Crème Fraîche Poundcake Recipe (2024)

Poundcake is often better in my imagination than in my mouth. Should be buttery and not too sweet. I made this as Melissa directs, but skipped steps 6-9. The cake is perfect. The texture is not heavy and crumbly like some poundcakes can be. The cornstarch tenderizes the flour. Sour cream also tenderizes the flour and makes the cake rise better. Swap in full fat greek yogurt in same proportions. Whipping cream for creme fraiche works the same in the glaze-but the glaze is skippable.

the reason for the cornstarch is to lighten the flour so you don't have to purchase "cake" flour.

it's to dilute the volume of flour with something that's got no gluten. it doesn't really make the ap flour more like cake flour. cake flour is more finely milled and bleached with chlorine. ap flour is about 11% protein, cake flour is about 6.5%. cake flour makes for a more acidic batter which weakens the gluten (vinegar in pie crust) and fools around with the ability of the starch to absorb liquid and fat. i think a slightly more acidic batter starts to set more quickly too.

Absolutely perfect! I made this with about 3/4 teaspoon on baking powder, it is delicious. I even splurged and bought the $5.00 pint of Creme Fraiche. Let me say here, sour cream and creme fraiche are NOT the same! Even made the frosting and as Melissa says it has a great soft crunch with every bite. Will make again and again

The standard egg size in all recipes is large.

The best way to reduce the sugar in this recipe is to omit the glaze. Or, probably better, find a quick bread-style loaf cake that relies more on chemical leavening. Pound cakes rely on sugar for structure, so you'll quickly change the texture of the cake by cutting the sugar. Reducing the flour is likely to leave you with a greasy mess -- and reducing everything will simply give you less cake.

I prefer pound cake baked in a tube or loaf pan. What size is comparable to the 9x5 loaf pan?

Can I sub in full-fat Greek yogurt, which I have and will never eat, for creme fraiche, which I don't have but also would never eat?

Wonderful! In a hurry to share my Sunday bake cake with grandchildren, I, too, skipped steps 6-9. Used the 1 tsp baking powder. Lovely cake, plenty sweet, nice slightly lighter pound cake texture. Looking forward to using it as a base for summer fruits and freshly whipped, slightly sweetened cream.

Fantastic! Really good flavor to this cake. Followed this recipe exactly and it came out perfectly! It can get a little oversweet while eating so I’d cut the syrup-soak to 2 Tbsp and only do half the glaze on the cake...but who cares if it is oversweet, it’s delicious!

Why do Times recipes insist on sea salt when only tiny amounts are used? It can’t possibly make a difference.

Metal for all baking, except pies.

Just finished making this pound cake. Yum! Wondering how to store cake after it is cut. Refrigerate? Wrap in plastic? and leave on counter? Also, how many days can I leave this wrapped in refrig or on counter?

Melissa’s notes on baking powder were very interesting. I used 1 tsp. and was quite happy with the crumb. Next time, however, I will use much less sugar in the batter - it’s just too sweet for me. To tone it down, I put no syrup in the cake after baking and I made icing out of creme fraiche whipped with a little water and about 1 tsp of powered sugar. This cut the sweetness of the cake enough for my taste.

Oh my! This is going in my oven and on my table today. I loved the Melissa's citrus pound cake from a few months ago - that had cornstarch, too.

I made as directed but didn't do the syrup or glaze. the flavor is great. But the cake is way too oily / greasy for my taste. I won't make again.

Another wonderful recipe! thank you, Melissa!

This is really good. Love to use this cake in place of Angel food cake for strawberry shortcake. It’s wonderful on its own with a cup of tea. Never tried to the glaze the sugary crust is divine.

Tender and buttery, this cake is perfect for teatime. It’s also great for using up excess creme fraiche which I happened to have. I added 1 tsp of baking powder. The cake really isn’t that sweet despite what some readers have said. What IS sweet is the glaze though I would recommend that you add it as it gives the cake a lovely crackly top that melts in your mouth when you bite into the cake. More confectioners sugar is needed as the original recipe is too thin/liquid.

This was too sweet

Delightful, but by following the recipe I found it to be drier than I prefer. In the future, I would probably add the vanilla extract at the same time as the crème fraîche and then mix in the rest of the flour mixture until just combined.

I’d reduce the sugar… and it didn’t need the glaze. Very yummy

11/27/21: 1 tsp. baking powder, 65 minutes baking.

Followed the recipe exactly and the results were beautiful. Very pleased with how it turned out - 55 min on the dot, 3/4t b. powder. Day one I was too excited and ate it warm before it cooled. It was good but very sweet. The next day was better but the day after that was when the flavor really shined! Loved the crunchy exterior, plush interior and the syrup poke trick. I will make again and in advance since it ages so well.

This is more like dessert though really tasty with a cuppa tea. I’m in London testing recipes for a charity breakfast I’m cooking for.I had recently made smetana a Russian sour cream made with heavy cream and buttermilk solidifying over days with bouts in and out of the fridge. I used that instead of crème Fraiche.I improvised with lemon juice in the glaze as I ran out of vanilla. I’ll use vanilla in the next recipe. The glaze is more like cream poured over top. Very moist and enjoyable.

Absolutely adored this recipe with the changes I made: cut the sugar to 200 grams, used parchment and no sugar in the pan and skipped all of the glazes/poking and adding sugar water. This was still PLENTY sweet for our family and I could even see scaling back the sugar a bit more. It would be lovely with some lemon zest added in the batter.

I baked this cake to use up leftover crème fraîche and cake flour (200g instead of AP flour/cornstarch). It was moist and delicious but quite sweet as expected w/250g of sugar + 1T of vanilla extract! Since I was just serving to my household, I skipped the syrup/glaze and we didn't miss it.

One of the best pouncakes ever.Love the glaze

I made this in a 4.5 x 8.5 Pyrex loaf pan and used all of the mix. No issue at all with overflowing. At 350, it took almost one hour and 20 min, as the top of the cake was still runny. After one hour, I covered it with aluminum foil to prevent too much browning. I followed the recipe exactly except used one cup of sugar instead of one and a quarter. Didn’t need the syrup. Was perfectly sweet and the crust was amazing. Tasted even better the next day!

I’ve finally found my go-to pound cake. I used sour cream and full tsp. of baking soda. I didn’t make glaze but did add fresh white peaches ala the Peach Melba Shortcakes recipe on the site and used the syrup from that. We wanted to lick the plates.