My Baking Powder Dillema

I actually did the Cream Cheese Pound Cake twice.

This first time around I wasn't satisfied with the outcome. The cake was light with a good texture and tasted lovely.

But when it was sliced there was a faint "line" towards the bottom of the cake. It looked like a shiny streak of compacted cake.... I'm sorry I didnt take a pic. It's proving to be very hard to describe.

This is not the first time we have had this problem. Sometimes, when this happens it may due to egg whites that that not been mixed in properly. However in reviewing the process I didn't think this was the case. The eggs are beaten first before being added to the cake and I mix quite well between additions. Also the cream mixture didn't show any signs of curdling suggesting that the egg wasn't incorporated. And anyway I have found that curdling is quickly corrected at the folding in stage.

I have long suspected that this was an issue related to the baking powder. If the b.p. isn't working well, then the cake may not be rising properly and compacting at the bottom, giving that denser area at the base.

So I decided that the second time around I would try to eliminate all likely  b.p. issues. I bought a brand new tin of b.p. I bought a different more expensive brand. I also decided to make sure that I had the precise proportions of flour to b.p. 

Now the correct proportion is 1 tsp b.p. to every 4 oz of flour. But as I looked at the recipe again I realised that the flour is in cups (volume) and ounces (weight)! The recipe suggests 2 tsp b.p. to 2 cups flour, which is typically used for 8 ozs of flour. But my mother always said that she used 3 cups of flour as  equivalent to 1 lb. 2 cups would be 2/3 lb, more than 1/2 lb.

I measured the flour, according to the recipe, and then weighed it. And guess what? The 2 cups of flour weighed more than 8 ozs. Actually closer to 10 ozs. A light bulb went off in my head. So I calculated the corect amount of b.p. for the weght of the 2 cups of flour and used that instead of the 2 tsps- about 2.5 teaspoons.

And would you, believe it- problem solved! Perfect cake!