No Birds Were Harmed In The Baking Of This Cake

Feb 23, 2006
Occasion: None really, just have an urge
Name of Cake: Hummingbird Poundcake (from 3 Bowls)
Constituents: WWPF poundcake sweetened with honey and maple syrup, with applesauce and banana and peaches served with vanilla whipped cream

So I have an urge to bake, and here’s a little reason: circle meeting tonight! There are people in my circle who have dumped sugar from their diet, are looking to stay healthy, and in general love my baking but are kind of happier when I don’t bring stuff around….(evil I am indeed).

So for them, I popped open the 3 Bowls to find an appropriate recipe. And found this!

I am thinking of replacing some of the WWPF with almond flour, just for the sheer hell of it. And, because it would make it even healthier! What the hell is wrong with me?!

I have decided it would behoove me to type up the recipes I am planning on baking for two reaons: 1. I won’t keep trashing my books 2. I can tape the recipe up to the cupboard so it’s easy to find and read whilst baking.

See how smart I can be. I have a post graduate degree. It shows.

trashed baking book

Hmm. Since I am adding a cup of almond flour, I might whip up the eggs to get some more air and help the cake rise a bit. I guess it just depends on how dense I want the cake to be, or how lazy I am feeling.

Well, we just cancelled circle meeting, and now I have this giant poundcake sitting quite nicely on my table. Oh no, I can’t eat it all by myself! At least not in one sitting!

The 3 Bowls cakes are really easy to put together. This sucker came together fast; I even whipped the eggs separately, just like I said I might. I don’t know if it really made any difference. I added an extra tsp of vanilla, and only used 1 tsp of cinnamon because the applesauce had cinnamon in it already.

I picked at it a little bit and it is a dense, heavily textured cake. It isn’t very sweet because I only used a half the sweetener called for (1/2 cup instead of 1 cup). I did this because the applesauce was already sweetened and the canned peaches were in light syrup. Letting the cake be as little sweet as it is really makes the peaches a little kick of sweet and juicy. Kind of nice, actually. I was feeling too lazy to whip up the cream, but now I am thinking something smooth and light and airy and creamy would go well with the grainy, homey, hummingbird poundcake. The banana flavor is really strong too. I bet strawberries instead of peaches would be tasty.

I ate my piece of cake and let me tell you: mush city. What is it with these cakes with all the healthy ingredients--too much moisture! Maybe tomorrow it will have a chance to sort itself out and firm up a bit. So, B- on texture--mushy and grainy all at the same time. Taste, I'd give it a 6.50. It is mostly banana and peach, and you can taste the mineral-ness of the maple syrup, but the cinnamon and vanilla tastes did not land their jumps.

Laziness won out over whipping the cream, and that's okay.

Why are all the "healthy" cakes so darn mushy? Is it
a) the pans--not conducting the heat so well?
b) the oven temp--too high?
c) the baker--too lazy?
d) the recipes--too much moisture? and people like it this mushy? what's wrong with them?

anyhoo. off to bed.