Almond pound cake

The introduction

Well, in this article I want to tell you about this almond pound cake, which I prepared. I’m sure that you all know those almond cookies, which are sold in the supermarkets. Well, I don’t know about the other countries, because I have never looked for any cookies there with almonds, however, I know, that those almond cookies are very popular cookies in Georgia and my mother and uncle and brother just love those almond cookies very much. They are really good and when you eat just one, it’s very nourishing and satiating, however, you just want to eat more and more, though you really can not. One cookie is pretty heavy, if you want to know the truth and just five of them can cost you 1 Lari or even a little bit more, it all depends on where you are buying them, I mean, in which supermarket you are buying them. The best thing that you can do is to buy them in Fresco supermarket, because they are the cheapest there, I think. And, besides, they have these sale cards, which give you extra 5% off of the products, so that it’s pretty good.

When I first got to know about them, I was very little, I guess, and when my mother used to buy them, I didn’t really like them and I didn’t really eat them, if you want to know the truth. However, then I realized, that it was a pretty delicious one and then I started eating them and it was these school years, when me and my classmates used to eat those almond cookies a lot! If you ea them, it’s impossible to forget their taste and every time you remember about them, you get this almond cookies’ taste in your mouth and then you just want to buy them somewhere and just have a small bite of them and that’s all.  To tell you the truth, I don’t think, that I can eat more than two of them at once, because they are so nourishing , however, there are people like my brother, who can eat them just plenty, I mean, he can eat those cookies one by one in a couple of seconds, I guess. He just loves those cookies so much and he loves other cookies, too, if you want to know the truth.

Anyways, I wanted to prepare a pound cake with some almond essence and I had already bought the almond essence in this shop in Pasazhi shopping center, which my friend had told me about. And it was time to prepare the dough for the pound cake and then it was just the job of that convection oven to bake the cake, of course. I didn’t’ really have the exact recipe about that almond cake or whatever, and I had decided to use some chocolates and cocoa powder and citrus zest and things like that in my pound cake, so that it would have this rich taste. And, to tell you the truth, I had some chocolate left , that no one ate and I wanted to use them in my pound cake and while it would give the cake this fudgy consistency, it would taste better, than with just cocoa powder, so that’s why I wanted to have some chocolate in my pound cake, too.  It would also be a good idea, to have some sliced almonds in my pound cake, I guess, because almond essence would be supported by those almonds and the taste would be better, of course, however, I didn’t have them at home and the nearby supermarket didn’t have them either, and I knew, where I could buy them, however, that supermarket was a little bit too far and I just decided to have the pound cake without the sliced almonds this time.

Well, let me tell you about this almond pound cake and how I prepared it, because it was really a good one and people just loved it, though I must say, that those coffee granules were not the best idea in that pound cake and I shouldn’t have added them to the dough and if anything, I should just have some instant coffee powder added to the dough or dissolved it in some kefir or whatever and added it to the dough that way, because some of those granules were not chopped enough and they tasted that bitter taste, which usually have those coffee granules and it was pretty bad if you bumped into them in some piece of the cake.

Ingredients:

• Eggs, 2 medium
• Unsalted butter, 50 grams
• Oil , 1 tablespoon
• White granulated sugar, 1 cup
• Lemon zest
• Cinnamon
• Vanilla
• Chocolate chips
• Coffee granules
• Almond essence
• All-purpose flour, 1 and a half cup
• Baking soda, 1 teaspoon
• Drops of vinegar
• Kefir, ¾ cup

Preparation process

The preparation process started with the eggs. I cracked those two eggs in a separate bowl, so that I could see, whether they were good or not and that’s usually what I do, because if they are bad, then the mixing bowl will get dirty and it will need to be cleaned, of course, until I use another eggs for the dough. Well, the eggs were just perfect and I could proceed with the preparation process.

After the eggs, I added the sugar and, well, at first, I added half cup of sugar and then, when I added some other ingredients and I tasted the dough, it kind of lacked the sugar, so that I added another half cup of it, so that it was one cup of white granulated sugar in all. I started the mixer and mixed those things together well until I added some other ingredients.

Well, then was the time for the butter and oil and you can just use butter or just oil, it really depends on you, however, I usually use both of them. You know, they say, that oil makes the pound cake fluffier and that’s why they add oil into the dough for the pound cakes. Well, I mixed them well together , too, and then I could add some other things.

I added some cinnamon and coffee granules and almond extract to the mixture, because I wanted the cake to have that almond taste, which I liked so much. You know, there are these almond cookies, which are sold in the supermarkets, and we usually used to buy them and they are very nourishing, if you are interested, however, I haven’t seen them in that supermarket lately and that’s why I wanted to bake this almond pound cake, I guess. Well, I could even use some sliced almonds into my almond cake, however, I didn’t want those almonds to be in it, moreover, I didn’t have them at home and I was too lazy to go outside in the supermarket to buy those almonds. And, besides, I had this almond extract, which would give the cake a perfect almond taste, if you want to know the truth.

Then, I also added some lemon zest. And actually , I didn’t have that exact lemon zest, rather I had this lemon peeled the other day and I just added that peel to the mixture and let that chopper-blender shred the lemon peel itself.

After I had all those things mixed together, I added some flour and vanilla to the mixture and started the blender to blend everything. then I just tasted the dough and it was pretty delicious, I can say, so that I could add it to the baking form and have it cooked.

I had the convection oven preheated while I took the baking form for pound cakes and greased it with oil. Then I just poured the dough into the baking form and I put the lid on and put it into the convection oven on a low rack on a 50 minutes time and 180 degrees Celsius.

Well, I was waiting impatiently  when the cake would be baked, so that I could see it and be satisfied with my cooking, however, I couldn’t really taste it until the next morning, because I had prepared it mostly for my mother and she was not going to be home until the next day, so that I would have to wait for her to get home. Until that I took the cake out and checked it and it was perfectly baked and I just turned the baking pan upside down and took the cake out of it and it just came out very well and it was time to have some decorations on it, I guess. However, I didn’t really know, how to decorate it and then I decided to have some chocolate glaze and coconut flakes put on top of it, so that I started preparing the chocolate glaze. It just needed some cocoa powder and water and sugar and I combined them just the amounts that I wanted and had it in a small saucepan and had it on the gas to boil. After a couple of minutes of boiling, I took it off of the gas and had it poured directly on the pound cake without even waiting a little bit for the mixture to cool down. And then I had those coconut flakes sprinkled on top of it and that was pretty much it, the cake was done and it looked delicious and amazing and I just had to wait for the next day to cut and taste it.

Well, that was my almond pound cake, which I found pretty amazing except for the coffee granules and I hope, that if you prepare this pound cake, you will consider the things that I mentioned about those coffee granules and don’t use them in your pound cake, however, everything else was just wonderful and I couldn’t expect more, I mean, the cake was fudgy, tasted great and it was soft and light and delicious, so that everyone just loved it and ate it with pleasure, if you want to know the truth. So that, if you want to amaze your friends or family members or even yourself, you can just prepare this almond pound cake and be proud of your cooking skills, because you will get a great pound cake in no time.

So, enjoy your cooking and until the next recipe! I hope , that you will find this one interesting and I hope, that my recipes will be a good experience for all of you.

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