Here is the pound cake experiment that I did with my 
leftover candied Sagada orange peel. I took a base recipe of pound cake from Francois Payard (which uses a lot of heavy cream rather than just butter) and added chopped candied orange peel. As I put it into the oven, I realized the peel would probably sink to the bottom and it did. Otherwise, it was nice and dense, buttery and the combination of lemon zest (superbly zested on my new Microplane zester) and orange peel was delicious.The comments of the readers in my post on candied orange peel last week had some good suggestions that I think would improve this experimental cake including soaking the peels in orange liqueur and/or coating the orange peel in flour before adding it to the batter.
The cake I baked was good, it just had more orange 
bits on the bottom than I would have liked. It was also rather dense… I can’t figure out if that was because of the cream or the flour that I used (cake flour instead of all purpose flour). I also got fancy and made a glaze of powdered sugar and lemon juice that put this dessert a little over the top on the sweet scale… Throw on more candied orange peel on top and a sprinkling of more powdered sugar and well… it looked really good! Next time I will try the recipe that “Mad Baker†left on the post on candied orange peel… I have gained so much weight in the service of Market Manila that I am thinking of doing a “South Forbes Diet†which is my modified South Beach Diet with some localized dishes.
8 Responses
Marketman — You are so much like Jeffrey Steingarten who 1) is passionate about doing cooking experimentations; 2) has extensive and exhaustive knowledge of food — science,
origins, recipes and all and 3) who admits that puffing up is the natural consequence of being a food critic.
A couple of Vogue issues ago, he wrote about losing the pounds effortlessly when he went to India and ate mostly beans and grains. I’ll scan the article and send it to you.
Yup, I agree that the first person I thought about reading your blog was J.S.
Are you a lawyer too Marketman? Steingarten gave up his legal work to be a full time food critic.
Well now, marketman! A little birdie named Gigi sang
effusive praises about your blog, enough to make me
want to check it out.
I must say that your pound cake sounds (and looks)
tempting!
Mila, funny you should ask but I am not actually a lawyer; I did a pre-law undergraduate with a BS in Finance but my father, uncle and grandfather were all lawyers and had their own law firm…frankly I never wanted to be like them. But I do apply logic and reason whenever I can, hence the undertones of this blog. Gigi, you flatter… I am no where near J.S. and I enjoy his books but I don’t read Vogue so I don’t get to read his articles. His story does remind me of a business trip I took to India several years ago. I lasted 13 days without a stomach ache eating only the best and yummiest Indian food. But the meal before I left I ate a shrimp cocktail at the hotel and boarded the Singapore Airlines flight and spent 6 hours in the bathroom (first class, thank God) with a constant stream of Evian and salt from the Chief Stewardess until I made it home, down with food poisoning that resulted in 8 pounds lost in just five days… so much faster than the South Beach Diet! Blair, thanks for the visit and come back often!
Hi MM! From what I remember, pound cakes are denser than most cakes. I had a recipe using only eggs as leavening. The eggyolks are added to the batter while the whites are beaten stiff before folding it in. Dense but moist and yummy. Will add orange zest next time. I also have a microplane-like grater. What a wonderful tool no?
naughty naughty.. I was planning to bake a pound cake well I will experiment my new tube pan using a pound cake recipe.
and I will try this one with orange.
I will call it Pound cake ala market man!
Looks like your readership is increasing.
Is it named pound cake for the expected weight gain of cake eaters? hehe
Chop your candied orange peel into quarter inch dice so it doesn’t sink and flavour will be released. Line your loaf pan with double parchment to avoid overly browned bottom, bake on centered rack.
“Pound” cake comes from it having the traditional proportions of a pound each of butter, sugar, flour,and eggs, which would translate to approx. 2 c. butter, 2 1/4 c. sugar and 3 1/3 c. flour. Proportions have changed over the years to a sweeter cake. No leavening originally, only eggs but the addition of 1 tsp. of baking powder lightens the texture. The dense, slightly chewy texture is characteristic of a pound cake.