it needs our friend baking soda to neutralize it and help create a proper rise. Trust me, this natural cocoa powder and baking soda friendship makes the most beautiful, dark chocolate magic happen in your cake!

    Kosher Salt is the quiet hero that makes every other flavor sing louder and more beautifully, while helping to balance out the sweetness of our sugar. It’s working behind the scenes to make your vanilla more vanilla-y and your chocolate more chocolate-y!

    Butter brings the richness we all love, especially when we take the time to cream it properly with sugar. And when browned? Oh friends, that’s when butter transforms into liquid gold with the most amazing toffee notes!

    Oil is butter’s trusty sidekick in both of our batters, but for slightly different reasons! In the vanilla batter, it ensures a moist, tender crumb, and prevents the vanilla cake from drying out in the oven while the chocolate cake gets perfectly done. In the chocolate batter, the oil helps prevent the cocoa powder from making things too dry – that’s why chocolate cakes often include oil in their recipes.

    Sugar isn’t just here for sweetness – it actually helps with texture and caramelization too! While it’s making things deliciously sweet, it’s also busy creating that melt-in-your-mouth tenderness we’re after, and the beautiful, deep, mouthwatering caramelization that we’re all craving from our pound cakes.

    Eggs are our master binders, bringing the whole party together while adding richness and structure. Isn’t it amazing that nature packaged these contradictory elements – strong, structure-building egg whites and fatty, protein-tenderizing egg yolks – in one perfect shell without them canceling each other out? Remember to let them come to room temperature – they’ll thank you by blending in beautifully!

    Pure Vanilla Extract is pure flavor gold, enhancing both sides of our cake (yes, even the chocolate half!). Give it time to work its magic – the flavor gets even better as the cake cools. 

    Buttermilk is the tenderizer of all tenderizers! Its tangy personality not only helps create that velvet-like texture we’re after but also teams up with our baking soda for the perfect rise.

    When you understand these principles, baking becomes much more fun; it’s always better when you can expect outcomes because you’re being creative but following the baking rules!

    Techniques for the Half and Half Cake

    This Half and Half Cake looks beautiful, but it truly relies on some special techniques to pull it off. 

    Fear not, gentle reader! I’ve got you covered. Take a look at the resources below to gain the most kitchen confidence with this recipe.  These resources cover so many fun techniques that will take your baking to the next level!

    These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency in your baking, which will make your confidence soar. Happy reading! And don’t forget to reach out to me with questions: bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com. 

    Need equipment? Not sure if you have everything that you need to make this amazing cake? No worries! I’ve got you covered there too!

    Important Tools

    If you’re wondering whether you have everything you need to make this Half and Half Cake, I’m here to help! Begin with Butter has an Amazon Storefront where you can find all of the essentials that I use day-to-day in my own baking kitchen. Because you don’t have to spend a fortune to make a cake. A few essentials is all you need!

    If you’re interested in the tools that I use to make absolutely delicious and irresistible pound cakes, check out the My Essentials for Perfect Pound Cakes link in my Amazon Storefront!

    I do get paid a commission when you purchase, but these are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

    If you have these tools already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this cake!

    Let’s get into this recipe, shall we? It’s an amazing one!

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    Half and Half Cake

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    This Half and Half Cake is for everyone; the vanilla virtuosos and the chocoholics, and the beautiful marbled center for those in the middle. It’s deliciously moist on both sides, stunningly beautiful, and totally accessible to every home baker. This stunner is positively incredible, and perfect for special occasions.

    • Total Time: 5-7 hours
    • Yield: 18 servings 1x

    Ingredients

    Scale

    For the Cake Batter:

    • 309 grams (~2 2/3 cups) all-purpose flour, divided (117 grams [~9/10 cups] for chocolate cake, 192 grams [1 1/2 cups] for vanilla cake)
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, divided (1/4 teaspoon for each dry mix)
    • 44 grams (1/2 cup) natural cocoa powder
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided (1/2 teaspoon for vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon for chocolate)
    • 227 grams (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature (you can also use brown butter in this recipe for an even deeper, more complex flavor.)
    • 1 tablespoon neutral oil, divided (1/2 tablespoon for the vanilla mixture, and 1/2 tablespoon for the chocolate mixture)
    • 450 grams (2 1/4 cups) granulated sugar
    • 6 eggs, room temperature
    • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
    • 250 grams (1 cup) buttermilk, divided (125 grams [1/2 cup] for chocolate, 125 grams [1/2 c] for vanilla)

    For the Vanilla Simple Syrup:

    • 84 grams (1/3 cup) water
    • 67 grams (1/3 cup) granulated sugar
    • 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

    For the Rich Vanilla Glaze:

    • 120 grams (1 cup) confectioner’s sugar
    • 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 1/2 tablespoon whole milk, plus up to one more teaspoon, if necessary
    • 1/2 tablespoon heavy cream, plus up to one more teaspoon, if necessary
    • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

    Instructions

    To Make the Cake:

    1. Get the tare weight of your primary mixing bowl, using your digital kitchen scale. (Don’t know what “tare weight” means? Check out this post!)
    2. Set oven to a true 325°. An oven thermometer will help you determine whether your oven is actually the correct temperature. 
    3. Sift together 117 grams of all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon of baking soda, 44 grams of natural cocoa powder, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt into a medium bowl. Set aside. 
    4. Sift together 192 grams all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt in a second bowl. Set aside.
    5. Split 250 grams of buttermilk into two small containers. Add ½ tablespoon oil to each liquid container and combine.
    6. This step is very important! For this recipe, you’ll need two mixing bowls. Your primary mixing bowl, where you’ll make your chocolate cake batter, and your secondary mixing bowl, where you’ll make your vanilla cake batter. Before you start (in your primary bowl), you need the bowl weight of each bowl. Write down the bowl weight for each bowl and set that aside where you’ll be able to find it quickly later.
    7. Place all of the butter into your primary mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed until the butter is completely smooth.
    8. Add the granulated sugar and cream the mixture until light and fluffy. (psst…don’t know what it means to “cream until light and fluffy”? Take a look at this article!) Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary to ensure even mixing.
    9. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix each egg until it’s fully incorporated before adding the next egg. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary to ensure even mixing. The batter might look curdled and that is okay.
    10. Add all of the pure vanilla extract and mix until fully combined.
    11. *Critical Step* Place 1/2 of the batter into a second mixing bowl. To do this, follow these steps: a) Weigh the primary mixing bowl while it is full with all of the batter; subtract the weight of the empty mixing bowl, using your note from earlier (this is your batter weight); and c) divide the remaining weight by 2 to figure out how much batter needs to be added to the second bowl. Then, remove that amount of batter from the primary mixing bowl into the second mixing bowl. 
    12. To finish the chocolate batter: Add half of the flour/cocoa mixture and mix on low speed until nearly combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
    13. Add the first buttermilk/oil mixture to the chocolate batter, and mix on low speed until nearly combined.
    14. Add the second half of the flour/cocoa mixture and mix on low speed until nearly combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a stiff spatula, and fold the batter until it is smooth and combined. Set the chocolate cake batter aside while you prepare the vanilla cake batter.
    15. To finish the vanilla batter: Add half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until nearly combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
    16. Add the buttermilk/oil mixture and mix and mix on low speed until nearly combined.
    17. Add the second half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until nearly combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a stiff spatula, and fold the batter until it is smooth and combined. 
    18. Prepare a 10- or 12-cup bundt pan as you normally would. Use an ice cream scoop to place a layer of chocolate batter around half of the pan; fill in the second half with vanilla. Continue to layer in this way (chocolate scoops around half the pan, then vanilla scoops to finish the layer). To settle the batter into the pan, give it several taps on the counter with a straight up and down motion. Do not shake the pan, as it will cause the batters to swirl together more. 
    19. Bake at 325° for 60-70 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the cake reaches 212°F.
    20. Remove the pan from the oven. After ten minutes, remove the cake from the pan by inverting the pan onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.

    To Make the Vanilla Simple Syrup:

    1. Place granulated sugar, water, and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
    2. Remove from the heat and add pure vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
    3. Allow the simple syrup and the cake to cool completely, then brush the simple syrup on to the completely cooled cake.

    To Make the Rich Vanilla Glaze:

    1. The name of the game for a smooth glaze is to stir gently. This glaze has heavy cream, and if it’s agitated too much during the mixing process, it will develop bubbles and attempt to transform to whipped cream. To avoid this, stir very gently. Practice is key here too!
    2. Place the confectioner’s sugar, fine sea salt, pure vanilla extract, ½ tablespoon of whole milk, and ½ tablespoon of heavy cream in a medium mixing bowl. 
    3. With a small whisk, very gently stir, until the confectioner’s sugar is fully hydrated by the liquid. It will seem like there is too much confectioner’s sugar, but if you continue stirring, it will eventually get moistened by the initial liquid amounts. (It will likely be in a ball in your whisk, and that’s to be expected.)
    4. Add ½ teaspoon of heavy cream, and another ½ teaspoon of whole milk. Continue stirring very gently, until the glaze is the consistency of very thick honey. 
    5. Use a spouted measuring cup or spoon to pour the glaze over the center of the cake. Gravity will take the glaze over the sides. This glaze recipe makes a very conservative amount of glaze; that was intended, since I didn’t want to completely cover the beautiful cake design with glaze.
    6. Enjoy!

    Equipment

    Notes

    • Author: Shani
    • Prep Time: 45 minutes
    • Cook Time: 60-70 minutes
    • Category: Dessert

    Did you make this recipe?

    Share a photo and tag us @beginwithbutter on IG — we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What’s so important about creaming butter and sugar? Why is it such a big deal?

    Creaming butter and sugar properly adds rise to your cake! The friction caused by agitating the sugar granules with the butter creates little air pockets that help with cake rise. This is especially important for pound cakes, where we use minuscule amounts of chemical leavening in the cakes.

    What is “neutral oil”?

    Neutral oil is any oil that does not lend flavor to your cakes. Some examples of neutral oils routinely found in home kitchens would be: vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil (absolutely great for baking, but it can be difficult to find) and avocado oil (my personal favorite). These oils do not have their own unique flavor profile, and they won’t impact the flavor of your cake.

    You can absolutely use olive oil in this cake, but just know that you might have the slightest variation in flavor from what the recipe intends.

    Why can’t I just use “regular” measurements, instead of metric measurements?

    This cake, more than others, truly relies on baking precision to get the absolute best outcomes. Because metric units are the smallest units of measurement, I always use them in my baking. For the beautiful Half and Half outcome that we’re looking for in this cake, a digital kitchen scale and the use of metric measurement is imperative; there’s no way to ensure the perfect halves without it.

    Can I halve this recipe to make it in a 6-cup bundt pan or a loaf pan?

    Absolutely! Just make sure to use metric measurement and not measuring cups to scale the recipe.

    Why are there bubbles in my glaze? UGH!

    This Rich Vanilla Glaze uses heavy cream to give it a luxurious finish. When heavy cream is agitated too much, it believes that it’s intended to become whipped cream and it develops wonderful bubbles. In a glaze, those bubbles form and usually pop when the finished glaze is on your cake, causing a frustratingly hole-y glaze.

    To remedy this, stir very gently when making this glaze. The less agitation you give the heavy cream, the better it will be.

    How long can I keep this cake?

    This cake will last up to five days, covered, on the countertop.

    Can I freeze this cake?

    You can absolutely freeze this cake before you do the final glaze layer! Freezing glaze is not recommended, as the glaze can become gummy and unpleasant when thawed. Check out this Instagram Live replay and this blog post for more information about how to freeze pound cakes!

    This Half and Half Cake is the Great Mediator of Our Time

    BB, this cake took several iterations to get just right. But it was all worth it, to see the absolute joy that crept over my children’s faces when they saw it finally come together. No more making their respective cases for why I should make one or the other; they could each have their favorites. And that, Friend, was well worth all of the butter and eggs that were sacrificed in the testing.

    I call this delicious, unique cake “The Great Mediator” because it finally brought peace in the Whisonant Family Cake Wars. It is my hope that it does the same for any family that’s experiencing the same, and that it makes special occasions just a lil’ easier (but still outstanding and impressive!) for the bakers who have to arbitrate the chocolate/vanilla wars.

    Got questions about the recipe? Reach out to me and let’s chat! You can reach me at bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com, and I love your questions!

    Did you make this cake? Make sure to tag me on Instagram @beginwithbutter so that I can share your success with the rest of our wonderful community!

    Enjoy!

    Check Out My Other Pound Cakes!

    Sweet Potato Sock it to Me Cake
    The Best Cream Cheese Glaze
    Bourbon Brown Butter Vanilla Pound Cake
    Gingersnap Pound Cake
    Sweet Potato Cranberry Pound Cake
    Cherry Cheesecake Pound Cake
    S’Mores Pound Cake
    Apple Cranberry Pound Cake
    Chocolate Stout Pound Cake
    Pineapple Carrot Pound Cake
    Pineapple Dulce de Leche Pound Cake
    Iconic Apple Pie Pound Cake
    Brown Butter Rum Raisin Pound Cake
    Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake
    Sweet Potato Spice Cake
    Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Cake

    Storage Tips for Make-Ahead Desserts

    Shani
    -
    0
    Storage Tips for Make-Ahead Desserts

    Hi BB! Today, we have storage tips for make-ahead desserts, which dovetails perfectly with our Cozy, Curated Holiday Series! This post contains tips for storing your favorite breads, cakes, cookies, and pie dough so that you can make them ahead of serving them, but still have them taste completely fresh (because they are!)

    #image_title

    This holiday season, we are keeping things as simple as we possibly can in the kitchen. To that end, I’ve created the Cozy, Curated Holiday Series here at Begin with Butter, which includes an Instagram Live series (with replays you can watch here, here, and here), blog posts (like this very one!), and help via email at bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com. 

    In this post, I’ll show you how to bolster your special occasion planning by taking advantage of one of your kitchen besties: your freezer. From this post, you’ll build your kitchen confidence about prepping ahead of time (yay!), storing your baked goods before your event, and preserving the freshness of those same baked goods after they’re done. Making something specific? Use the table of contents to go straight to it!  

    In this Post:

    How to Store Cakes

    Pound Cakes

    If you’re making pound cakes ahead of your holiday table, you’ll want to finish the pound cake through the bake. Allow it to cool fully on a cooling rack, then brush the fully cooled simple syrup onto the cooled cake. Wrap the cake with a layer of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of freezer paper, and two more layers of plastic wrap (I gave a demonstration of how to wrap pound cakes during this Ask me Anything session!), then freeze, avoiding direct contact with the sides and bottom of the freezer as much as possible. Pound cakes can remain in the freezer for up to three months with proper storage.

    To thaw: Remove the pound cake from the freezer.  Immediately unwrap it and place on a cooling rack on your countertop for 4-5 hours to allow it to thaw at room temperature. Finish with your desired glaze, then place on your covered cake plate and serve! 

    Note: I’m often asked whether I freeze cakes after glazing. I do not. Frozen glazes can take on an unpleasant, almost gummy texture. So, I wait to glaze until after the cake is thawed and ready to serve.

    Storage: Proper pound cake storage relies on how much moisture exists in the cake and topping. For high-moisture cakes (like my Blueberry Buckle Pound Cake, my Sweet Potato Spice Cake, my Iconic Apple Pie Pound Cake, my Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake, or any cake with fruit and/or high moisture ingredients like sweet potatoes or pumpkin), I prefer to store the remaining cake in the refrigerator immediately (it can remain refrigerated for up to five days), though you can keep them on your countertop for the first 24 hours.

    For lower-moisture cakes (think: Very Vanilla Pound Cake, Sour Cream Pound Cake, Crème Brûlée Pound Cake, or Mexican Chocolate Pound Cake), You can generally leave them on the counter for up to seven days.

    For cakes that use a dairy-forward topping (like The Best Cream Cheese Glaze), you’ll want to also refrigerate them after one day. That would include cakes like my Bourbon Brown Butter Vanilla Pound Cake, my Ruby Red Velvet Pound Cake, my S’mores Pound Cake (with it’s incredible meringue topping), and my Gingersnap Pound Cake. These cakes can remain refrigerated for up to five days.

    With proper storage, you can expect cakes to taste perfect on your holiday tables! Nobody will ever know that you didn’t spend all morning baking and decorating that cake! 

    • 1-2 weeks before serving: bake the cake; brush with simple syrup; wrap and freeze
    • 2-3 days before serving: make and refrigerate the topping
    • Day of serving: revive the topping (usually by just stirring with either a spoon or small whisk), decorate with the final topping and serve!

    Layer Cakes

    Layer cakes follow many of the same freezing rules as pound cakes (plastic wrap/freezer paper/2 x plastic wrap). You still want to allow the cakes to cool fully before wrapping them and freezing them. You can keep them frozen up to two months. With many layer cakes (like my Brown Butter Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting), I don’t use a simple syrup. However, I do allow the layers to thaw fully, unwrapped, on cooling racks (for about 2-3 hours) before I build cake layers into the actual cake.

    Storage: Once again, proper layer cake storage depends on whether there is fruit or fruit/vegetable purees between the cake layers, and whether or not there is a dairy-forward topping (like a cream cheese frosting). 

    For cakes with fruit (strawberries, blueberries, peaches, etc.) baked into the sponge, you can keep the cake on the countertop for up to one day, though it’s best to refrigerate immediately. In the refrigerator, the built cake can last up to five days.

    For cakes without high-moisture ingredients (fruit and purees) baked into the sponge (like the aforesaid Brown Butter Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting), and without a cream cheese frosting, you can generally keep the cake on the countertop, covered, for 5-7 days.

    For cakes with a traditional vanilla or chocolate buttercream (with just enough milk to help with texture, and without cream cheese), you can keep the cakes on the countertop, covered, for 5-7 days. If this cake has high-moisture ingredients in the sponge, however, you’ll need to refrigerate it.

    For cakes with high-moisture ingredients (e.g. fruit) and/or cream cheese (like my Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting), you’ll want to refrigerate these for up to five days.

    • 1-2 weeks before serving: bake the cake; wrap and freeze
    • 1-3 days before serving: make and refrigerate the buttercream or topping (except for ganache, if using)
    • 1-2 days before serving: Build the layer cake, except for any final touches (like ganache)
    • Day of serving: make a quick ganache (if using), cut and serve!

    How to Store Pie Dough

    If there’s one thing that can make your holiday baking easier, it’s having pie crusts ready to go when you need them. The wonderful thing about pie dough is that it freezes beautifully, and with proper storage techniques, you’ll never be able to tell it wasn’t made the same day!

    When it comes to freezing pie dough, you have a couple of options; you can freeze the pie dough discs or you can freeze rolled out pie dough. The most important thing is protecting those beautiful butter pieces that create your flaky layers (like the successful pies that you’re going to make with my Easy All-Butter Pie Crust).

    Freezing Dough Discs

    For bulk pie dough, proper storage starts right after making the dough. After bringing your dough together, and before you even think about rolling it out, allow it to rest in the refrigerator for at least two hours. This rest time lets the flour fully hydrate, it allows the butter to solidify gradually from room temperature, and allows the gluten to relax. Once your dough has rested, split it into individual servings (for example, my Easy All-Butter Pie Crust makes enough for a top and bottom deep dish pie crust, so you would split the dough in half) and shape it into discs about 1 ½ inches thick – this shape will thaw more evenly than a ball and makes it easier to roll out later. It will also lie more flat in the freezer, which makes the most of that precious freezer space!

    Freezing Shaped Crusts

    For storing shaped crusts, I’ve found that disposable aluminum pie pans are absolutely perfect; they’re a great size for standard (not deep dish) pie crusts. Remember that they hold about half the volume of a deep dish pie plate, so adjust your filling amounts accordingly so that you don’t end up with a messy oven. 😣

    To prepare a rolled-out crust for freezing, make your pie dough and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for at least two hours (but up to overnight). Roll out the pie dough and then shape in the aluminum pan, as the recipe requires. Gently cover with crumpled parchment paper (the crumpling helps you gently press the parchment paper into the dough without damaging it), then gently wrap the entire pan in plastic wrap to eliminate as much air as possible. You can keep properly frozen, shaped crusts frozen for up to two months. If you’re one of the ambitious ones and you want to make a bunch of pie crusts, just remember to allow the pie crust on bottom to fully freeze before stacking others on top of it.

    Freezing Par-Baked Crusts

    For par-baked (or partially baked) crusts (essential for those Chocolate Pies and Lemon Meringue Pies of your dreams), you’ll want make the dough, then allow it to rest in the refrigerator for about two hours.  Roll out and place in an aluminum pie plate, then bake until the crust is just set but not browned (usually about 20 minutes with pie weights followed by 5-10 minutes without). Once it’s fully cooled completely, gently shape crumpled parchment paper over the pie crust, and then wrap the entire pan in plastic wrap. I freeze these par-baked shells for up to two weeks, though common thinking is that they can be frozen for up to a month.

    Reviving Pie Dough From Frozen

    To revive pie dough discs from frozen, you want to gradually thaw them for 18-24 hours in the refrigerator, and then you’ll want to place them on the countertop for 10-20 minutes before rolling them out. If they are very stiff, wait another 10 minutes and then try again.

    For frozen pie shells (whether raw or par-baked), you can either bake them straightaway from the freezer, adding an 10-15 extra minutes of bake time, or you can place them on the countertop for 10-15 minutes before filling and baking. You’ll still need to add some extra time to the bake, but the time on the countertop will knock off a touch of that freezer chill. Either way, keep a close eye on the oven during the baking process, as the actual amount of additional time could vary greatly.

    Preparing and Storing Pie Fillings

    When it comes to pie fillings, different types need different treatment. For fruit fillings like the one in my Classic Peach Pie, cook and cool them completely before storing in the refrigerator for up to four days. 

    Custard pie fillings, like the fillings in my Easy and Delicious Quiche or my Sweet Potato Pie, don’t freeze well, but they can be made 1-2 days ahead of baking and refrigerated in an airtight container (another reason to love deli cups!). For custards like lemon curd or pastry cream, always cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

    Storing Finished Pies

    For finished pies, storage depends entirely on the type. Fruit pies can stay at room temperature, loosely covered, for up to a day, but I urge you strongly to forego countertop storage and keep them in the refrigerator from day one. They can remain in the refrigerator for up to four days once they’re fully cooled. 

    Custard pies (whether baked or no-bake) must always be refrigerated and will keep for three to four days. I always recommend bringing refrigerated fruit pies to room temperature before serving for the best flavor, while custard pies should be served chilled.

    For standard pies:

    • Two weeks before serving: prepare and freeze pie dough, according to the chosen method, above
    • Two days before serving: move dough to refrigerator to thaw; make pie filling and store in an airtight container
    • Day before serving: fill pie and bake pie as directed; refrigerate overnight
    • Day of serving: remove from the refrigerator and enjoy!

    For no-bake pies:

    • Two weeks before: make and freeze the pie crust
    • 1-2 days before: make the filling; store in refrigerator in air-tight storage.
    • One day before: make the pie as recipe directs; cool and refrigerate overnight
    • Day of: remove from the refrigerator and serve!

    Friends, let me tell you one of my favorite make-ahead baking secrets: having cookie dough ready in your freezer means you’re always just minutes away from freshly baked cookies! This is especially wonderful during the busy holiday season, because December is the perfect time for cozy cookies on demand.

    For most cookies, like my Chocolate Chip Cookies or Snickerdoodle Cookies, freezing your portioned dough is absolutely game-changing. After mixing your dough according to the recipe, allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for 24 hours. This allows the flour to get fully hydrated, and also allows the butter to gently firm back up before the freezing process.

    After the 24-hour rest, use your regular cookie scoop to portion the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Pop these into the freezer until they’re solid (about two hours), then transfer them to a freezer container or bag. These little gems will keep perfectly for up to three months. To make them, you can bake them straight from frozen – just add an extra minute or two to your usual baking time. My personal favorite way is to allow the dough to defrost a bit, then bake. The butter, if frozen, will tend to create very puffy cookies.

    Once your cookies are baked, proper storage is key to maintaining their perfect texture. Store cookies in airtight containers at room temperature for up to a week. If you need to store them longer, most cookies freeze beautifully for up to three months – just be sure to thaw them completely before serving.

    • Two weeks before serving: prepare dough, refrigerate overnight, portion and freeze
    • 1 day before serving: defrost cookie dough in refrigerator for 18-24 hours (optional) OR bake from frozen, adding 2-4 minutes per side.
    • Day of event: Enjoy!

    How to Store Bread

    There’s something truly magical about fresh bread during the holidays, and yes, you can absolutely make it ahead! The key is understanding how different types of bread need different care. Let me guide you through the process I’ve perfected over years of holiday baking.

    Lean Breads

    For lean breads like my Simple Sunday Artisan Loaf, the primary goal is maintaining that perfectly crispy crust while keeping the inside tender and fresh. Once they’re baked, you never want to refrigerate these breads – the refrigerator makes them get stale and dry even faster. Instead, store them at room temperature in paper bags for two to three days, or cover and freeze them for up to three months if you need to store them for a longer period of time.

    It’s important to allow these breads to cool completely before wrapping and freezing – this prevents unwanted condensation (water) from getting trapped on the inside of your perfect wrapping. Once the bread is cool, wrap it carefully in plastic wrap, followed by freezer paper, then place the wrapped bread in a large freezer bag (or another two layers of plastic wrap, if it will not fit in a freezer bag). Store bread away from items that might crush it. When you’re ready to serve, thaw the bread at room temperature for about three hours, then pop into a 350°F oven for 5-15 minutes to warm it through and recreate a beautiful crust.

    Enriched Breads

    For enriched breads (think: cinnamon roll dough or my Perfect Sunday Dinner Rolls), the added butter, eggs, and sugar mean that storage has to take a different approach. These breads stay softer longer but need protection from drying out. When storing at room temperature, keep them in an airtight container for up to a day. For longer storage, it’s best to keep them in the freezer for up to two months. 

    • 2 weeks before: prepare and freeze bread
    • 1 day before: begin thawing process
    • Day of: finish thawing, warm if desired

    Conclusion: You’ve Got this, BB.

    Special occasions don’t have to be an occasion for stress and angst. With a little bit of planning, you, the maker, can have just as magical a time as all of your guests. 

    This season, it’s my prayer that you enjoy the holidays with your family and friends, and that these prep tips help you feel just a little less stressed about it all.

    We are here to help you succeed with your holiday baking planning! If you have questions about specific recipes, feel free to reach out to us at bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com, and we will be happy to help you! 

    Our Ask Me Anything holiday series is also a great way to learn actionable baking tips that will help you achieve meaningful improvements in your holiday planning and baking. I hope to see you on Instagram Live for a session or two!

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