Brown-Butter Poundcake Recipe (2024)

FWIW, without being mean, when this recipe says to add ingredients in a specific way, it's asking you to follow a typical method that you'll find in many cake recipes. The goal is to emulsify the batter w/out deflating the fluffy butter-sugar paste, which would make the cake flatter, or mixing too much after adding the flour, which would make it tough. Because it includes chemical leavening, as most cakes today do, you don't need to worry as much about deflating but should still avoid overmixing

This is a wonderful recipe. The browned butter takes a while to cool. I put it in the freezer and stirred it every so often. I didn't have hazelnuts, so I used pecans and it was amazing. 10/10 would make again.

Warning: once you make this you’ll be asked weekly to make it again and standards will be set HIGH. 1/2 Tablespoon of Vanilla Extract 1/4 Finely chopped up walnuts (instead of hazelnuts)

Absolutely delicious, though not a quick recipe! Browning butter and cooling, toasting and grinding nuts, etc takes time. But worth it. Only took 55 minutes in the oven and was perfect. Skipped the lemon glaze as I'm not sure it would add all that much. Toasting the nuts is essential to the flavor.

After eating hazelnut bread in our hotel in Istanbul, the staff attempted to translate the recipe. As with so many converted recipes, it fell short and so I selected this one. Arefi's recipe is fabulous - better than the hotel's recipe! The inclusion of browned butter enhanced the intense nut flavor. I altered the recipe by substituting 50% dark brown sugar for the white and placed a foil cover over the top for the last 15 minutes of baking as it was getting too dark.

I believe the milk solids the recipe is referring to, is when butter melts, it separates into a clear liquid and a heavy thick liquid (milk solids). Nothing to do with the milk that will be added later.

Came out great. Added 1t oil to combat the dryness others said they ran into and that made a difference. Worth the work.

Made this cake last night and had it this morning with breakfast. Cake tastes great, kind of dense and not too sweet. Two notes:The steps should say you need to do this in two parts bc of the chilling needed for the nuts and the butter. For me, the lemon icing doesn’t match the flavour of the cake. If making again I would use something less tart. I was thinking apricot or plum or raspberry as part of the icing instead of lemon.

This cake is so fragrant! Definitely a denser, rich cake.I did 125g whole wheat flour instead of white flour and swapped out the white sugar for ⅓ C brown sugar and ½ C white sugar in case the whole wheat made it dry.Also I used oat milk because it’s what I had, and it was fine.

Check 5 minutes earlier, bread seemed a bit dry. Very flavorful. Would make again. Be sure to make glaze thicker so it dries white, not translucent.

Really delicious and came out perfectly right at the 55 minute bake mark. Make sure to plan on the 30-60 minutes of butter chilling up top, though!The glaze also came out translucent rather than opaque for me and overwhelmingly lemony versus the nuttiness of the loaf. Next time, I might try to half the lemon juice to just 1 Tbsp and then replace the second tablespoon with water and/or add a little more confectioner's sugar to thicken the glaze and balance the lemon flavor out.

As Josh described, glaze was runny and translucent, rather than opaque, though flavor was superb. Otherwise, no complaints. Cake is moist and tender, and brown butter adds wonderful depth.

A lovely cake that was not dry the way some pound cake tends to be. Made it lemon the first and and fulfilled that lemony punch. Today I switched to orange zest, Gran Marnier for the juice and a spritz of vanilla. The orange was a bit more subtle because I opted for no glaze. It was perfect with local strawberries. I’d be happy to bring either one to a pot luck dinner.

This was delicious, I made this last night and it was literally devoured by the family. I will agree that it is very time-consuming so only make this if you’re in the mood for a baking project. My hand mixer died on me so I did all the mixing with a whisk and it still turned out great.

This is a very good cake; it rivals Dorie’s French yogurt cake in sophistication but not in ease. Instead of lemon zest I opted for a tsp of vanilla extract, and for the glaze I used buttermilk. My smaller loaf pan is slightly rounded, so I just buttered and floured it rather than faffing with parchment.

Nice recipe—agree with others re opting for the low end of the time range & that the lemon glaze isn’t the best complement to the nutty flavour of the cake. I wonder if some Nutella thinned out with a bit of coffee could work as a topping.

I only have a 9 x 5 loaf pan... could also use 8 x 8 square... would either of these work, and if so, anyone have an idea of what the bake time should be?

this cake was "OK". Didn't have as much flavor of browned butter as I expected. And the texture wasn't as other pound cake recipes. the glaze wasnt a good match for the brown butter flavor, either, so, I"ll not make it again.

I substituted almond flour because I couldn’t find hazelnuts and it came out fantastic! We also topped it with chocolate ganache which made it even more delicious. Will definitely make this again. Next time I might try orange zest.

I wasn't sure how the lemony taste would go with the richness of the brown butter and hazlenut, so I made the glaze with just a little bit of vanilla extract and some water and it turned out great. A good alternative for those who are worried about the lemon taste!

My oven is slightly slow, and after 60 minutes thought it was done. It was just slightly under done but not dry. I added a little oil (2 teaspoons) which may have helped. Cake very tender and stuck I. Two of the pan corners just a bit. Very delicious.

I make a lot of these breads and this is one of the more delightful, I used almonds and pecans. the depth of flavor is surprising. I just poked a few holes in the top and brushed the glaze on. Put a bow on this and give to anyone!

Thanks for including "or use a large bowl and electric hand mixer". I don't have stand mixer (no room in a small kitchen) so always deflated when a recipes calls for a stand mixer. A problem for kneading bread but making cakes with a hand mixer usually works.

Made this today for the first time, and it sank in the middle! Smells great and the batter looked awesome going into the pan. I do live at almost 7,000 ft but with the small amount of leavening I didn't think I needed to reduce the amount of baking powder. I baked this in a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Any suggestions? Also, cake was done at 50 minutes. Just tasted the cake and it does have a lovely flavor and it wasn't dry (possibly cause I took it out early per other comments).

Made pretty much exactly according to the recipe but without the icing, this loaf turned out oddly tasteless with a crumb that seemed too dry (pulled when the internal temperature reached 205 F). However, it improved in both taste and texture the next day.

Best poundcake I've baked and enjoyed. After reading the recipe and comments, I proceeded cautiously. With only two exceptions: used a 5x9 loaf pan and substituted orange for lemon, the end result was a delicious, nutty, aromatic poundcake. My guests added cream cheese or butter on their slices. A novice baker, I will definitely make it again and again.

This is a very good cake; it rivals Dorie’s French yogurt cake in sophistication but not in ease. Instead of lemon zest I opted for a tsp of vanilla extract, and for the glaze I used buttermilk. My smaller loaf pan is slightly rounded, so I just buttered and floured it rather than faffing with parchment.

It doesn't say anything about toasting the hazelnuts. How long? dry? etc.

Can you provide high altitude adjustments for this recipe? Thank you.

Would this recipe work with a flour substitute such as almond flour?