Pound Cake Our Family Secret

Cake is a form of food that is usually sweet and often baked. Cakes normally combine some kind of flour, a sweetening agent (commonly sugar), a binding agent (generally egg, though gluten or starch are often used by lacto-vegetarians and vegans), fats (usually butter, shortening, or margarine, although a fruit purée such as applesauce is sometimes substituted to avoid using fat), a liquid (milk, water or fruit juice), flavors and some form of leavening agent (such as yeast or baking powder), though many cakes lack these ingredients and instead rely on air bubbles in the dough to expand and cause the cake to rise. Cake is often frosted with buttercream or marzipan, and finished with piped borders and crystallized fruit.

Cake is often the dessert of choice for meals at ceremonial occasions, particularly weddings, anniversaries and birthdays. There are countless cake recipes; some are bread-like, some rich and elaborate and many are centuries old. Cake making is no longer a complicated procedure; while at one time considerable labor went into cake making (particularly the whisking of egg foams), baking equipment and directions have been simplified that even the most amateur cook may bake a cake.

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Blueberry Pound Cake

3 1/4 cups flour (plus 2 tablespoons for tossing blueberries in)

1 teaspoon of regular salt is what I used, but the recipe called for 1 tablespoon coarse salt

3 sticks softened unsalted butter, plus more for pans

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

9 large, room-temperature eggs

2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter two 5-by-9-inch loaf pans. Combine 3 1/4 cups flour and salt in a bowl.

Cream butter, sour cream, and sugar with a mixer on high speed until pale and fluffy, for 8 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Reduce speed to medium, and add vanilla extract.

Lightly beat eggs, and add to mixer bowl in 4 additions, mixing thoroughly after each and scraping down sides. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture in 4 additions, mixing until just incorporated. Toss blueberries in remaining 2 tablespoons flour; fold into finished batter. Divide batter between pans. Tap on counter to distribute; smooth tops.

Bake until a tester inserted into center of each cake comes out clean, about 65 minutes. Mine got a little brown on top at about 55 minutes, but was not done in the center. So, I laid a piece of foil on top of it and baked it for 10 more minutes.

Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire rack. Slice and enjoy

Olive Oil and Sherry Pound Cake with Peaches in Honey Lemon Syrup

Olive Oil and Sherry Pound Cake

adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich

makes 2 loaves

3 C flour

2 t baking powder

1⁄4 t salt

2 C sugar

1 C flavorful extra virgin olive oil

2 t grated orange zest

5 cold eggs

1 C amontillado sherry

Prepare two 8” x 4” loaf pans with oil and a wide strip of parchment paper, leaving an inch or two hanging over the longer sides of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk the sugar, oil and orange zest on high speed until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. When all the eggs have been incorporated, beat until the mixture is thick and pale, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add one-third of the flour mixture. Mix on low speed just until blended. Add half of the sherry and mix just until blended. Repeat with another third of the flour, followed by the remaining sherry and then the remaining flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean with a few moist crumbs, 50 to 55 minutes. Cool for about 15 minutes. Gently lift the cakes up by the overhanging parchment paper and cool completely.

Wrapped airtight, the cake stores well at room temperature for about 3 days.

Peaches in Honey Lemon Syrup

6 small ripe peaches

1/4 C mild honey

3 T water

1 – 2 t fresh lemon juice, to taste

Place the honey and water in a saucepan and warm over low heat until dissolved and blended. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice to taste.

Slice the peaches and toss with the honey lemon syrup.

Cardamom Vanilla Pound Cake

Source: Gourmet magazine, March 2009

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 vanilla beans, halved lengthwise

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup whole milk

1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream

2 1/2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Equipment:

- a 12-cup kugelhopf or bundt pan

- a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Whisk together flour, cardamom, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat together butter and granulated sugar in mixer at medium speed, scraping side of bowl occasionally, until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape seeds from vanilla beans with tip of a paring knife into butter mixture, reserving pods for another use, and beat until combined well, about 1 minute. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in lemon juice until combined well. At low speed, add flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top. Gently rap pan on counter to eliminate air bubbles.

Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in pan 1 hour, then invert onto a rack and cool completely, about 1 hour more.

Beat cream with confectioners sugar and vanilla extract using whisk attachment of mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Serve cake with whipped vanilla cream.

Cooks' notes:

? If you have green cardamom pods, you can grind the seeds using a mortar and pestle or an electric coffee/spice grinder

?Cake keeps in an airtight container at room temperature 3 days.

Posted by Celeste at Sunday, August 02, 2009

Labels: "Gourmet" Magazine, Decadent Desserts, Scrumptious Cakes

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake = YUM!

Here's the recipe:

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

3.5 cups all purpose flour, sifted

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup butter, room temperature

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

3 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

6 eggs, room temperature

1 cup milk, room temperature

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sift flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside.

Using a mixer, cream butter, cream cheesea nd sugar for about 6 minutes.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Add vanilla and milk until combined.

Add flour mixture until completely combined.

Pour into two greased and floured 9 X 5 loaf pans.

Stir in 2-cups hulled and diced strawberries for each loaf if desired.

Bake for about 60 minutes or until done.

Update: Ummm… Forgot to mention… some of my strawberries sank to the bottom, You know I don't bake with fruit so much, but after reading up on it, I think this will help. Try lightly covering the fruit with flour. Let me know if it works for ya.

Cream Cheese Icing

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

2 Tbsp butter, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

3 Tbsp milk

Cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and milk until thoroughly combined.

Spread on top of cake.

Store in the refrigerator.

Pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. However, the quantity is often changed to suit the size of the cake that is desired. As long as the ratio is preserved, the resulting cake will generally be very similar to that using the traditional quantities.

Hence, any cake made with a 1:1:1:1 ratio of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar is also called a pound cake, even if the quantity used is smaller or larger than an actual pound.

There are numerous variations on the traditional pound cake, with certain countries and regions having distinctive styles. These can include the addition of flavoring agents (such as vanilla extract or almond extract) or dried fruit (such as currants or raisins), as well as alterations to the original recipe in order to change the characteristics of the resulting pound cake.

For instance, baking soda or baking powder may be incorporated in order to induce leavening during baking, resulting in a less dense pound cake. A cooking oil (typically a vegetable oil) is sometimes substituted for some or all of the butter, which is intended to produce a more moist cake. "Sour cream pound cake" is a popular variation in the United States, which involves the substitution of sour cream for some of the butter, which also is intended to produce a more moist cake with a pleasantly tangy flavor. Some of these variations may drastically change the texture and flavor of the pound cake, but the name pound cake is often still used.

*Taken from Wikipedia as a souce for information.