Pound Cake

[Kimberly Bakes]

Can you substitute whipping cream for whole milk when you are making a pound cake?

 

[retired baker]

use half cream, half water or it will be dry.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Can you substitute whipping cream for whole milk when you are making a pound cake?

Using cream instead of milk won’t make a pound cake dry. Milk is about 3% fat and almost 90% water, while cream is 30–36% fat with much less water. That means a straight swap adds more fat and takes away the water.

Fat actually prevents moisture loss and slows starch retrogradation, which is the driving force of bread and cake going stale. So added fat will not dry out a cake, and in fact does the opposite.

The extra fat will softens the crumb by limiting gluten development, and the reduced water means less starch gelatinization, so the structure is weaker.

The cake may rise less, slice more fragile, or even sink slightly depending on the total fat content, but it will taste richer and be more tender, not dry. Cream also speeds up browning, so bake time can be shorter.

It would really depend on the total fat content of the recipe as to whether or not you could do a 1:1 substitution. But it can be done with very good results.

To replicate the fat and water content of whole milk, you actually only need about 10% cream and 90% water if using a 36% heavy whipping cream. If using a 30% whipping cream, the 12% cream and 89% water.