Pound Cake Flops and Fancy Financiers

Since we did the One-Step method at school, doesn't it make sense that today we did the two step method? Like the one step, it was really more of a three step process (can't they come up with better names?) but once you got the hang of it, it was quite easy. This time we combined our dry ingredients, threw in the butter and mixed until the butter was thoroughly combined, and then added the liquid ingredients a little bit at a time, scraping after each addition of liquid. Like the one-step, the two-step was quite simple...or so it seemed. When we attempted to make pound cake using this method, we had a horrible failure. I'm not sure if either of our scales were working because both my partner and I distinctly remember measuring things out correctly yet our mixture mixed fine until we added the liquid. It's hard to tell what exactly happened, whether it was the measurements or a mixing method error but whatever it was, the whole thing was a mess. The pound cakes were butter-soaked rectangular hockey pucks that tasted disgusting. Bake and learn and don't take pictures is how I look at the pound cake mess!

We also made a lemon buttermilk pound cake that was pretty tasty. We made it in a bundt pan but a lot of people had trouble getting their cakes out of the pan because the pans had been super super ravaged by the ghosts of baking students past and there was nothing that butter and flour could do to help the cakes release when they were done baking. As such, there is no pretty picture of this cake either. Sorry.

What there is a picture of is the pretty financiers that we made in tiny tart pans. Financiers are little cakes that were invented because French bankers were upset that they could not go out for lunch and find a pastry to eat that would not be all crumbly and get on their suits so someone clever pastry chef invented the financier...get the ironic name? Now I'm not sure if this is a true story or not but the financiers are tasty and very delicious. Basically the batter is like a pound cake but it has a lighter taste because there is a lot of almond flour in the batter too. We made the financiers in little tart tins but you could easily make it in a circular cake pan or tart pan and then slice it with a little creme fraiche or ice cream. Yummy and not disastrous.