by SavvyJulie
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Expand1 1/2 sticks butter, softened, plus more for the pan Ask a question about this ingredient
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan Ask a question about this ingredient
2 tablespoons olive oil Ask a question about this ingredient
1 1/4 cup sugar Ask a question about this ingredient
1/4 cup brown sugar Ask a question about this ingredient
3 large eggs Ask a question about this ingredient
1/2 teaspoon salt Ask a question about this ingredient
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste Ask a question about this ingredient
1 teaspoon ground cardamom Ask a question about this ingredient
1 tablespoon clementine zest, from about 2 clementines Ask a question about this ingredient
4 tablespoons clementine juice, from about 2 clementines Ask a question about this ingredient
Heat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9x5x3″ loaf pan.
Ask a question about this stepCream the butter, olive oil and sugars together until smooth.
Ask a question about this stepMix in the eggs, one at a time, until completely blended.
Ask a question about this stepStir in 1 cup of the flour, followed by the salt, vanilla, cardamom, clementine zest and juice.
Ask a question about this stepAdd the milk and the rest of the flour. Beat until the batter is smooth and consistent, but do not over-beat!
Ask a question about this stepScrape the cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the edges are browned and just pulling away from the sides of the pan, and a cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Ask a question about this stepAllow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Run a knife or spatula around the edges of the cake to release it from the pan, and flip onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Ask a question about this stepexcellent flavors. i skipped the cardamom because we didn't have any, but it still tasted great. very nutty and citrusy. also, i baked this for only 1:05 and it got really hard and crunchy around the edges, which is something i rather like but i realize isn't standard for poundcake :D
thanks for the lovely cake.
Made this yesterday for a dinner party last night - and just love love loved it. Easy and perfect flavors. Thanks so much for a great recipe!!
Oh, I meant to add that I made a strawberry conserve to go with it and it was a wonderful combination.
Cake's in the own now. I havent licked this much batter in years - divine! Planning to serve with fresh strawberry compote. Very excited.
Made this last weekend! It literally disappeared off the plate in minutes. I took your advice and spent a good deal of time on the creaming process and it came out beautifully. Thanks so much SavvyJulie! Will be making this again & again ...
This bread is delicious. It was hard to wait for it to completely cool, but well worth the wait!!
omg - this cake disappeared in like 2 seconds in the office this morning. Delicious!
Made this cake this morning and added in a blood orange. The smell was a great way to wake up. Looking forward to having that first slice tonight!
Awk! I just put the cake in the oven and realized I forgot the olive oil. Wondering how serious a mistake this will turn out to be...
Pound cake is in the oven, and my apartment couldn't smell better. It's going to be a good night.
I made the cake with McCormick's ground cardamom and did not have that problem. I baked it ahead so it wasn't eaten until it was two days old -- then and even a couple of days later, the clementine flavor was dominant. Funny you should mention a glaze, though -- I was thinking as I ate a piece last night that the cake, while delicious, would be even better with a glaze. Next time!
Wondering if anyone else has made this, and then eaten it after three days. I made it on Friday for a dinner party on Saturday. (Glazed it with a light blueberry syrup from raw pack blueberries I'd put up last summer, which I reduced then brightened with some Meyer lemon zest). I put aside two slices for our dessert last night. The cardamom was overwhelming in those last two pieces. You could not taste the clementines, and you could not taste the cake. All you could taste was the cardamom. I understand that the author of this recipe used ground cardamom (i.e., already-ground when purchased), and I used cardamom seeds that I had removed from pods, then crushed fairly fine using my mortar and pestle (but didn't grind them in an electric mill). Could that be the difference? Is there something about cardamom that makes it intensify over time? I'll post this to foodpickle as well. I'm interested in knowing whether the food52 testers had the same issue. I suppose it could also be the type of cardamom I bought (at an Indian grocer, which looked exactly like all of the other green cardamom pods I've ever bought). Also, I only used 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom, measuring after I crushed it, because I kow from other uses that a little goes a long way. Help!! ;o)
I have not made this cake yet, but I do use quite a bit of cardamom in baking. Since I always grind mine from fresh, I reduce the amount I add to baked goods by about one-half. The freshly ground is much more potent than the stuff that comes already ground. I can only imagine that the freshly crushed would be also.
This same thing happened to me when I made aargesi's cardamom cranberry coffee cake. The flavors were well-balanced on the first two days, but by day 4, the cardamom was very strong. I think this is a spice that intensifies over time.
I made this on Sunday, but added more clementine juice for added zing. Unfortunately, I had to used sweetened ground vanilla as it's all I could find locally here in Spain but the vanilla flavour still came through nicely. I love vanilla so I used 2 teaspoons. I bought what little was left into the office and everybody enjoyed it.
Thanks, Julie!. I will beat more between eggs to incorporate more air. The cake is still wonderful, albeit very low to the ground!
I've tried and tried to make poundcake with no luck. However!!!! This is the perfect recipe because it turned out beautifully! I only had whole wheat flour and it has this beautiful color to it. I also had a smaller size pan so I had to cook it a bit longer but overall it is EXCELLENT!!! Thanks for the recipe and congrats on the W I N!!
I just made the cake and it is delicious. However, it is only a couple of inches high. I notice all my other poundcakes call for baking powder, but this one did not. Not an omission, is it? Did I do something wrong since the cake is so "low". The picture of your cake looks much higher. I did use the right size pan. Thanks!
No, there is no baking powder or baking soda in the cake. Did you cream the butter, oil and sugar together before adding the rest of the ingredients?
The key to making any pound cake turn out, regardless of whether it has a chemical leavener, is to beat the butter and sugar for a good long time, until they are practically white and almost look like frosting, at the outset. Then add the eggs one at a time, and beat very, very well between each egg addition. (I almost never use an electric mixer when making cakes and cookies. I do for pound cakes for this reason.) A well-made pound cake takes a long time to prepare, before putting it in the oven. Olive oil also makes baked goods much more dense. ;o)
@AntoniaJames: I call the consistency needed for the creamed butter and sugar "fluffy as a shampooed cat!"
Love that tip, Antonia!
Me, too, AJ! I wish there were a "like" button on people's answers!
Awww shucks, you guys, you're way too nice. ChefJune, that's hilarious! (Not sure I've ever met a cat who'd allow you to shampoo it, but I love the image!!) ;o)
This sounds great and I'm looking forward to trying it - when you say a stick and half of butter, how many tablespoons is that? I'm also assuming you mean sweet butter
12 tablespoons!
I LOVE pound cke. Will be making this one while Clementines are still in the market.
Congrats on the win.
Sounds terrific! I have some wonderful Cara Cara oranges I want to try here. Can't wait!
Congrats! on your win! I've made this twice so far to rave reviews. Absolutely delicious, so moist and such a great aroma. Thanks again for sharing your recipe
I'm so glad you like it!
We just made this but substituted lemons and grated nutmeg for the clementines and cardamom. It turned out great - thanks so much for the recipe, and CONGRATS!
Just made this and it is delicious! So much for losing those winter pounds this week haha. Hope you win!
Congratulations! I'm going to try this with Meyer lemons...
Congrats! This recipe definitely deserves a place in the book. Cheers!
Last summer, we were in Sweden and a friend gave us a wonderful cardamom cake that I've been trying to duplicate. Hers did not have the citrus, but your description, "It is that rich," makes me think that your recipe might be a good replacement for what I've been looking for. But still, do you mind saying--what do you think is the role of the citrus in your recipe? Did you always have it there? Do you think it's what makes the cake, or are there other versions you like as well?
I developed this cake recipe specifically with the clementine flavors in mind. However, I think you could easily replace it with some vanilla and additional cardamom if you want to focus purely on the spice. Let me know if you try it!
Wow! I had just printed out your recipe to start to experiment with when I saw that congratulations are in order! A great win.
I am always looking for uses for Clementines and this sounds like a perfect way to use them.
Congrats on being chosen as a finalist :) I'll be checking out the blog!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! You just made my morning!
I hope you like it -- let me know what you think!
This sounds so good! that I'm making it right now! Congrats on being a finalist, this turned into such a big category contest!
How did it turn out??
Thank you so much for your congratulations. It is such an honor to be chosen as a finalist!
Congrats on being a finalist. Your recipe sounds delicious. I missed it before.
What a great cake! Congrats on the EP and on being a finalist!
This looks like a wonderful recipe! Could you make it with Meyer Lemons, do you think? Instead of clementines?
I don't see why not!
the meyer lemons sound like a great addition/substitution!! YUM!
Congrats! This cake sounds really, really good. I would probably need to leave the house to not give into temptation while waiting for it to cool!
I took the dog out for a walk to keep from cutting into the cake too soon :)
Good idea - work off some of the calories you'll be enjoying later & not ruin the beautiful cake!
Congratulations on your nomination! As a side note, I just visited your blog, and as a quinoa lover myself, I was excited to see so many grain recipes. I'll be trying many of them, as well as this delicious-looking cake.
Quinoa is one of my all-time favorites. Thanks for visiting my blog!
I never saw this one! So excited about it...truly love pound cake! Cannot wait to try it. The crust looks divine.
Mmmmm this sounds fantastic, congratulations!
How did I miss this? I LOVE everything about it! Congratulations on being a finalist!
Congrats on being a finalist! This sounds lovely and I bet it smells wonderful.
This sounds so good! Congrats on being a finalist!
congrats, savvyjulie!
This sounds delicious! I missed it the first time around. Congrats!
Anita is a vegan pastry chef & founder of Electric Blue Baking Co. in Brooklyn.
I made this cake over the weekend. Delicious! I followed AntoniaJames advice for traditional poundcake's extra-long creaming method. I also reduced the cardamom by 1/2. The result was a tall, moist cake with a beautiful crumb and a perfect balance of flavors. Thank you so much! Like tinabeans, my cake was done in an hour, so I recommend everyone check the cake early.