condensed milk pound cakes.

It's hard not to wonder how condensed milk would taste like in a pound cake. Pound cake is already dense, rich and buttery. Condensed milk would add a milky and sweet dimension to the cake. So, you'll get dense, rich, buttery, milky and sweet all packed into a cake. How awesome does that sound?

The condensed milk did not actually make the cake that sweet. Although it is sweeter than your average pound cake, it will hardly send you spiraling into sugar highs after a few bites. The milky fragrance you get is worth the trade off in a little extra sweetness. The condensed milk also makes the tops of the cake crustier and more browned than usual because of its high sugar content. This is why you should probably eat it a few hours after baking. The tops will soften and become chewy any longer than that.

If you study the mixing method closely, you'd realize that the order of addition of ingredients is not quite your usual sequence. In this recipe, eggs are added after mixing in the flour. I thought it was a typo error at first but after surfing a few blogs, I realized that it wasn't. I can't quite imagine the rationale for this. Blending eggs after the flour would result in extra toughening of the gluten of the flour and run the risk of tough cakes. My cakes turned out fine, if a bit sturdier than usual, but there's always a possibility that some might get carried away with incorporating the eggs and end up with brick-like cakes.

I think in terms of flavour, this recipe is worth trying out but the texture could be improved. And in case you're wondering, I added some Japanese sweet black beans (kuromame) into the larger cakes. They pair really well with milky or chocolaty flavours.

Condensed Milk Pound Cake
makes a 8.5" x 4.5" loaf
adapted from Pichet Ong from The Sweet Spot

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup condensed milk
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare a 8.5" x 4/5" loaf pan.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and condensed milk and mix until well combined.

Add the sifted flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Beat in the eggs until well combined.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake for about 1 hour or until an inserted skewer comes out mostly clean, with moist crumbs attached.