I typically use mixes for my cakes. I do not bake pound cakes, but someone asked me to make them a raspberry swirl pound cake (raspberry and vanilla pound cakes marbled together) with cream cheese frosting. I found a recipe ("old fashioned pound cake with raspberry sauce" from www.allrecipes.com) and baked one (minus the raspberry sauce). She seemed pleased.

My concern...After a couple of hours or so the cake seemed horribly dry and very crumbly. I don't have this issue with the "pudding in mix" cakes. Could it have been over cooked? Over beaten? Ingredients not at room temp. enough? Is there a trick I don't know? Does it need to be glazed before it is iced? She has decided to add a raspberry filling. Will this help with its moisture content?

I don't want people thinking I make old stale cakes. She is considering using this recipe for her very formal evening wedding (a 4 tier cake with cream cheese frosting;no fondant). I don't want a dry cake served, and I surely don't want it to be so crumbly that it breaks in half during transit.

Thanks for any advice.

Tiffany

Ok I have made a few awesome pound cakes, so I will try to help you out as best I can.

With baking, the ingredients should definitely be at room temperature. Also, you have to be really thorough in creaming the fat and sugar together, then beat the eggs well into the batter one at a time. If I were you, I would bake like the weekend before the cake is due, then freeze them and let them thaw in the wrappers before you ice and decorate them. Here are two different ones I've tried:

http://www.food.com/recipe/elvis-presleys-favorite-whipping-cream-pound-cake-36806

This is really good. It's very moist and decadent. I only tried the standard variation but I added seeds from a vanilla bean to the batter. I also served it with blueberry and strawberry sauce.

Here's the other one I tried which was my absolute favorite:

http://www.food.com/recipe/extra-moist-lemon-sour-cream-and-vanilla-pound-cake-94496

Now I did make the lemon version as written in the recipe, but I'm sure you could swap out the lemon pudding mix for a vanilla one (or use the cheesecake pudding mix-it doesn't taste anything like cheesecake but has a good sweet vanilla flavor and is white, whereas the vanilla pudding mix is yellow). We never froze this and on the fourth day it was still incredibly moist and delicious. Seriously. Try it. The reviews on the website speak for themselves! I made both of those cakes listed above and never brushed or glazed either and they were really moist.

To make raspberry, I would use a good puree and add it in to a portion of the batter, and if that's not enough flavor, then I think you could add some raspberry extract in as well.

I think a raspberry filling will be lovely. I don't think it will contribute to the moisture of the cake, as a filling just sits in between two layers. It shouldn't seep into the cake below. I think a cream cheese icing will be wonderful as well. If you notice, most pound cake recipes call for three cups of sugar or more so they can stand alone without an icing. I think the tanginess of the cream cheese will be a good balance to the sweetness of the cake.

Hope this helps!

Annie

By the way, I'm a crumb texture person. I like a nice tight crumb with no air pockets or bubbles (like you get from a box mix). As I recall, both of the recipes I listed have a great crumb (especially the second one) and I like the fact that the second recipe uses AP flour.

For the second recipe, in addition to replacing the pudding with a vanilla one, I would add a couple teaspoons of high quality vanilla and then also add some vanilla bean paste or seeds from a vanilla bean. I think that would taste wonderful with raspberry-like raspberries & cream or something.

Ok I'm done now.

Annie,

I made the second recipe you suggested today. I like it MUCH better than the recipe I found on allrecipes.com. Before I put it into the pans I could tell the batter was so different. The crumb was much more like I thought a pound cake should be, rather than my previous recipe which reminded me a lot of a cake of coarse cornbread. Thank you soo much for your suggestions and a different recipe. The moisture.....MUCH BETTER. Don't know if it was the pudding or the sour cream, but HUGE improvement.

Just curious-which version did you use? Did you make the lemon or a vanilla variation? I have only tried the lemon so I was curious how other versions turn out.

Another suggestion for the raspberry flavor-icing fruits. You can find them at:

http://www.shopbakersnook.com/IcingFruits.html

I know Leah_S and other professionals on here use the icing fruits to make different flavors in their cakes. I have never personally used them, but I would like to give them a try. They look reasonably priced too, and the raspberry one has a good review.

Glad the recipe worked for you! I could eat one all by myself but I don't think that will help me get into my wedding dress in December..

Not sure why the link was blocked, but it's Shop B aker's Noo k.com.

Or you can do a Google search for icing fruits and it's a few links down.