Friday, March 4, 2011

Paula’s Pound Cake

I made this once before, and LOVED it… it’s a Paula Deen recipe (so of course the first ingredient is 1/2 lb of butter…Ha-Ha).

Her recipe can be found here and here.

So, when I signed up to make dessert for this weeks small group, it didn’t take me long to figure out what to make (also, the majority of the ingredients you will have as staples in your kitchen so no extra trip to the grocery store).

Preheat oven to 325.

First, grease & flour a bundt pan… I know I said the other day I love the crisco sticks & I do for measured amounts of shortening… but for greasing I love the good old fashioned tub.  I just scoop some on a paper towel, and rub it around (when using a bundt pan make sure you get in all the cracks… a bundt cake always brings to mind that scene in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”… ‘this cake has a hole in it’).

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Then sprinkle flour on top of the crisco, and hold the pan up… tapping each side, and rotating to get the flour covered all over as well.

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Make sure you shake as much excess flour off as you can, you don’t want white on the gorgeous golden brown color of this cake.

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Next cream together 2 sticks of butter, and 3 cups of sugar (amount of sugar can be adjusted to suit your taste… I did just under 3 cups… many of the reviews on the food network website say they did less sugar… I wonder if this would impact the crispy outside/soft inside texture).

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Then add 1 cup sour cream (again love my plunger measuring cup for this task).  Just fill it up & pop it out!

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Beat until combined.

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Then sift 3 cups flour, and 2tsp baking soda ( I don’t know about you but I’m always paranoid I’ll using baking powder when a recipe calls for baking powder, and vice versa… I always check the recipe & what I’m using 3-4 times just to be sure).

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Now alternate adding 1 beaten egg, and flour mixture, beating after each addition.  Repeat 6 times with each egg.  I have to have the 6 eggs set aside or I’ll loose count.

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Add 1 tsp vanilla (also can add 1tsp other flavored extract… for this batch I did almond, but orange, and lemon would also work well).

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Beat for a couple more minutes.

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Pour into prepared bundt or cake pan.

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Bake for 1 hour & 20 minutes.  Be sure it’s golden in color, springs back when pushed, and a cake tester or toothpick come out clean when inserted.  Last time I made this I took it out a bit early because I thought it was done (passed all of the above tests), and it was pretty much done, but would have done better with that extra time. 

Sprinkle w/ powdered sugar if desired, serve as is, or with whipped cream & berries!  We had it with vanilla ice cream & chocolate sauce at small group.

Unfortunately, in a rush to get to small group I forgot to get a picture of the finished product!!   Next time… I promise!!