Fresh Milled Pound Cake

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Nothing says summer like buttery, delicious pound cake. This fresh milled pound cake delivers that classic pound cake flavor and is made with nutritious freshly milled whole wheat flour.

A summer potluck isn’t complete without someone bringing pound cake. A slice of tender, sweet cake topped with strawberries and homemade whipped cream brings back that nostalgic feeling for so many of us.

But what if we could make a healthier version? There’s no getting around the butter and sugar in this recipe, but milling our own flour really takes this cake over the top.

Fresh milled flour has a delicious, natural taste that complements this pound cake perfectly. Made with only simple ingredients, you’ll love how easy this fresh milled pound cake is!

Why You Will Love This Fresh Milled Pound Cake

Simple – This recipe doesn’t even require baking agents like baking powder and soda! Made with only staple kitchen ingredients, you can whip this recipe up any time!

Delicious – This pound cake offers that buttery, sweet flavor we all know and love. It’s tender and pairs perfectly with thawed frozen strawberries and homemade whipped cream.

Nutritious – Okay, maybe not the perfect picture of a healthy dessert, but we can’t skim over what a super food freshly milled flour is. I always feel good about adding it into all of our baked goods, even the sugary ones!

What is fresh milled flour?

Fresh milled flour is what you get when you take the whole wheat berry (what is harvested from the wheat plant) and put it through a grinding process. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that flour became more of a commercialized product. Up until then flour was used in its whole wheat form, or sifted manually, however the white bleached flour we can find on our store shelves was not something that was available.

Fresh milled flour is naturally full of many vitamins and minerals our bodies need to carry out essential functions. Our bodies respond best to the organic forms, rather than the synthetic versions that are added back into commercial flour under the term “enriched”.

For the healthiest flour you can feed your family, milling your own is the way to go. Home mills are small and very easy to use. I have the NutriMill Harvest and it has served our family very well. I highly recommend it!

Where to source wheat berries for home milling…

My favorite place to source wheat berries is from Azure Standard. Not only do they offer a wide variety of wheat berries, but you can purchase them in bulk, meaning you save money by buying more at once and stay stocked up for all of your baking needs.

Azure offers many different varieties of wheat berries including…

• Soft White Wheat
• Hard White Wheat
• Hard Red Wheat
• Kamut
• Einkorn
• Spelt

Helpful tips for grinding your own wheat

Grinding wheat in and of itself is not a difficult process, however there are some key differences when it comes to using your freshly milled flour that are important to note…

• Because of many of the whole wheat properties being stripped and the way conventional flour becomes compacted through shipping and sitting on the shelves, volume measurements can be difficult when it comes to fresh milled flour. I highly recommend sticking to gram measurements when measuring your fresh flour.
• Soft white wheat is much fluffier than your typical all-purpose flour. If you are using volume measurements, be sure to use 1/2 cup extra per cup of all-purpose flour when converting a recipe.
• Unlike store-bought flour, fresh milled flour can’t sit out at room temperature for long periods of time. Because it still contains the natural oils from the wheat germ and bran, they can cause the flour to go rancid if not used within 24 hours. You can extend the shelf life of your fresh flour by storing it in the fridge for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Ingredients

Butter, softened
Sugar
Eggs
Milk
Soft white wheat berries
Vanilla
Salt

Tools You Will Need

Grain Mill – I have the Nutrimill Harvest and love it
Mixer – a hand mixer or stand mixer works well
Mixing bowl – if using a hand mixer
Tube pan or loaf pans

How to Make This Fresh Milled Pound Cake Recipe

Step 1 – Make sure your grain mill is set to fine and grind 520 g of soft white wheat berries. Set aside.

Step 2 – In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together softened butter (2 cups, 453 g) and sugar (3 cups, 600 g). Cream together until light and fluffy, don’t skip this step! It will take a couple minutes.

Step 3 – Mix in eggs (6) one at a time until well incorporated and the mixture is fluffy. Add milk (3/4 cup, 180 g) and mix well. Mix in vanilla (1 tbsp).

Step 4 – Slowly add in your fresh milled soft white wheat flour about 1-2 cups at a time. Add salt (1/2 tsp) in with flour. Mix well in between. Repeat until all the flour has been added. Do not over mix your batter, you want it to be just incorporated.

Step 5 – Cover your batter with a tea towel or bowl cover and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Step 6 – Once your batter has rested and your oven has preheated, transfer batter to buttered tube pan or split between two buttered loaf pans if using those instead. Bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Note if you are using glass pans, you may need to increase your bake time.

Step 7 – Check your cake with a toothpick to ensure it is done. There should be no wet batter on the toothpick. Remove pan(s) from oven and allow the pound cake to cool completely.

Step 8 – Once cooled, slice your pound cake and serve topped with strawberries and homemade whipped cream. Enjoy!

For a visual, check out these step by step images!