10.25.2010

pomegranate and almond pound cake

the other day i was wandering through the grocery store, trying to decide what i wanted for lunch after getting goodies for my pantry. the pomegranates were on sale, and i absolutely love pomegranates, so i threw one into my cart. i began the process of getting the seeds out, which is always a little more work than i remember...and by the time i'd gotten everything out, i decided that i needed to use the seeds for something more exciting than my lunch.


this cake is super easy to make, and has a great combination of flavors. plus, using yogurt instead of milk gives the cake a great texture.

you will need:
1 fresh pomegranate
1 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 egg white
3/4 cup yogurt (i used greek vanilla yogurt, but regular is fine too)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp bourbon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup almonds, crushed or sliced
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp milk


preheat your oven to 350 degrees. change into a shirt you don't care about, then seed the pomegranate. i didn't take pictures of this process since i decided to make a cake about halfway through it, but here are some great instructions on how to do it. wash the seeds well and make sure you don't have any pith.


use cooking spray or butter to thoroughly grease your bundt pan, then gently flour it. set this aside.


in a medium bowl, combine the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until well combined.


add the two eggs and the white to this mixture one at a time, still using the electric mixer. whip it all together so that it has a nice, fluffy texture.

in a larger bowl, combine the yogurt, lemon juice, vanilla extra and baking soda. 


slowly add the flour and the salt. it's a bit hard to stir, but combine as well as you can with a spatula.


add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and stir well, then add the pomegranate seeds.


stir until the seeds are well distributed throughout the dough, then put the whole thing into the greased and floured bundt pan. (you can also use a loaf pan.)


sprinkle the almonds on top. i just crushed mine in a food processor, but sliced almonds would look beautiful. be sure to press them into the cake so that they won't fall off once baked.


bake. i left mine in for an hour, and i think it was a bit overdone - try for 40-45 minutes and evaluate. you want a toothpick to come out clean.

let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then flip out gently and let cool completely on a cooling rack.


combine the confectioner's sugar and milk in a small bowl. i also added a splash of vanilla extract, but you could also add a little pomegranate juice or almond extract if you prefer. make sure the icing is nice and thick, and drizzle over the cake. serve to your adoring public.



(i brought this cake to a halloween party, so unfortunately i don't have any shots of the cake once it's sliced - but the pomegranate seeds look gorgeous in this cake. great with ice cream, especially topped with some fresh pomegranate seeds. delicious!)

1 comment:

  1. Meg, I've made all your recipes and simply have too much time on my hands! Give your adoring public more!

    ReplyDelete

thanks so much for reading!