Pound Cake

I hope everyone had a great weekend! The Easter bunny made his way to our house. Of all the things to forget, our Easter bunny forgot jelly beans. He did remember to bring the edible grass which is very popular. My favorite part is visiting with family members. I think my husband's favorite part is dessert. Lately, he has been requesting lemon desserts so it is definitely Spring. I would have to say pound cake is one of my favorite desserts especially this recipe.

 Pound Cake
2 sticks (16 oz.) unsalted butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. With nonstick cooking spray, grease a bread pan. 
3. In a mixer, cream the butter and shortening together.
4. Add 1 cup at a time of the sugar. 
5. Add one egg at a time. Mix until just incorporated.
6. In a medium bowl,  whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. 
7. Add 1 cup of the flour mixture to the butter mixture followed by 1/3 cup of the milk.
8. Continue to alternate adding the flour mixture then some of the milk until combined.
9. Mix in the vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated.
10. Pour the batter into the greased bread pan. 
11. Bake for 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Recipe adapted from Paula Deen.

Two years ago..................................I made Breakfast Bruschetta.

Did you already know......................
-Pound cake originated from Northern Europe.
-The original pound cake did not have any livening agents. 
-Pound cake was an easy recipe to remember even for those who couldn't read recipes.

Pound Cake

I survived April Fools Day. I was pretty lucky since my youngest son tried to trick all of us. He did manage to trick my sister and his best friend. Everyone else had already been warned. His sisters told him to leave them alone. My husband did manage to trick him into thinking there was no school. It didn't take my son long to catch onto that trick. My son told us April Fools is his special day to get us. I just wonder what will be in store for us when he is older. Well, I tried a trick with some food coloring and some pound cake. I wanted to make a marble look. As you can tell, I think the trick was more on me since I should have marbled it more. This pound cake is good and makes great gifts.

Pound Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 drops of red food coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat for about a minute before adding the next egg.
6. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
7. Slowly, add the flour and mix until just incorporated. Don't overmix.
8. Add half of the pound cake batter to the loaf pan.
9. Measure out about 1 cup of the remaining batter. 
10. Add the food coloring to the 1 cup of batter. Mix about 20 times. 
11. Pour a few spoonfuls of the colorful batter onto of the batter in the loaf pan. Run a knife in the batter to form a marble affect.
12. Add more of the remaining batter and the colorful batter. 
13. Randomly run the knife through it to form additional marble affect.
14. Bake the pound cake for about 35 minutes. Check the cake. If it is browning quickly, cover loosely with foil.
15. Continue baking for another 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
16. Remove the pound cake from the oven. Allow to rest for 30 minutes before serving.

Recipe adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan. 

One year ago.........................I made Chocolate & Peanut Butter Ribbon Dessert.

Did you already know...........
-Pound cake has been around since 1747.
-Pound cake originated from Britain.
-Pound cake is known to have about a pound of butter, eggs, and sugar in it.

PQ: Pound Cake Rum or No Rum?

Rum or no rum? Rum or no rum? Dilemma's of life! This weeks Project Pastry Queen was the Totally Rummy Pound Cake picked by Shawnda. I just couldn't decide if I wanted to go with Rum. Why? It isn't because we don't like rum in this household. (If you shy around alcohol, you need to be absent from my husband's birthday bashes.) Since it was my son's birthday weekend, (yes weekend since it was a sleepover), I figured I would make a twist.

I decided to substitute the rum with lemons and blueberries. A lot of snow has melted and I am crossing my fingers for Spring. I really do try to ignore that groundhog especially when he predicts 6/8/12 more weeks of winter-remember I live in Maine.

I thought maybe one loaf pan would be enough. I was wrong. Since I had a lot of batter left over, I did a lot of mini loafs. Another great thing about mini loafs size is they are easier to ship to family members.

Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
1 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted lightly (optional)
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease bread pans with cooking spray.
3. Arrange the toasted almonds on the bottom of the bread pans.
4. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until fluffy about 1 minute.
5. After scrapping down the sides, add the sugar. Beat for 2 minutes on medium-high speed until incorporated.
6. Scrap down the sides of the bowl again and then add 1 egg at a time until mixture is fluffy about 1 to 2 minutes.
7. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
8. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and alternate with the sour cream until all the flour and sour cream is incorporated on medium-low speed.
9. Stir in the vanilla extract, almond extract, and the lemon juice. Mix well. 
10. Gently fold in 2/3 cups of the blueberries. 
11. Spoon the batter evenly into the pans about 2/3 full. Top the batter with the remaining blueberries.
12. Bake the pound cakes for about 1 hour and 20 minutes for the large loaf pan and about 30 minutes for the mini loaf pans. If the top is browning too quickly before the loafs are completely cooked through, cover the cakes with parchment paper. The pound cakes are done when the cake springs back when touched lightly.
13. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen Cookbook.

Please check out the other Project Pastry Queen members posting of the Totally Rummy Pound Cake or if desired a glaze for the pound cake. Then you will have to decide rum or no rum in the glaze. Enjoy!

Almond crust

Did you already know.............
-In 1934, Myers's Rum was introduced in the US. 
-(Prohibition ended in 1933 for any curious minds.)
-Myers's Rum is made with pure Jamaican molasses.
-Myers's Rum is matured for about four years in oak barrels.