Classic Pound Cake

With just five simple ingredients, you can easily create this moist and delicious old-fashioned pound cake from a vintage recipe. Pound cake, so named because it originally called for one pound of each ingredient, is a perennial favorite, and one that has survived the years. Most modern recipes gild the lily with sour cream, milk or any number of other flavorings and additions. As good as those are (and who doesn't like variety?), this classic version is rather perfect.

Here's the mis en place for the recipe. Flour, butter, eggs and sugar. (Also, vanilla and a pinch of salt, which I forgot to photograph.)

Start by beating the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time.Add the flour, a pinch of salt and vanilla -- and that's it!

Spoon the batter into a greased bundt pan.

Smooth it with an offset spatula, a butter knife or the back of a spoon.

Bake for about 45 minutes. The top will look underbaked, but you can tell it's done by the way the cake is separating from the sides.

Let it cool in the pan for about ten minutes. Then run a knife around the edges to loosen it, turn it out on a rack, and tap the top until the cake releases.

The cake has a nice crumb.

Production notes: Have the butter at room temperature, and beat it well. Add the sugar and beat the mixture until it's light and fluffy before adding the eggs. I also added the vanilla to the butter-sugar-eggs mixture, instead of after the flour. The first time I made this (see below), I sprayed the pan with Pam and overbaked it, which resulted in a broken cake. This time, I greased the pan with Crisco -- not sure that made a difference.
It is essential not to overbake this cake. Don't go by the color, but do test with a skewer.
I also made an quick icing -- put some confectioner's sugar in a bowl, and add liquid (milk, cream, water or lemon juice)  and mix to the desired consistency.

Sour Cream Cake

In preparation for holiday baking, I bought a lot heavy cream -- not the ultra-pasturized stuff from the supermarket, but the thick sweet cream from the farmer's market. When the holiday festivities came to an end, and the last guest departed, I found an errant quart at the back of the refrigerator, just a few days beyond its expiration date.  Now if this was the ultra-pasturized variety, I would have tossed it immediately; it's slightly sour odor would indicate that it had gone bad.  But the real deal cream has a second life, in this case, as the star ingredient in this Sour Cream Cake, a vintage recipe from Kansas home baker.

This is a delicious, not-too-sweet pound cake that can be mixed in minutes. I suspect that regular sour cream would make a fine substitute for the slightly sour heavy cream that I used.  (The moral of the story, perhaps, is that while it may be cheaper to buy supermarket heavy cream, that theory doesn't hold up if one needs to pour the spoiled cream down the drain.)

Start by beating the eggs, and then adding the sugar and cream.

Mix in the dry ingredients.

Spoon the batter into a greased loaf pan. (I'm hoping to get a much needed new loaf pan for my upcoming birthday. Hint, hint.)

Bake until golden brown.

Even if part of the cake sticks to the pan, no problem. Just attach the stubborn piece to the loaf.

Production notes: I followed this recipe exactly. The soda-cream mixture didn't foam, but didn't make much of a difference.  Who says baking is a science?

Vanilla Pound Cake with Steamed Rhubarb

My mother, who rarely talks about her childhood, recently told me about the sauce her mother used to make from the rhubarb that grew wild around their New Hampshire home. She told me this on Wednesday, after I mentioned that I had come from the farmer's market with a big handful of rhubarb.  And, by happy coincidence just a few minutes after we ended our phone call, I found a vintage recipe card in my collection for something called Steamed Rhubarb.

So I made this old-fashioned delicious sauce which is a little bit sweet and a little bit tart.  But I needed a foil upon which to showcase it and what's better than vanilla pound cake? (My mother's family used the sauce as a jam on bread, which sounds nice, but I didn't have the time to make bread.)

First, the sauce.  (Pound cake instructions are at the end of this post.)  Wash fresh rhubarb and cut into pieces.

Place in the top of a double-boiler -- I just stuck one saucepan on top of another.  Fill the bottom pan with water -- do not add water to the rhubarb -- and let it steam for about 20 minutes.

The natural moisture in the rhubarb will release, preventing it from burning.

Add a bit of sugar and baking soda and voila -- rhubarb sauce. Perfect for cake or bread or pancakes.

Production notes: I followed this exactly. I filled a four-cup measure with the cut rhubarb to equal one quart. Not stirring the rhubarb helps it to retain its shape and texture.

Now, on to the pound cake.  This is a moist and delicious (and rather dense: think Sara Lee) pound cake.  It uses but five ingredients: sugar, eggs, vanilla, butter and flour.

Its method is unusual, as the recipe calls for separating the eggs, and adding the yolks first and then the unbeaten whites.This will cause the batter to look curdled, but carry on as it will all smooth out when the flour is added.

Grease and flour a loaf pan and spoon the batter in, smoothing out the top.

Production notes:  Do not bake for two hours!  I baked this at 350 F for about an hour. Let it cool slightly in the pan before turning it out.

A Cake Bakes Best of 2012

There were so many noteworthy dessert discoveries this year (rescued from the early 20th century, of course), but I managed to whittle the list to a baker's dozen.  So, in no particular order, I present the best of 2012.  (To get the recipes and more pictures, just click on the recipe names, the ones highlighted in red at the first words in each description.) Here's to a sweet new year.

Toll House Cupcakes 

Toll House Cupcakes  were the sleeper of the year. These are so unusual and so delicious, it's hard to imagine that they fell out of favor. Careful, though, as you may create a cadre of addicts.  Your friends and family will request them again and again.

Lemon Chiffon Pie

Lemon Chiffon Pie is so light and ethereal that it's hard to believe that just three simple ingredients -- sugar, eggs and lemons -- are responsible for this masterpiece.  Make chiffon pie part of your new year.

Barney's Brownies

Barney's Brownies can literally be put together in minutes.  They will disappear just as quickly, guaranteed.   Brownies so delicious, you'll be amazed there's no butter.

Elaine's Anise Cookies

Elaine's Anise Cookies are perfect at Christmas or any time of year on account of the flavor, the texture and most of all, the perfect little cookie caps that form in the oven.

Ritz Cracker Meringue Pie

Ritz Cracker Meringue Pie is an unusual dessert that's a mid-century American version of the French dacquoise.  You'd think that crackers would form the crust, but no!  They're folded into the filling, creating a wonderful new way to experience this salty and buttery cracker.

Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies

Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies because I know you want one right now with a tall glass of milk.

The $28 One-Step Pound Cake

The $28 dollar One-Step Pound Cake, so named because that's how much I paid for a recipe box that contained only one fabulous recipe -- this one.  It's easy and everyone should have a delicious pound cake recipe in their repertoire. 

Cinnamon Crunchies

Cinnamon Crunchies were a favorite among co-workers this year, and they are a very discriminating bunch.  These three-layer treats are way more than the sum of their parts.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Rhubarb Custard Pie is the perfect way to celebrate spring, no strawberries needed. Plus the pie is even more delicious the next day.

Lemon Crunch

Lemon Crunch is a personal favorite, and what happens when a 1950s housewife takes a traditional lemon bar and ramps it up with coconut for the added crunch, a welcome flavor and texture note.  

Apple Dowdy Cake

Apple Dowdy Cake is a wonderful autumn and winter cake, made extra delicious by the caramel-praline glaze.  Plus, what a great name!

Passover Woodchucks

Passover Woodchucks are another addicting treat you won't find on everyone else's table.  No need to wait for the holidays because walnuts, dates, sugar and coconut are always in season.

Cake

Cake made the list because this basic (and delicious) yellow cake is the building block of all manner of desserts, from Boston Cream Pie to upside down cake (pictured here) to coffee cake. It's like the little black dress of the kitchen and who doesn't want one of those?

Grandma Jean's Challah

Grandma Jean's Challah is very good, though there are many richer challah recipes around.  I like the bread, but I love the serendipity of its discovery even more.

Family Dish Stories - A Unique Holiday Gift

Do you treasure your grandmother's sugar cookies, or your Aunt Tilly's blueberry pie?  Wouldn't it be great to have a beautifully shot video in which your relative talks a bit about herself while demonstrating how to prepare the sweet object of your desire?

Now you can, thanks to StoryKeep, a company that will shoot and edit your family's kitchen story, or as they say on their website,  will "capture the story-filled recipes that your family loves and wants to pass on.  Documenting your mother, grandfather or aunt's famous dish is an incredible way to honor their place in your family's lore."  This would make a lovely holiday gift and keepsake.

But enough explaining.  Click here to see a sample, a video of Aunt Mazella's Pound Cake -- a compelling, beautifully shot story told in five fast moving minutes, complete with cooking demo and recipe.

This great idea is the brainchild of Jamie Yuenger, who in addition to having a great yoga practice (I met her at a yoga studio), is a talented filmmaker and co-founder StoryKeep whose tagline is You have a story to keep.

And if you enter your email address into their website, you can download an illustrated pdf of the pound cake recipe which looks delicious (but I didn't have time to make tonight, but plan to soon).

The $28 One-Step Pound Cake

If you can measure flour and sugar, crack an egg and stir, then you can make this delicious lemony pound cake and impress your friends and family.  (And you don't even have have to pay $28 for the recipe as I did -- it was the only promising one in a box I bought recently on eBay and, as it turned out, was well worth it.)

The one-step method refers to the fact that all the ingredients are simply placed in a mixing bowl at once and blended for about five minutes.  Pour the batter in the greased and floured pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes.  This recipe is so easy and quick to put together, that it was ready before the oven had finished preheating!  After five minutes of beating in the standing mixer, the seemingly disparate ingredients, above, transformed into the silky smooth batter, below.

Smooth the batter with a spoon or spatula once you place it in the bundt pan.  It doesn't have to be perfectly flat, but as they say in yoga, that's the intention.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, release it and let it cool completely.  This takes much longer than you'd expect, especially if it's 11:30 p.m. and you're waiting for it to cool so you can wrap it up and go to bed.  Always account for cooling time when starting a recipe at night.

The glaze is simple to make and adds sweetness and even more lemon flavor.

The eBay box, that contained this recipe.

Some production notes:  The recipe calls for either yogurt with fruit or sour cream. I used the sour cream, and also butter instead of margarine.  Any all purpose flour will do, and please do not wait after you add the eggs and the sugar to the mixing bowl because the sugar will "cook" the eggs, and you'll end up with bits of cooked egg in your batter. Really! It's essential to grease and flour your pan well to ensure that the cake releases easily.  Doing that step took as long as making the cake!