Ina Garten's Boozy, Zesty Secret For Perfect Pound Cake Every Time

Ina Garten knows her way around the kitchen. The cookbook author and television personality is a go-to source of wisdom for any home cook worth their salt. Her recipes use a mix of classic ingredients and a few surprising (but delicious) additions that make any dish she creates simply superb. Recently, Garten applied her signature twist to the buttery, classic, and delectable vanilla pound cake.

This new recipe comes from Garten's 2022 book, "Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," and features a unique blend of three simple ingredients that makes her recipe pop. To help the flavors of her pound cake shine, Garten adds lemon zest and brandy to her vanilla extract to flavor her cake. In the headnote for this recipe, she shared insights about her take on the classic dessert. Garten wrote: "Perfecting this recipe has been like a science project for me; once I added cognac and lemon zest to the vanilla, I found I had achieved the ideal balance of flavors" (via The Kitchn).

For Garten, things seemed to come together with the addition of two simple ingredients. Of course, vanilla is a default ingredient in most cake recipes, but the addition of cognac (or brandy) and lemon zest is unexpected. In fact, the combination of brandy and lemon zest seems to resemble a sidecar cocktail rather than a dessert. However, when added to your pound cake, these flavors can turn this classic into an entirely new and delightful treat.

The star of this pound cake recipe from Ina Garten is, of course, vanilla. So, why add such bold flavors, like lemon and brandy? Well, for one, both brandy and lemon have flavor profiles that complement the taste of vanilla while also providing a unique contrast that helps create new complexity in the staple cake recipe. The addition of brandy — or one of its variations, such as cognac — does seem like a somewhat natural choice here; since the spirit, which is derived from fermented fruit juice, has a vibrant taste that can enhance the taste of vanilla. This flavor combination is so delicious that many people use brandy to make homemade vanilla extract. 

Meanwhile, the added lemon zest brings a punch of bright flavor to your pound cake, complementing the floral aspect of vanilla and cutting through the fat-rich base of your cake. Plus, since you're only using the zest of the lemon, rather than the juice, you won't have to worry about getting too strong of a lemon punch. Lemon zest only contains flavorful oils, rather than the acidic taste of lemon juice. The flavor won't be as overwhelming or sharp, but will instead bring a hint of flavor that will make your pound cake shine.

Now, Ina Garten's recipe calls for cognac. However, you could easily swap cognac for armagnac, or a brandy of any kind. But what are the differences between these three spirits? Let's start with brandy. Brandy is a fermented fruit juice spirit, often made from grapes. However, brandy can also be made from fruits such as cherries, pears, or apples. Brandy is fermented similarly to wine, but is then distilled into a more concentrated spirit that is higher in alcohol and has a richer flavor. And often, brandy has warm notes of oak, since many brandies are aged in oak casks. 

Cognac is a variety of brandy that first came from the Cognac region of France and is made exclusively from white grapes. Cognac is aged similarly to brandy in oak barrels that give it a warm, woody flavor. Unlike brandy, cognac is double distilled, which results in an even higher alcohol content.

Armagnac, another popular variation of brandy, balances floral notes with a juicy, fruity flavor. As a combination that perfectly complements the similar flavors found in lemon zest, armagnac might be the way to go. Of course, there are many varieties of brandy to choose from, and you can pick whichever kind works for the taste you're hoping to achieve. And, if worse comes to worst, you can always make several batches of pound cake and see what works best. But of course, extra cake is never really a problem.