This cake melts in your mouth and has the most delicious, buttery flavor infused with vanilla and amaretto. Aquafaba gives the perfect texture.
In January, indulgence will come with a heavy dose of guilt. But which wet blanket could possibly feel guilty about stuffing themselves with gorgeous, sugary food when the holidays are around the corner? Obviously, not me.
So today, I give you this divine Vegan Brown Sugar Pound Cake.
This, seriously, is the best pound cake recipe I've ever made or eaten. It is moist, dense, and has a velvety, delicate crumb, exactly the way a pound cake should. It is also amazingly buttery -- with vegan butter, of course.
If you're wondering what a pound cake is, here's the lowdown: a pound cake is an old-fashioned cake made with exactly a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs and flour. While I can't claim my vegan pound cake follows those rules exactly, this is as close to an old fashioned pound cake as you'll get -- via an eggless, butter-free, healthier sugar route.
For the best results, start out with the right ingredients. They are obviously a little different from the ingredients in a traditional pound cake, because keep in mind we are substituting for both eggs and butter here.
Ingredients:
- All purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Aquafaba (chickpea brine)
- Vegan butter
- Turbinado sugar or brown sugar
- Applesauce
- Amaretto liqueur (or sub almond extract)
- Vanilla extract
That's it, really. Nine ingredients and pounds and pounds of deliciousness. What's not to love?
- One thing you'll notice is that my pound cake is rather brown, not yellow as most pound cakes tend to be because of the egg yolks. There are no egg yolks here, of course, but one of the reasons for the color is that I used turbinado sugar, which is unrefined, and has some molasses. The molasses adds amazing flavor to this cake. You can add regular brown sugar, or you can just go with white sugar for a lighter crumb. Personally, I love that rich brown.
- I beat the aquafaba into soft peaks and then fold it into the batter, which is a technique one uses when one makes an angel cake, which has a rather lighter texture than a pound cake. So why do I do that? Because I need something that will emulate eggs in the recipe and build some structure. The aquafaba won't make the cake rise the way beaten eggs would, which is fine and exactly the result you want.
- The other ingredient I use to replace the eggs is applesauce. Applesauce adds moisture, as yolks would (minus the fat) and helps, again, with building structure.
- I used Miyoko's vegan butter, which is made with cashews, so I didn't label this recipe as nut-free, but you could use another vegan butter, like Earth Balance, which is made without nuts.
- Amaretto is my delicious secret ingredient in this recipe. I added a glug -- about a tablespoon and a half -- of this almond liqueur to the batter, and boy, does it make all the difference? You can use an orange liqueur, or just use almond extract or orange zest.
- For a larger cake, double the batter and bake it in a tube pan. Bake 10 minutes longer and check with a toothpick before removing from the oven.
Here's the recipe now. Ciao!
Vegan Brown Sugar Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (sifted. Sift the flour first and then measure it, not the other way round)
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch (sifted)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ⅓ cup turbinado sugar (brown sugar or white sugar are both fine. With white sugar it won't be a brown sugar pound cake, though)
- 16 tablespoon vegan butter
- ½ cup aquafaba
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon amaretto (or add 1 teaspoon almond extract)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Mix the flour, cornstarch and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
- Place the aquafaba in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form, about five minutes.
- In a large bowl or in a stand mixer with the paddle whisk attached, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the applesauce, vanilla and amaretto and continue to mix until incorporated for another minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl several times with a spatula through this process to make sure everything comes together evenly.
- Add the flour in two installments, beating the flour into the butter mixture after each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is well mixed. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and using a spatula, fold in the whipped aquafaba until incorporated.
- Prepare a 9-inch loaf pan by buttering and flouring it. Scrape the batter into the loaf pan and smooth the top with the spatula.
- Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool thoroughly on a rack before running a knife along the sides and unmolding.
Nutrition
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Make these recipes next:
- Vegan Lemon Pound Cake
- Vegan Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake
- Vegan Gingerbread Cake
- Vegan Pecan Pie Bars, Gluten-Free, No Corn Syrup
- Vegan French Toast
- Vegan and Gluten-Free Italian Amaretti Cookies
Bryan Martinez
Ooo this looks great! I just have the urge to add some kind of nuts to this recipe. I'll try it out soon, thank you!
Ken
This is the best cake! I'm vegan, but I made it for my older brother who is lactose intolerant. It is so popular I have to make him his own. I beat the auqufaba in the stand mixer.
Vaishali
Ken, so great to hear! ?