Eight Days - Day Five
This is the most no-fail cake recipe I've ever run across. We got it from a woman the beloved works with who says it's like a German pound cake. We took her word for that, not having German pound cake to compare it to, but it does have a wonderful pound cake texture.
Start with a large mixing bowl, you're going to have a lot of batter.
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
-cream them together well -- I cube the butter and microwave until it's soft (but NOT melted) given that room temperature in my kitchen for most of the year is too cold to spread butter let alone cream it.
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup milk
-add to the creamed butter/sugar -- yes, it will look like a curdled mess but that's okay, it's supposed to
-then add
one egg
one cup of flour (I use all purpose)
-mix
-when smooth add
one egg
one cup of flour
-mix
-when smooth add
one egg
one cup of flour with 2 tsp baking powder forked in
(don't worry about how distributed the baking powder is -- I forgot and added it last once and the cake still worked)
-flavoring: Now, this is where this mix really shines -- you can throw in a tablespoon of vanilla and have a plain pound cake but our default is a tablespoon of almond extract and then sprinkle chopped almonds into the pan before adding the batter. We've also used orange flavoring (extract and zest) and walnuts as well as lemon (juice and zest) and blueberries. I'm still working out how much cocoa to add to get it really chocolately, so far it's been kind of meh.
-pour the batter into a greased tube or bundt pan
-bake in 350 degree oven (weirdly, we still use fahrenheit for cooking, I don't know what it would be celsius) for about an hour, maybe a bit longer depending
de-pan
slice
eat
be happy
Start with a large mixing bowl, you're going to have a lot of batter.
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
-cream them together well -- I cube the butter and microwave until it's soft (but NOT melted) given that room temperature in my kitchen for most of the year is too cold to spread butter let alone cream it.
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup milk
-add to the creamed butter/sugar -- yes, it will look like a curdled mess but that's okay, it's supposed to
-then add
one egg
one cup of flour (I use all purpose)
-mix
-when smooth add
one egg
one cup of flour
-mix
-when smooth add
one egg
one cup of flour with 2 tsp baking powder forked in
(don't worry about how distributed the baking powder is -- I forgot and added it last once and the cake still worked)
-flavoring: Now, this is where this mix really shines -- you can throw in a tablespoon of vanilla and have a plain pound cake but our default is a tablespoon of almond extract and then sprinkle chopped almonds into the pan before adding the batter. We've also used orange flavoring (extract and zest) and walnuts as well as lemon (juice and zest) and blueberries. I'm still working out how much cocoa to add to get it really chocolately, so far it's been kind of meh.
-pour the batter into a greased tube or bundt pan
-bake in 350 degree oven (weirdly, we still use fahrenheit for cooking, I don't know what it would be celsius) for about an hour, maybe a bit longer depending
de-pan
slice
eat
be happy