The urge to bake something sweet struck suddenly a few mornings ago. Cookies felt like too much work, not in the mood for pie, a tart required pâte brisée and a cake would have been impractical. But wait - how about a pound cake?
And pound cake it was.
In my recipe binder I have a Barefoot Contessa recipe from her book Back to Basics - a honey vanilla pound cake. Easy enough to put together, a minimum of dirty dishes and once baked, easily nibbled by the slice.
Honey Vanilla Pound Cake
Makes one 8 inch loaf
Barefoot Contessa
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at cool room temperature (leave refrigerated butter out for about 1 hour to achieve this)
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 extra large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons pure vanilla
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the bottom of an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan. Line with parchment then grease and flour entire pan.
In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes until light and fluffy. In the meantime, put eggs, honey, vanilla and lemon zest into a measuring cup but do not mix.
With the mixer on medium low speed, add the egg mixture, one egg at a time, scraping down the bowl and allowing each egg to become completely incorporated before adding the next egg.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture slowly until just combined. Complete mixing with a spatula and pour into prepared pan. Smooth the top.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely.
I must say - pound cake is like a fine wine. Let it age even just a day and the flavor and texture both improve. This particular recipe wasn't as stunning as I'd hoped - I was looking for a more flavorful cake. I think adding a bit more lemon zest or even extra vanilla would have helped.
Overall, quite enjoyable and the perfect sweet treat to have sitting on the counter for anyone to slice off a piece and enjoy - with tea or a glass of cold milk, or a spoonful of softly whipped cream!
3 comments:
I think pound cake really is one of the more perfect desserts out there. Delicious on it's own, but also great with a scoop of ice cream. This sounds lovely.
So pretty. You can't go wrong with Ina, can you? Bet this was delicious.
I am going to attempt this today. I'll let you know how it turns out! It certainly sounds delicious and I have people who will taste test it for me, too. Bonus!!
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