Perfect Pound Cake

We had friends up for dinner Saturday and after this amazing sale last week (I mean a savings of $4 a package how could I resist!?!) I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted to complement our pasta than good old fashioned strawberry shortcake. I also made a trip to a hospital to visit a friend’s daughter and wanted to bring them something fresh and tasty to bribe the nurses. (It’s one of my trademark doula tricks.) Another trip to the store for those famous little pound cake cups wasn’t in the cards, nor were the ingredients in my quest for real food. Off to the trusty computer, and I came across this amazing recipe. I started drooling and immediate pulling from my pantry what I needed to make this delicious dessert. The smell of vanilla goodness filled our house and I knew it would be a hit. Needless to say we were all speechless while we devoured our treats!

Perfect Pound Cake

Author/Source:

Kelly @ Onceamonthmom.com Adapted from Jun-Blog

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose unbleached, unenriched flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar or sucanat
• 1 vanilla bean, chopped, or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sweetened  organic condensed milk (yes it’s out there!)
• 3 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan and set aside. It’s helpful to use the butter wrappers to grease the pans. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and set aside.

Put the sugar and the chopped vanilla bean, if using, in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse until the vanilla bean is finely ground. Sift through a fine-mesh sieve and return the sugar mixture to the food processor. (If not using the vanilla bean, just put the sugar in the food processor.)

Add butter and salt and process until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bottom occasionally. Add the condensed milk and pulse until well incorporated. Add the sifted dry ingredients and pulse until no traces of flour remain, about 10 times. Add the eggs and pulse just until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, (add the vanilla extract, if using in lieu of beans) and finish mixing by hand to fully incorporate the eggs.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake until the top is dark golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about an hour. Cool completely in the loaf pan on a rack, then remove from pans. Once cooled serve with strawberries dusted with sugar or honey and a dallop of whipped cream. Enjoy every single bite.

Freezing Directions:

Let cool and place into a freezer bag until ready to serve. To Serve: Thaw in refrigerator and serve with your favorite fruit and whipped cream if desired.

Servings: One Loaf

This Post will be linked at:

• Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
• Recipe Swap Thursday at Prairie Story
• It’s a Keeper Thursday at Everyday Tastes
• Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions
• Frugal Food Thursday at Frugal Follies

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 5th, 2011 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.