Glazed Tangerine Pound Cake
+ last chance to save $100 on Nourish Yourself
Hi everyone,
Keeping it short and sweet for this last post of 2023, with the long-promised recipe for a tangerine pound cake that’s bound to make the last few days of your year extra-sweet.
This recipe is adapted from the Franny’s cookbook Franny's: Simple, Seasonal, Italian, which was co-authored by Melissa Clark, which is how you know it’s quality stuff. I bought this book ten years ago when it first came out, when the charming pizza and pasta spot (and birthplace of the kale salad as we know it) was still open in my old neighborhood of Prospect Heights in Brooklyn. It’s a book I don’t open often and cook out of even less (strong endorsements, I know), but every time I thumb through the pages, I’m glad I own it. Frankly, the Tangerine Cake recipe alone makes it worth it.
I’ve streamlined the original recipe a bit, most notably swapping the cake flour for good old all-purpose, which I’ve found makes just as delicious a cake. There’s tangerine and lemon juice *and* zest in the batter, which perfumes the cake with an intense cloud of citrus. The cake develops a pleasing, slightly crunchy crust as it bakes in the oven, but the crumb is like velvet. And the whole loaf gets lacquered with a barely-cooked tangerine glaze that captures the bright essence of fresh citrus and makes each bite taste light.
Two things I learned while baking several iterations of this cake: 1. You can absolutely use cold butter from the fridge if you’re using a heavy-duty stand mixer. The heat and friction generated by the mixer works magic on cold butter, and by the time it’s done creaming together with the sugar, voilà, it’s at room temperature and not overly soft and greasy and broken. If you’re using a stand mixer, warming up the butter by letting it sit on the counter for 15 minutes is sufficient; you’ll likely need to add a few extra minutes to the beating time for creaming the butter and sugar, as hand mixers are less powerful than stand mixers. 2. It is critical to spend the proper time and effort to scrape down the sides and bottom of your mixing bowl, as well as the paddle/beaters. Not doing so fails to produce a uniformly fluffy, luscious texture.
On a different note, I wanted to send out a reminder that today is the LAST DAY to sign up for the early bird special price for Nourish Yourself, the seven-week series I’m putting on with Cadence Dubus of Brooklyn Strength. Read all about it here, and get $100 off the series price when you sign up for early bird. We start January 6th—see you there?
Finally, thank you so, so much to every single one of you for being here, reading this newsletter, cooking recipes, and sharing it with your friends. I truly mean it when I say I couldn’t do this without your support, and I’m looking forward to continuing to connect with you all in 2024.
See you in the new year,
Chaey
