Two Spoonfuls: The Creaming Method

Hey there, I'm back this week with Alton Brown to tell you about The Creaming Method (you'll remember that I've been working my way through "I'm Just Here for More Food"). This method refers to that wonderfully vague phrase you see in tons of recipes, "cream until light and fluffy". This is one of those phrases that always gets me a little nervous. What exactly does that mean, "light and fluffy"? hmmm? Well, Alton is here to help us out. In a nutshell, here's how it goes:

• Measure all ingredients. Fats should be "pliable but solid". You want soft butter, no signs of melting.
• Combine dry ingredients (except sugar) and give them a whirl in the food processor.
• Beat eggs together along with any extracts.
• Using your stand mixer on medium with the paddle attachment, mix the fats a bit to spread them around the bowl. Then, slowly add the sugar and beat until the mixture lightens in color and increases slightly in volume.
• Reduce speed to stir and add the egg mixture, slowly. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed.
• Add dry ingredients in 3 installments, alternating with liquids. Ending with the liquid will give you a smoother batter.
• stir in any chocolate chips or nuts etc.
• Bake

So, that's the basic method. I learned quite a few little tidbits in this chapter. First, Alton went through some great ways to prepare your pan for baking.

I whipped up a batch of AB's Kustom Kitchen Lube before I got started on my Chocolate Pound Cake. It's just a blend of flour and shortening that can be used to grease baking pans. No more grease and flour for me. Yay! Thanks, Alton.

Alton suggests mixing the eggs together first when baking, "so that the water in the egg whites can hook up with the emulsifiers in the yolks". They'll absorb faster into the batter.

I'm a slave to the food processor now, I love to use it in place of sifting. I don't miss that kitchen gadget one bit. All of my dry ingredients went for a spin together.

I followed Alton's recipe for Chocolate Pound Cake. Nick gave it two thumbs up, for me it was just okay. I think I expected it to be a little sweeter (3 cups of sugar!) and a little more chocolatey. I'm not a great baker though, I probably did something wrong. Anyway, it's good and there's a ton of it. Ayone want to come over for a sample?
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Want to try a pound cake recipe?

• Chocolate Pound Cake from Food Network
  
• Deep Fried Chocolate Pound Cake
• Brown Sugar and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple-Espresso Glaze!!

What is a pound cake?
Check out what Wikipedia has to say about it.

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Something tells me that Jenn is making something that might not go with my cake, let's see what she's up to.