Saturday, July 9, 2016

Brown Sugar Pound Cake from "Southern Cakes"

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back with another repost. Right now we should be working our way up from the soft sands of Florence, Oregon to the Olympic Pesinsula. My kids have never stayed on Herstine Island and I'm excited to show them one of my favorite areas! I'll be sure to share pictures as soon as we're back (if I don't drop my phone in the water, of course).
So, about that recipe...I have another book I bought as a giveaway and decided I needed one, too. 

I let Ana choose which cake she wanted to make and she chose Brown Sugar Pound Cake with glaze. Hm. Not what I would have picked, but I was game! Preheat the oven at 325F and mix together in a bowl and set aside:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
(I like this picture. It wasn't raining, can you tell? My little prism is casting rainbows!)
You'll need:
3 sticks butter
2 3/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (eek, I'm almost out!)
1 cup milk
Oh, look! Rainbow bright! Ok, not quite, but I thought it was cute. His expression says, "Mama, you're killing me softly with this whole rainbows and butterflies stuff."
Yes, mothers are annoyingly bright and cheerful. We should be more down to earth, logical, cut and dried. He was right... Except, when I wasn't watching, I caught him talking to Thor.
And then a kiss for good measure! I mean, really! I hardly get kisses and THOR gets a smooch?
Anyway, beat butter in the mixer until fluffy. (For some reason, I only have one picture of Thor in action. Perhaps jealousy...)
When the butter is fluffy, add the brown sugar 1/3 at a time, then all of the white sugar. When that's mixed, add the flour, but only half. When it's incorporated, add half the milk. This is like the dump cake recipe that needed to be alternated. When the flour and milk are in, pour into a greased bunt pan, or two greased loaf pans.
After about an hour and ten minutes, check to see if the top is spongy when touched, and a toothpick comes out clean.
Set it on a wire rack for 30 minutes, and then carefully invert.
OK, I have to include this picture. Makes me laugh! He was inhaling deeply over the warm pound cake. I must look exactly like this, eyes rolling back into my head and all.
This is his "I'm ready for cake" face.

But we still had to make the glaze. So the cake was left to cool on a platter while we whipped up the glaze.
Melt one stick of butter and one cup light brown sugar on low heat until combined. Stir for five minutes, until it's smooth, not gritty. Add a 1/2 cup evaporated milk and bring to a boil. Take it from the heat and add 4 cups of confectioner's sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.
(I have to say, this made A LOT of frosting/ glaze. Even my kids, who love frosting, barely made a dent in this. I may have to make cinnamon rolls on Sunday to use up some of this. So, maybe half the recipe? I think it would still be more than enough.)
  Anyway, after the powdered sugar is added, stir or whip (I used an egg beater) to blend it until it lost some of its sheen and turned thick.
Ta-dah! A bucket of Caramel Glaze! We'll never do without again!
So, hubby was putting up trim in the living room and I invited him into the kitchen for a cake date.
Isn't that sweet?
Mmm-hmmmm, we nibbled our cake and drank our coffee with pinkies outstretched while kids bumped into our knees and toddlers pulled at the table cloth. If we ignored the towering pile of dishes (strangely, he was really good at that) and the steaming stove, it was almost romantic!
Ahhhh, nothing says togetherness like cake.
The glaze set up almost immediately so it didn't run all over the plate, but I was watching!
Come on over, Serendipitous Saturday folks and grab a piece! There is a lot left over! Not as much as the glaze, but you can take some of that home with you when you go. Like Amish friendship bread, but sweeter and you don't even have to bake it.
And this is a gratuitous shot I took of the moon tonight. Isn't it lovely? I always ehard about the man in the moon, but my husband says in his country they say 'el conejo', which is the rabbit. See? He's sort of standing up right, with his two ears to the right? Yeah, me either...

8 comments:

  1. Someday your kids will look back and remember what a wonderful, tasty childhood they had. You are not only a terrific writer, and a great cook, but an AMAZING MOMMA!!

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    1. You are so sweet, Tina! Thanks for the encouragement. I just put some preschoolers to bed and I'm pretty sure they do NOT think I'm an amazing momma because it's 10PM and I want them to SLEEP. :D

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  2. Yes, I agree with Tina. Only I want you to adopt me so I get to go on adventures with you as well. Oddly enough I've been reading books set in Oregon lately and between your comments on your blog and the books I've been reading -- well I'm beginning to think Oregon is "a little piece of heaven that fell to earth one day". And I've only thought that about Ireland up until now!

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    1. It's a wonderful place to live, Kav! We have such a spirit of freedom here. The big cities are full of transplants and Oregon-grown types living side by side, as strange and unique as they want to be. Our small towns have cowboys, farmers, and people yearning for a place they can be independent from the rest of the world. And surrounding all of that is some of the most beautiful countryside you will see in the nation.

      Small caveat: if you live on the West side, be prepared for six months of rain! I live in the East and we have all four seasons. I went to college on the West side and their seasons are summer and rain. :D

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  3. I see a bear in that moon!

    I'm trying really hard to focus on the moon so I don't start craving that delicious-looking cake. I'm also kind of craving that coconut cake on the book cover. And I just had dinner!!!

    Sounds like the trip is a load of fun. Hope you're getting relaxing time.

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    1. I don't like coconut so they cake cover doesn't bother me! LOL.

      And we're back now. :) As much fun as we had, as much beauty as we witnessed and as much as we learned, I realized I really, really love my home. It's so cozy and FULL OF BOOKS.

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  4. The Olympic Peninsula! One of my favorite places in the world! Until I visited there as a girl...um...LOTS of years ago, I had no idea that rain forests existed outside the tropics. I have such great memories of that place.

    And this cake. My mouth is watering!

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    1. It's one of the wonders of the country, in my opinion. Just incredible how diverse it is and how protected it is from development because it's largely unknown. It's been on the list to bring the kids up there for years, but I wanted to wait until they were potty trained. Driving such long distances with babies in diapers is hard on everybody!

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