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Eggnog Pound Cake Recipe

Filed under Dessert, Holiday

Eggnog Pound Cake

Here's a perfect cake for the holidays, an eggnog pound cake. This recipe is a favorite of my friend Evie, a professional pastry chef, who passed it on to us. If you like eggnog and pound cake, you'll love this recipe.

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Eggnog Pound Cake Recipe

Notes from Evie: Baked at convection setting I used a 325 degree oven. I've made mini cakes from this recipe and got 12 plus a mini loaf pan. I also found out that eggnog can be frozen if you don't have time to bake the cake and the eggnog is in danger of going sour.

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 1/2 cup dried currants, raisins or cranberries
  • 2 Tbsp dark rum or water
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 cup eggnog mixed with 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbsp grated orange zest

Glaze:

  • 3 Tbsp orange juice
  • 1 Tbsp dark rum
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar

Method

1 Soak currants in rum in a small bowl for 15 minutes.

2 Adjust rack to lower third of oven. Preheat the oven to 325°F (350°F if the pan doesn't have a dark finish). Butter a 9 to 10 inch bundt pan (original recipe calls for a Festive Cake Pan).

3 Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter until creamy, 30-45 seconds. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape bowl with a rubber spatula occasionally as needed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4 In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

5 At very low speed, add dry ingredients in 4 additions, alternating with eggnog (begin and end with dry ingredients). Scrape bowl occasionally. Gently fold in orange zest, currants and any remaining rum.

6 Spoon batter into pan; spread evenly. Bake 55-65 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center and pulls away from the sides of the pan. You can also use a long toothpick or thin bamboo skewer and insert into the thickest part of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done.

7 Remove from oven and cool upright in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes.

8 Prepare glaze by blending together sugar, orange juice, and rum.

9 Invert cake onto a rack, over a sheet of waxed paper. Use a pastry brush to brush the surface of the cake with the glaze. Cool completely before serving.

Serves 20.

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Posted by Elise on Dec 30, 2007 and indexed Cake, Eggnog, Holiday, Pound Cake

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Comments

I don't have a bundt pan... how well do you think two loaf pans would work instead? Should I change the cooking time at all?

Also, is the glaze REALLY supposed to be made from granulated sugar, not confectioners sugar? It seems like without heat, the granulated sugar would not form a good consistency glaze by just mixing it with the orange juice & rum

Posted by: Jess on December 27, 2005 6:27 AM

Hi Jess - I think you could easily use a loaf pan, but I don't have an idea about the cooking time. Regarding the glaze, the recipe actually calls for plain sugar, not confectioners. The original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp of rum to 2 Tbsp of water plus sugar. I think the idea is that the glaze is completely absorbed by the cake. That said, if you would prefer confectioner's, go for it!

Posted by: elise [TypeKey Profile Page] on December 27, 2005 8:32 AM

This was delicious! I made it in loaf pans (2) and they cooked for the same amount of time. I also noticed the recipe called for glazing the cake while it was still warm. I found this caused the sugar to melt and the granulated sugar worked just fine.

Posted by: Emily on December 30, 2005 8:17 PM

Thanks Emily! I'm so glad to hear that!! I'm making mine today (in 2 loaf pans) and taking one to a party tonight, so I was a bit nervous about how it would turn out. Now I'm excited!!

Posted by: Jess on December 31, 2005 9:05 AM

I made this recipe for the first time to take on New Year's eve...then got snowed out of going! My husband and I stayed in and enjoyed...he RAVED over this cake, and swore he was glad we didn't have to share it! *grin* Wonderful recipe!

Posted by: sera on January 2, 2006 7:16 AM

I made this cake and took over to my boyfriend for the weekend. He can't stop eating this thing. It is one of the best recipes I have made. For the icing, I instead mix powder sugar and eggnog then drizzled over the cake. It is definitely great to compromise the flavor of the cake. Maybe I will try next time by leaving out vanilla and use rum instead. Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe.

Posted by: Cherry Sue on November 13, 2006 10:23 AM

Elise, you may have finally found a way to get me to drink (albeit...eat) my eggnog.

Re: the granulated sugar in the glaze...I've made lemon pound cake glazes with gran. sugar, which called for gently warming the liquid with the sugar, until the sugar dissolves. For those concerned, that should do the trick. Another option is using superfine (also called castor or bartender's sugar). It's less coarse, dissolves faster, and the measurements are equal (1 to 1) to that of gran. sugar. Happy New Year all!

Posted by: jonathan on December 31, 2006 8:33 AM

Can you use cake flour instead of AP flour? How would that affect the texture of the cake?

Posted by: Amy on December 31, 2006 12:34 PM

Wonderful recipe I will have to try very soon! Regarding the rum, I make a caramel cake with icing flavored with a mixture of maple and rum extracts (I highly recommend the combination!!) I'm going to try mixing the flavoring in this cake, also. I'll let you know how it goes! The granulated sugar reminds me of those lemon cakes that the icing is meant to melt in to make the cake moist, so it should work out.

Posted by: Anonymous on December 31, 2006 8:38 PM

Mmmm eggnog. One of the few winter beverages I miss, being outside the US. I was actually tempted to try making my own this year but ran out of milk (curse you mashed potatoes)! maybe next year ;) or better yet, maybe next year at home with eggnog cake. Happy holidays.

Posted by: rai on January 2, 2007 6:46 AM

Elise -- this recipe has been rattling around in the back of my mind for a long time and I want to try it for the holidays this year. It sounds wonderful! Question: do you think it can be made ahead and frozen for a short time without spoiling the outcome? Or do you have other suggestions for short term storage if made ahead?
Thanks!

Posted by: Lou on December 12, 2007 5:59 AM

I am wondering which Flo Braker recipe this is based on. I recently bought her book, and don't see anything like it at a glance...

Evie tells me that it isn't in one of Flo's books, but it was published at some point in an article. ~Elise

Posted by: Gail on December 31, 2007 10:23 AM

I have used your recipe twice - one time to make a loaf & another time into individual cupcakes/muffins. The result was not too sweet, not too buttery - just simply light, fluffy & delicious. Zest + baked goods seem to make a great pair. Thank you.

Posted by: Debra on January 3, 2008 10:34 AM

I made this cake exactly as called for and took it to a family gathering on New Year's Day. This cake was " the hit " of the day! Everyone absolutely loved it! Although there were a variety of other desserts and sweets there, this cake was the most talked about and most liked of all the other sweets. Thanks for posting this delicious recipe, Elise!

Posted by: Michael on January 4, 2008 9:23 AM

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