Salted Egg Yolk Pound Cake

Most people buy salted egg yolks to prepare Chinese mooncakes, but if you have extra salted egg yolks and wonder what you can do with them, then I have a lovely pound cake recipe to share with you today. :)

This recipe should be easier to perfect than most pound cake recipes since it doesn’t require the step to cream butter and sugar, which is where most people stumble and end up with a not so perfect pound cake.

Plus, the addition of salted egg yolks gives the pound cake the umami magic, turning this cake into a delectable one that you can and should serve for special occasions.

Ingredients for salted egg yolk pound cake

We need eggs, sugar, unsalted butter, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and salted egg yolks.

Where can I buy salted egg yolks?

I usually buy these in an Asian grocery store near the egg sections.

There are raw salted duck eggs, cooked salted duck eggs, and cooked salted duck egg yolks. I use the cooked salted duck egg yolks for this recipe, so be sure to buy the right version.

Can I make homemade salted egg yolks?

Yes. You will need two cups of kosher salt and four egg yolks, preferably duck eggs, though you can also use large-size chicken eggs.

Line the bottom of a shallow airtight container with half of the salt. Make four indentations using the back of a measuring tablespoon, then carefully nestled in the four yolks. Gently cover the yolks with the remaining salt. Cover the container and rest in the fridge for 48 hours to cure.

After 48 hours, brush the salt from the yolks and discard the curing salt. The salted egg yolks can keep up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Since we need cooked salted egg yolks, you can steam the egg yolks for 10 minutes to cook them. They should be crumbly once cooked, just like regular egg yolks.

Step-by-step to bake a salted egg yolk pound cake

Preheat oven to 165 Celsius (325 Fahrenheit). Brush a 10-inch bundt pan with butter and dust with sugar.

In a mixing bowl, beat together eggs and sugar with medium speed until pale yellow and glossy, about 3 minutes.

Reduce the mixer speed to low, stream in melted butter, then turn the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 2 minutes, or until the butter is fully incorporated.

Sift in all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Use the lowest speed to mix the dry ingredients to the batter. Stop once there is no longer any flour streak.

Add grated salted egg yolk and use a spatula to fold into the batter.

Pour the batter to the prepared cake pan and bake into the preheated oven for 60-70 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool it in the cake pan for 10 minutes. Gently remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into serving slices and serve.

FAQs

1. Can I replace salted egg yolks with other ingredient?

Yes, you can try using 1/4 cup of grated parmesan. I find that this is the best substitute though I highly recommend sticking to salted egg yolks. ;)

2. Which bundt pan are you using?

I use a 10-inch Calphalon non-stick bundt pan simply because I got it off very cheaply during a big sale for less than $10. It holds about 10 cups of batter. Feel free to use another bundt pan with a more pretty design as long as it can accommodate the same amount of cake batter.