Pound Cake

-

2 c. All-purpose flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/8 tsp Salt
1 c. Unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. Sugar
3 Large eggs, room temperature
Zest from 1 lemon
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 c. Milk, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray two 9x5x3" loaf pans with Pam cooking spray.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each egg. Then beat in the lemon zest and vanilla.

Add flour mixture and milk alternately, staring and ending with flour. Mixing until just incorporated.

Divide the batter into the loaf pans and bake until golden and toothpick comes out clean, approximately 45 minute. Cool cake in pan before inverting it onto a rack.

Serve by itself (warm or room temperature), your favourite ice-cream or a fruit coulis.



My comments:

My hubby has been after me to make him a pound cake. But what is a pound cake, I ask? He was shocked that I've never had pound cake before. I don't know if I've never had it or just can't remember ever eating it. Either way, I have no point of reference for comparison, so I had to rely on his tastebuds to tell me whether my cake is a "proper" pound cake. I also had difficulty choosing a recipe because without knowing how it's supposed to taste, I couldn't make judgement on whether the recipe has too much butter, to much liquid, not enough sugar. In the end, I chose this recipe from Epicurious because it had raving reviews, and everyone said to follow the recipe exactly as written because it yields the BEST pound cake ever!!

My hubby's verdict on the finshed product was..."It's a pound cake! And it's delicious!"

Hooray for me!! *grin*

It was a pretty good cake; I thoroughly enjoyed it. I only made 2 slight modifications to the original recipe. I reduced the sugar from 1.5 cups to 1 cup only and I found that plenty sweet. I might even want to try to reduce the sugar content by 1/4 cup next time I make this and serve it with ice-cream or fruit coulis. (Check out my version of raspberry coulis.) I also divided the batter into two pans (reduced cook time to 45 minute) because I was concerned that with too much batter, the cake wouldn't cook properly inside but get too brown on the outside. That's why my pound cake looks so short, but it baked perfectly, both inside and out!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crunchy Oat Fudge Bars

-
Image
Adapted from First Look, Then Cook . Crust and topping 1 c. Rolled oats 1/4 c. Flax seeds 2/3 c. Brown sugar, unpacked 3/4 c. Whole wheat flour (or all-purpose) 1/4 tsp Baking powder 1/4 tsp Baking soda 1/8 tsp Salt 1/4 c. Unsalted butter, melted Filling 1/4 c. All-purpose flour 1/4 tsp Salt 1.5 c. Semi-sweet chocolate chips 2 tbsp Unsalted butter 1 Large egg, beaten 1 tsp Vanilla 2 tsp Instant coffee (optional) Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease an 8" square pan or use a silicone square pan. Combine the oats, brown sugar, flour, flax seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir in melted butter.  Set aside 3/4 cup of the mixture for the topping. Press the remaining oat mixture onto the bottom of the square baking pan.  Bake for 8 min, until the crust is golden brown. Set the crust aside to cool while you prepare the fudge filling. Melt chocolate chips with the butter in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.  Allow the chocolate mixture to cool fo
Read more

Thai Curry Stir-Fried Rice

-
Image
3 c. Cooked rice* 2-3 tbsp Vegetable oil 1 Green onions, chopped 2-3 cloves Garlic, minced 3 Eggs 1/2 Fresh pineapple, cut into small chunks 3/4 c. Vegetables** 1 tbsp Sesame oil 2 tbsp Soya sauce 2 tsp Curry powder 1-2 tsp Thai curry paste * Freshly cooked rice has too much moisture and it is too soggy to fry; therefore, it is best to use leftover rice. If you don't have leftover rice, you can cool freshly cooked rice to room temperature and then place the rice in the refrigerator, uncovered, for a minimum of 1 hour to reduce the moisture. ** You can use any vegetables you like. I used frozen vegetable mix because it was the easiest thing to do and I thaw the vegetables to room temperature. Alternatively, you can chop up fresh vegetables into small pieces (eg. carrots, mushrooms, peppers, etc.), pre-cook them on the frying pan and drain the excess liquid. Drizzle 1 tbsp of oil to the rice and break up the rice into grains with a fork. Set aside. Stir together the soya sauce,
Read more

Chinese Beef Congee

-
Image
1 c. Chinese white rice 6 c. Water 1/2 lb. Lean ground beef 1 Salted duck egg Salt & pepper to taste Lettuce, thinly sliced Sauce: 2 Green onion, chopped 3 tbsp Soya sauce (Kikkoman) 1/2 tsp Sesame oil Wash the rice several times with water. Drain out as much water as possible. Refridgerate for a few hours to let the water soak into the rice. It is easiest to pre-soak the rice overnight or in the morning, so that the rice will be ready to cook when you come home from work. In a large pot, boil the water and add the rice. Let it simmer for 30 min on medium heat. The rice should become very soft and fluffy and the liquid is slightly thickened. The consistency of the congee is typically similar to a Western style cream soup, but you can always add or reduce the water to make the congee to your desired consistency. I like my congee with medium consistency (not too watery but not too thick). While the rice is cooking, lightly marinade the ground beef with a little bit of salt or
Read more