apricot Brandy poundcake

[Guts]

okay, I've done the peanut butter cake and the chocolate marble cake, which I will make reference to the chocolate marble cake later.

This apricot Brandy pound cake is definitely my favorite cake of all times. I've been making this cake for at least 10 years if not longer. It seems to be a crowd pleaser. the cake is not a inexpensive cake to make but well worth the price in my opinion. You have to have five different extracts and apricot Brandy, which are the expensive items. Not to mention the sour cream, sugar, butter and eggs. I have taken some pictures of the ingredients leaving out the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt in the picture so please take note of that. The second picture is the sour cream extracts and Brandy. Mix together ready to go in the mixer after the butter and sugar and eggs are creamed together. The third picture is the batter just before it's ready to go into the Bundt pan.. I have a YouTube short clip of this batter that I will post in a separate post. The purpose of this is to show the consistency of the batter. If you're butter and eggs are cold. You will not get this consistency. So that is the purpose of the YouTube clip. Now I said I would say something about the chocolate marble cake. When making the chocolate marble cake. There are different ingredients but the consistency of the batter is the same as this apricot Brandy cake. When making the chocolate marble cake you make the batter as I've done in this cake. And remove half of it and then add the chocolate to the second half. That's all I'm going to say about the chocolate marble cake in this post. The fourth picture is the batter in the pan ready to go in the oven. The fifth picture is apricot Brandy pound cake ready to be removed from the oven. After one hour and 25 min. at 325°f. The pictures 5 through 8 speak for themselves... the ingredients in this recipe also show grams. If you're unfamiliar with the working with the weights please use the cups and spoons portion of the recipe. One other note GMAP = General Mills all-purpose flour/ and GMCF = General Mills Cake Flour which I used for the first time today. I will be using GMCF from here on out, it seems to have a lighter and more delicate texture. In my opinion. Here's the recipe/formula.

Apricot Brandy Pound cake

3 cups sugar 603 grams
1 cup butter, softened 226 grams
6 eggs 55 grams each / 330 grams
3 cups flour 454 grams GMAP/448 grams GMCF - PURASNOW BAKERS HI-RATIO CAKE FLOUR BLEACHED-ENRICHED-
1/4 t. baking soda 1.7 grams
1 t. salt 7 grams
1 cup sour cream 255 grams
2 t. rum extract 14 grams
1 t. orange extract 14 grams
1/4 t. almond extract 14 grams
1/4 t. lemon extract 14 grams
1 t. vanilla extract 14 grams
1/2 cup Apricot brandy (you could use peach instead of apricot, if you prefer). 2/3 cup/150ml/ 160 grams
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Combine dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture alternately sour cream which have been mixed with the brandy and extracts.
Pour into well greased and floured 10" Bundt pan or tube pan.
Bake at 325º for 1 hour and 20 - 25 minutes or until cake tests done. 325° for one hour 25 minutes seems to be correct. If you know your oven. In a hotter oven it could be done in one hour 325° is an important number for this cake.
Serves 12 to 16

[Guts]

here's the short YouTube showing the consistency of the batter ready to go in to the Bundt pan. Notice the mixer is added medium speed . This seems to help incorporate air into the batter in my opinion. Here's the clip.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqXJCbnFg8M

[Mr. Green Jeans]

I'm normally not a dessert guy but this is worthy of those special occasions. Like maybe about anniversary time 7/2 when the raspberries happen to be ripe. Thanks for posting!

[QSis]

Holy moly, what a beautiful cake, Guts!!!

Thanks for posting all the terrific pictures, too!

Lee

[MexicoKaren]

Oh my, that cake has a beautiful crumb. Thanks for sharing it with us, Kim. What do you suggest (if anything) as a sub for the apricot brandy? My DD has been clean and sober for 26 years, since she was 16. Out of respect for her (and she LOVES cake), I leave out the spirits if she is coming for dinner. If she sees this cake, she'll want some, and I'd like to share it with her. Anyone have some good ideas for substitutes?

[SilverSage]

Can you get apricot nectar or apricot jam? I think you could use either of those for the flavor.

If you use nectar, you'd probably want to cut it with water for the liquid consistency, to make sure you have enough liquid in the batter.

If you use jam, just replace most of the alcohol with water, then add a big wallop of jam. Maybe even melt the jam first?

Either of these might make the cake just a little bit sweeter than the brandy would, so you might think about cutting back the sugar just a bit, but you'd have to be cautious not to cut it too much or you can toughen the cake. With such a high ratio of sugar to flour, it looks like a very sweet cake to begin with. Kim could you answer that? Is this a very sweet cake?

Maybe someone else has a better idea.

[MexicoKaren]

Thanks, SS - yes, I can get both of those items. I was thinking apricot jam, melted. It would be a slightly different cake, but should still be good.

[Guts]

sorry I waited so long to reply here. As SS said one half a cup liquid has to do with the hydration of the cake. The cake is a sweet cake and does not need any Frost although if you really like sweet, you could make some sort of apricot glaze that can be served on top of it. Karen you mentioned your daughter have been clean and sober for 26 years congratulations to her. I applaud her! With that being said, give you a little insight to my life. Back in the 60s and early 70s I did heroin. I'm not proud of that. It's just a fact. I also smoke cigarettes and drink like a fish. The drugs were the first thing I quit, smoking cigarettes was a second thing I quit 1996.. Then there was alcohol quit drinking and 2003-2005 that I started drinking again. But not as heavy as I was drinking. In the beginning of 2010 I quit drinking again and have not had a drink in a year. I do use alcohol in my cooking. I don't consider it to be the same thing as drinking alcohol. As of much of the Burns off during the cooking process. I can't say I've ever seen or known of a person who ingested a small amount of alcohol in a food product, whatever it might be turned back into an alcoholic. After so many years of being sober . It is of my opinion that a little brandy in a cake would not be of any consequence and that is just my opinion. Okay I am going to make a very bold statement here!!! After quitting heroin cigarettes and alcohol . I'm going to give my advice that works for everyone on how to quit drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, which are more like a habit then a physical addiction. It is so simple and easy to do!

Very simple... You just don't do it anymore... It is that easy...

Now with that statement. I just made it all boils down to the individual if they really want to quit or not. I apologize to everyone who reads this post about voicing my opinion about substance abuse. I believe after what I've been through in my life that the very simple and obvious works for everyone, not just me. If you don't want to quit something such as cigarettes by all means, don't even try! But if you do have a dependency on a substance and you want to quit. Just follow my simple advice.

Disclaimer; I am voicing my opinion and my opinion only in this post, with no intent to stir anything up or cause trouble, so please take what I said with a grain of salt.

Well, I really went off topic here! Getting back to your question Karen I think whatever you substitute for the 1/2 cup of apricot Brandy should be as liquid as the Brandy itself.

[MexicoKaren]

Thanks for the good advice, and for the frank discussion of your own issues. I appreciate it. Congratulations on getting your life in order.

I do think you are right about including alcohol in cooking, for the most part. I occasionally use wine to deglaze a pan when DD is eating with us, but I think most of the alcohol burns off quickly that way. If you do a google search on the subject, you'll find that the same thing is not necessarily true when you are baking. But having said that, I don't think it is a huge problem for most people who have been sober for awhile. For someone who is newly sober, I think that may not be true, especially if the taste is strong. I would never want to create a stumbling block for anyone. And others have their own varied reasons for not including alcohol in their cooking, and I respect that.

I just don't want to alter the texture of that beautiful cake, so I'll proceed carefully.

[Guts]

Karen the texture of the cake was changed more by using cake flour versus all-purpose flour. I believe the cake flour makes the cake a little more moist and softer texture. I have always used all-purpose flour when making this cake before. The apricot Brandy in this cake is really what makes this cake so good. I have tried peach brandy which came out with a good taste and texture, but the aroma was not what I hope for for some reason apricot just seems to have a better aroma than peach. This Apricot Brandy cake has been a staple in my home for many years, I make at least six of them. If not more a year more around the holidays when company is expected or to take the parties. I have been given many compliments on this cake. When I do take them to gatherings. I do not get any flavor or hint of alcohol when eating the cake just the extracts and the aroma of the cake itself.thank you Karen for respecting my point of view and I respect yours. Also!

There are other reasons for not using alcohol in recipes that I didn't even think about. One being religion for those people I would say this cake is not for you.