Pomegranate Pound Cake

I made it to post #50. Whew!

I wanted to bake a cake to mark the 50 post milestone. I contemplated baking a many-layered cake, and frosting it and decorating it with some pretty flourishes. But after a lot of plotting and scheming, I finally ended up with this. I guess, on some level, I really wanted the cake to reflect my cooking style. Simple, but with oodles of flavor.

I really like this cake. And my little girl, Aimee, has been walking around the house all day, chanting 'cake, cake, cake', and has eaten more than her fair share already. I can safely say she likes it too. My husband, well he has never been a fan of what he calls 'plain' cakes. Give him a dark, moist, rich chocolate cake, and he's happy. But he did eat a slice or two of this cake, and declared it 'very nice'! That's a high compliment, mind you!

So, here is my favorite pound cake recipe. I made one 6" bundt cake, and 1 mini-loaf (to give away). You could bake this in a 9" bundt tin or you could even make little pink-glazed cupcakes, garnished with edible red pomegranate 'jewels'! Imagine how cute those cupcakes would look!

Pomegranate Pound Cake
Ingredients
180g (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g (1 cup) sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lime zest

185g (1 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp baking soda

125ml creme fraiche
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds/arils (plus a handful for garnish)

Method
1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. Sift the flour with the baking soda, and set aside.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Add the zest, the vanilla, and the four egg yolks, and continue creaming for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the flour-soda mixture in three parts, alternating with the creme fraiche added in two parts. (You start and end with the flour mixture)
6. In a clean bowl, using a clean whisk (or whisk attachments) beat the egg whites until stiff.
7. Fold the egg whites into the batter gently until completely incorporated.
8. Gently stir in the pomegranate arils.
9. Pour batter into greased and floured baking tin, and bake until the top is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven, and allow to rest in the baking tin for 10 minutes.
11. Turn out of the pan, and allow it to cool completely on a cooling rack.
12. When cool, drizzle over the pomegranate glaze and garnish with more fresh pomegranate arils.

Pomegranate Glaze
50 ml fresh pomegranate juice
1/2 tsp lemon juice
200g icing sugar

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until smooth and light.
2. Adjust the quantity of icing sugar to make the glaze thinner or thicker, if desired

The cake is really moist - thanks to the creme fraiche, and very light, with tiny pink pomegranate arils peeking through. I love how pretty it looks! And I love the flavors too. The pomegranate flavor in the cake and the glaze are really subtle, and very fragrant.

I really loved how pretty  the shade of the glaze turned out. A lovely shade of pink without a drop of artificial food coloring! And with completely natural 'sprinkles', I felt really good about it! It doesn't get better than this!