So I need you to trust me and to embrace a bit of culinary adventure. Last night, while shuffling through one of my many baking books from the library, I found a recipe for pound cake. I love pound cake, and I'm always looking for different ways to spice up the traditional combination of butter, flour, eggs and sugar. At our local supermarket this week, there was a sale on avocados, three for a dollar, and so of course, I bought six or seven. With all of these ripe avocados sitting on my counter and a recipe for pound cake sitting in my lap, I began to brainstorm. One of the main components in pound cake is butter, which while making it taste fantastic, doesn't exactly make this dessert heart-healthy. Creamy avocados, on the other hand, are a wonderful source of heart-healthy fats. What if I substituted some of the butter with a mashed, ripe avocado? I began looking online, and I found several recipes that utilized avocado in baked goods, and so I felt confident my recipe adaptation would work.
I followed the recipe exactly except for subbing a good deal of the butter with mashed avocado. When you try this recipe, make sure you have a very ripe avocado on hand. If not, your batter will never combine the way it needs to- it should be smooth and not lumpy. This pound cake is spectacular. It bakes up with a lovely green hue and tastes rich and creamy. The avocado flavor is subtle but present enough to be appreciated. I added some lemon juice to my batter and poured a simple lemon syrup on top, which added a layer of brightness to the flavor palette. This would be a wonderful cake to bake for St. Patrick's Day next week.
Avocado Pound Cake
3 TBSP butter (room temperature)
1 large ripe avocado, mashed well with a fork
3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten and at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sour cream (yogurt would be great substitute)
1. Grease and flour 3 mini loaf pans or one large loaf pan. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. With a stand mixer, beat together the butter, avocado and sugar until light and creamy (about 5-6 minutes). With the mixer running on medium, add the beaten eggs to the batter, one tablespoon at a time. Beat until well combined. Stir in your vanilla extract and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine your flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together to combine.
4. Alternating between the flour mixture and the sour cream, add the remaining ingredients to the wet batter. Beat until just combined and pour into prepared pans.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes if using a regular loaf pan or 25-30 minutes if using mini pans. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before removing from pans.
Simple Syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1. While cake is baking, combine sugar and lemon juice on a pan. Heat over medium low heat until sugar dissolves.
2. Right after you remove your cakes from the oven, poke holes in the cake with a toothpick and pour syrup over top. Allow the cakes to cool completely in pan before removing.
3 TBSP butter (room temperature)
1 large ripe avocado, mashed well with a fork
3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten and at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sour cream (yogurt would be great substitute)
1. Grease and flour 3 mini loaf pans or one large loaf pan. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. With a stand mixer, beat together the butter, avocado and sugar until light and creamy (about 5-6 minutes). With the mixer running on medium, add the beaten eggs to the batter, one tablespoon at a time. Beat until well combined. Stir in your vanilla extract and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine your flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together to combine.
4. Alternating between the flour mixture and the sour cream, add the remaining ingredients to the wet batter. Beat until just combined and pour into prepared pans.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes if using a regular loaf pan or 25-30 minutes if using mini pans. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before removing from pans.
Simple Syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1. While cake is baking, combine sugar and lemon juice on a pan. Heat over medium low heat until sugar dissolves.
2. Right after you remove your cakes from the oven, poke holes in the cake with a toothpick and pour syrup over top. Allow the cakes to cool completely in pan before removing.
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