Sparkling Water Pound Cake was inspired by the Lemon 7-Up Cake I baked the other day. We love 7-up, but what we usually have around is sparkling water. I wanted to see if using sparkling water in a pound cake would work in its place, so I used tangerine flavored La Croix and a little tangerine zest.
Sparkling Water Pound Cake Texture
The result was a great tasting cake with a soft texture and a good burst of tangerine flavor. Sadly, something went wrong when I greased and floured my Bundt pan because the cake lost some of its crust on the way out. Apparently there's no such thing as too much grease and flour on a Bundt pan.
Oh well. Here's the texture shot. That didn't go well either. I was trying to take pictures at night and feeling very impatient.
As mentioned, I used La Croix Tangerine and added some tangerine zest to the batter. Next time I might use lemon or lime flavored water and lemon or lime zest or use plain sparkling water, extra vanilla and chocolate chips. Lots of possibilities!
Recipe
Sparkling Water Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 sticks unsalted butter softened (336 grams)
- 3 cups granulated sugar 588 grams
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt omit 1 tsp if using salted butter
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ tablespoon zest or use orange, lime or lemon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups all-purpose flour 380 grams, sift after measuring
- 1 cup your favorite flavored Tangerine, lime or lemon sparkling water
Citrus Glaze
- 1 tablespoon tangerine juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Thoroughly grease and flour a standard 12 cup Bundt pan.
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar and salt (if using) until light and creamy, scraping bowl often.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Stir in flavorings (zest and vanilla).
- Alternately add flour and sparkling water. Mix after each addition.
- Pour into pan and bake at 325 degrees F. for 60 to 80 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely. Drizzle with glaze.
- To make the glaze, mix together 1 cup powdered sugar and the 2 tablespoons of juice or just enough to make it thick enough to flow from a spoon.
Jennifer J-W says
That looks delicious. I have found that if I put my greased/floured bundt cake pan in the fridge while I'm mixing up the cake, the batter doesn't stick. I'm not sure why. I tried it on a whim after having a few cakes stick and it worked.
Sue says
Now I'm going to have to pick up a copy of that too! I also prefer Rumford.
Sonya says
Rumford is the one I usually use too, and it does good for some stuff per the article, but not every thing...I won't spoil it so you can enjoy the article 🙂 It is Cook's Country (not Illustrated) BTW. I look forward to hearing your take on it and how it matches up with your extensive experience.
Anna says
Sue, thanks! We liked it. So did my niece, Lily, who loves citrus :).
Sonya, I am going to grab that issue of CI. I sure hope they picked Rumford as their favorite because it's mine and I'm always recommending it to people.
Sonya says
This is such a cool experiment - I'm glad that it turned out delicious! Thanks for the reminder about the bundt pan.
I wanted to add that the latest Cook's Country issue (December/January 2016) has a REALLY interesting article about baking powder - they did a taste test and found huge differences between brands in terms of rise and other things - I just loved it and thought of you!
Sue says
Your pound cake sounds creative and tasty.