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I recently obtained a copy of Alice Medrich’s cookbook Pure Dessert. I love it for two reasons–one, many of the recipes use whole grains and two, Medrich does a wonderful job of explaining how and why each ingredient is used in a particular recipe.

I’ve already had great success with with Medrich’s Whole Wheat Sablés–the buttery cookies just melt in your mouth. The whole wheat flour, combined with the ground flaxseeds I added to the to up the fiber, made the cookies taste slightly nutty. Yummy.

Today, I tried Medrich’s Kamut Pound Cake, but I used her spelt flour variation. It used more butter than I would have preferred, but since B has been craving pound cake, I was fine with making it.

The pound cake was delicious by itself–moist and buttery with a hint of vanilla. But I wanted to dress it up, so I served it with mango slices and whipped cream, with grated vanilla wafer on top.

Recipe: Kamut Pound Cake (with Spelt Variation)
From Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich
Serves 8 to 10

• 3 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (3.5 ounces) sifted (before measuring) cake flour
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (1.75 ounces) whole-grain kamut flour (You can substitute spelt flour.)
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 13 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Equipment
An 8 x 4 inch (4-5 cups) loaf pan

POSITION A RACK in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350º F. Line the loaf pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, eggs & vanilla to combine.

Mix together and then sift the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer or another large bowl; if any bran is left in the sifter, add it to the mixture. Cut the butter into chunks and add it, then pour in half of the egg mixture. Beat on low speed just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the speed to medium (or high if using a hand-held mixer) and beat for 1 minute only. Scrape the sides of the bowl.

Add half of the remaining egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds. Scrape the bowl. Add the rest of the egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds.

Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the surface. Bake until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. 55 to 65 minutes. (To prevent excessive browning, cover the loaf loosely with foil after 30 minutes, if necessary.) Cool the cake in the pan for about 10 minutes on a rack, then remove and cool completely on the rack.