What’s for dessert? Pound Cake

I think a pound cake is about as southern of a dessert as you can get.  My husband and father-in-law like pound cake so much that I quit making them for a while because I got tired of them.

I had to provide dessert for my ALTA (Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association) match Tuesday night, and I opted to make a pound cake.  I thought it would be a good option because it would be sitting out in the heat and I wouldn’t have to worry about anything melting.  I love pound cake made into strawberry shortcake or peach shortcake or blueberry shortcake, but sometimes I like them just plain.

As you’ll see from the recipe below, there is nothing light about this pound cake recipe.  But that’s okay.  It’s dessert.  Unless it’s breakfast, in which case I put a few pats of butter on a slice and toast it in the toaster oven for a few minutes.  I call it Butter on Butter.  Try this with coffee to make a complete meal 🙂

I have several good recipes for pound cake, but I like this one because it calls for ingredients that I always keep on hand.  That’s good when I remember at 6:00 at night that I am supposed to provide dessert for an event at school the next morning.  Or when I remember at noon that I have to provide a dessert for my ALTA match in a few hours.  With this recipe, I don’t have to make a special trip to the grocery store for cream cheese or sour cream that so many recipes call for.

You probably noticed that I did not make this cake in the usual tube pan.  Oh, no.  I used a fancy pan.  I admired a cake my friend Debbie brought to book club a couple of years ago and I went out the next day and purchased one for myself.  I got it at Williams-Sonoma.  It’s called the Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt Pan and it’s available on their website for $36.  It makes a plain old pound cake look a little more special.

Okay, here’s the recipe.  It’s super simple.

4 cups all purpose flour

3 cups granulated sugar

1 lb. (4 sticks) butter, softened  (I warned you about the butter.)

3/4 cups milk  (I use skim because that’s what I keep on hand and it works fine.)

6 large eggs  (Eggs have protein, so this is a healthy recipe :-))

2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 325.  In mixing bowl place flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla.  Beat at low speed 1 minute.  Beat at medium speed 2 minutes.  (Note — I’m a little old school so I still mix the butter and sugar and then add eggs, etc.  Make sure your butter is softened.  I have given up sifting flour for most recipes and now just fluff it up with a spoon before measuring it.  I think the correct term for this is aerating.)  Pour batter into greased and floured 10-inch tube pan.  (Note — I use Baker’s Joy to spray the pan.  It’s one of my favorite things.  If you use a bundt pan, be sure not to overfill it.  Leave at least an inch for it to rise.  If it rises too much, it’s hard to get out of the pan.  You can put any leftover batter into another small container and bake it alongside the cake.)  Bake 1 hour 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  I let the cake cool for 15-30 minutes before removing from pan.  Run a knife along the top of the pan and turn it over onto your cake stand.  Voila!