Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Adventures in Pound Cake

I am always looking for easy recipes for sweets. I am the kind of person that doesn't feel like a meal is complete without something sweet to be the caboose. Of course, it goes straight to MY caboose but, I have found that with homemade sweets, I don't feel like I need as much to be happy. I think it's because all the ingredients are REAL- and I know how much work goes into it so I don't want to waste it on sheer gluttony!

One of the ways I choose what recipes I want to make are just based on what I have on hand. Lately, I have been trying to make grocery shopping a once a week affair. Research shows that we spend more money on impulse buys each time we enter the store so reducing the number of trips saves money. I tend to agree- and we can keep some of our money out of the hands of the oil and gas folks as well.

So, I have some strawberries that are on the edge. Another day, maybe two, and they would be science projects. But, right now, they are salvageable. So, I thought a strawberry shortcake would be great. I've had trial and error with angel food cake (mostly humiliating error!) so, I decided that I'd take pound cake for a test drive.

I find a lot of recipes on the Internet. Google any recipe and you're bound to find a boatload of stuff. But, I think one of the best sites is All Recipes. You get the recipe and, often, there will be hundreds of reviews of that recipe so you can know if it is perfect as-is or if it needs some changes.

The one I found needed a fair number of changes as is often the case with recipes that are deceptively easy. So, I read through the comments and took some suggestions and left others and here is the recipe I came up with:

Pound Cake
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of softened butter
1 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs Cointreau (Orange liquor)
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Cream softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add vanilla, Cointreau, and sour cream. Stir to combine.

Add eggs and incorporate.

Measure flour into the bowl and add the baking soda and salt. Use a wire whisk or electric mixer to combine into a smooth batter.

Put mixture into prepared (buttered and floured) loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour at 325



Combining sour cream with creamed butter and sugar. I also added the Cointreau and a tsp of salt to this mixture.


Then I added the eggs and vanilla to the mixture.

Here it is after I added the flour and put it in the prepared pan.

This batter smelled exactly like a rich cheesecake when I put it in the pan. I smelled the orange from the Cointreau and the vanilla gave it such a sweet undertone to sweeten the tartness of the sour cream.

I cut the strawberries and added sugar to taste and 1tsp of the Cointreau just to keep the flavors consistent.

Here it is sliced and topped with the strawberries and whipped cream.






The cake is springy and sweetly tangy just like the aroma of the batter before it went in the oven. The juice from the strawberries soaks into the cake and makes it so fresh and juicy.

4 comments:

  1. Oh, wow, this is one of my favorite desserts of all time. And yours looks SOOOO GOOOOD.

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  2. Ok, hungry now.

    Do you do your own whipped cream too?

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  3. Nope, Lisa- that's Rediwhip!! I love spraying that stuff from the can. It's fun. Hey, that's why I'm the *modern* housewife, right?

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  4. I have a gadget that is JUST like readiwhip, but you make it yourself. It's by Isi, and you buy chargers. I will put a minimal amount of sugar in the canister, so feel MUCH better about putting cream on my strawberries. A pint of cream will last for two boxes of berries and last 2 weeks.

    Not a cheap gadget, but definately worth it, IMO.

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