Introducing Currant Bread, a moist, delightful cake-like loaf with a hint of cardamom setting it apart. This is a modern, lighter twist on pound cake, made with a Persian flair. 

Currant bread is a loaf creation resembling traditional pound cake in its basic 4 ingredients of butter, flour, sugar, and eggs.  As always in our blog, this recipe is made lighter and modern by changing the quantities of each of these staple ingredients. 

This recipe was handed down to me by my trusty baker-chef mom-in-law, Bob’s mom, Jaleh whom we lovingly refer to as Maman Jaleh and MJ for short.  MJ shared with me that this recipe is actually not hers either (!) but that it was shared with her by her long-time friend Shohreh 40 years ago.  One thing all pound cakes seem to have in common is a rich history.

The health coach in me teases that it’s called a pound cake because it feels like you gain a pound when you eat it.  Of course, this is not the case.  It’s called a pound cake because way back in the early days of this cake, somewhere in northern Europe, it was made with one pound of 4 basic ingredients.

Traditional pound cake ingredients:

• eggs
• flour
• butter
• sugar

The even more modern, Oven hug version has been massaged, altered, and shaped to our perfect liking and preferences.  Shohreh shared her recipe.  MJ cut down the amount of sugar.  I swapped raisins for currants and added a touch of cardamom!  Our favorite cake has been Persian-ized and oven-hugged.

Normally the healthy baking recipes on this blog shy away from using refined white sugar and butter.  To keep the integrity of the recipe, I keep butter and sugar intact.

The recipe makes a nice big loaf.  When I bake it I often separate out about a third of the batter to leave plain.  Not everyone in the family loves currants as much as I do – the mini bread loaf I make without any raisins or currants.

Worth noting is that raisins can easily be substituted for currants and are in fact very tasty in this cake!  Our favorite way to enjoy Persian pound cake is with a steaming cup of aromatic Persian tea. 

If you like this cake but would like something gluten-free, be sure to try my recipe for Flourless Almond Cake.

Yield: 8

Currant Bread | Persian Pound Cake

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Introducing Currant Bread, a moist, delightful cake-like loaf with a hint of cardamom setting it apart. This is a modern, lighter twist on pound cake, made with a Persian flair. 

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour (plus one teaspoon to coat currants)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 cup milk of choice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
• 1 cup dried currants
• Cooking spray

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
2. Use cooking spray to coat the bottom and sides of a non-stick bread pan
3. Beat the butter and the sugar until creamy
4. Combine 3 cups of flour, the baking powder, and the cardamom with a whisk
5. Alternate adding eggs and flour mixture to the sugar creamed butter mixture
6. Slowly stir in the milk and the vanilla
7. Add a teaspoon of flour to the currants to coat them
8. Stir the coated currants into the cake batter
9. Bake for about 45 to 60 minutes using the toothpick test to check for done-ness (see notes)

Notes

Raisins can easily be substituted for currants and are in fact very tasty in this cake!

As with most loaf bread and cake bread, it can take up to an hour or more to cook the batter all the way through. In our oven, it takes a little over an hour and we like the edges to be slightly browned and crispy. Use a toothpick to check whether the center of the cake has baked through starting at about minutes. If the toothpick comes out clean it is done!

My preference is to use vanilla paste over vanilla extract - it gives an extra-strong, vanilla bean flavor and is much easier to deal with than scraping from beans. The vanilla paste can be used in the same measurement proportion as vanilla extract.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 449Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 103mgSodium: 199mgCarbohydrates: 89gFiber: 3gSugar: 50gProtein: 10g