Vanilla pound cake sweetens a chilly winter’s day

[media-credit id=3 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Winter, although it has its drawbacks, is great for baking.

On a cold, gray day, when snow and ice are piling up outside, something delicious baking in the oven makes it warm and cozy on the inside.

For years, a favorite pound cake, loved by everyone in the family, called for a pound of butter, tons of sugar, a whole chicken yard of eggs and so on.

In the interest of cholesterol concerns for all, the recipe for the super delicious pound cake was put aside, and there have been no pound cakes baking in the oven.

[media-credit id=3 align=”alignleft” width=”245″][/media-credit]

Recently, however, while surfing blogs on the web, a recipe for vanilla pound cake appeared on one in San Francisco.

The blogger said she obtained the original recipe from an old copy of Victoria magazine.

Now, I love to bake and decided to try the recipe for vanilla pound cake. Instead of a pound of butter, it had been cut down to half a pound. It called for less sugar and less eggs than the former recipe.

So on a January afternoon, as a storm raged outside, I mixed together the ingredients for vanilla pound cake, tweaking it a bit.

Don’t be afraid to add a little of this or delete a little of that. It’s okay to be inventive and creative when it comes to baking.

Since there was no vanilla yogurt in the refrigerator, I used plain Greek-style. The recipe called for vanilla anyway. Around here, real vanilla, rather than imitation, is used, to ensure a rich vanilla flavor.

[media-credit id=3 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]

In addition, I added three-quarters of a cup of the yogurt and a quarter cup of sour cream.

[media-credit id=3 align=”aligncenter” width=”300″][/media-credit]

The recipe called for cake flour. Regular bleached enriched flour worked just fine. There was no need to go out into the elements to buy cake flour.

Instead of making two large pound cakes, the batter was poured into four small pans.

It’s always nice to be able to wrap up a cake and send it over to someone who’s sick or just sick of winter!

[media-credit id=3 align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]

The pound cakes turned out pretty well. In addition, heat from the oven warmed up the kitchen. Everybody was happy!

Vanilla Pound Cake
1 cup softened butter
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3 and ½ cups cake flour (or regular)
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 cup of yogurt (or ¾ cup of yogurt and ¼ cup sour cream; Also, Greek-style yogurt is quite delicious.)
2 tablespoons of heavy cream (optional)
2 teaspoons vanilla (real is better than imitation)

Instructions:
First of all, grease and flour two large loaf pans or four small loaf pans. (Pam, in a spray can, works perfectly.) Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
With an electric mixer set on high, mix together softened butter and sugar. Beat for three minutes or until light and creamy.
Reduce mixer speed to medium and beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each egg, scraping down the sides.
Mix flour with baking soda in a medium bowl. Add yogurt and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture.
Then add flour and baking soda mixture. Reduce mixer speed to low and mix well.
Fill loaf pans and bake for one hour. Let cool, then gently remove cakes from pans.

My husband prefers to eat his pound cake plain, with a cup of coffee.

If you are feeling rather decadent, however, you can put a slice on a plate, cover it with defrosted, sugared strawberries and a big mound of real whipped cream.

Either way, plain or fancy, vanilla pound cake will be delicious. Enjoy!

Posted by Susan M. Wicker Guerrero on January 31, 2013. Filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry