Perfection Pound Cake / Isn't Birthdays Fun?

This is a lovely recipe from my latest collection of recipe books on baking, a birthday gift from my younger sister, thank you sis, for this fantastic book, "Dorie Greenspan - Baking From My Home To Yours". It is a big and thick book with over 200 recipes! I was so excited and couldn't decide which one to start with. So I text her to randomly choose a page. She chose this. What a perfect recipe to start off my baking adventures from this lovely book.

That's not all! I have three other fantastic books. "The Bread Book" by Sara Lewis, from my youngest sis, who knows I love making breads, thank you so much little sis. "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz, from my hubby. I have been "eyeing' this book for quite sometime now, and now, I own one! "150 Delicious Squares" by Companys Coming Kitchen Cookbooks, from my children. It is a lovely book on bars, slices and squares. I will definitely be kept busy, either from making these lovely recipes or keep my nose buried in these books whenever I can!

Check these out !

Yahoo!!

Yahoo!!

This little notebook is from my son, he bought it from his school bookshop, for me to use for my little 'grocery shopping list' !

This is my birthday cake, baked by yours truly, me... My son says "Mommy, nobody bakes their own birthday cake!" He thought it was funny, well, I thought so too....he! he! It was Lemon Peach Mousse Cake (vanilla sponge cake with slices of peaches and lemon mousse filling and decorated with fruits and fresh cream topping)

This is the cake I made for my son's birthday, a week earlier than mine, Chocolate Banana Cake (with chocolate cream and slices of fresh banana filling, and chocolate ganache topping with image icing)

Isn't birthdays fun?

Back to Perfection Pound Cake. This is indeed a lovely recipe. The aroma fills the house when this cake in the oven. It came out well, with a crack on top, just as it should be. The texture is not dry and it is not too moist either, somewhere in between. I have tried it toasted as suggested, and it is surprisingly good. As usual, I reduce the sugar, here's the recipe :

Perfection Pound Cake (adapted from "Baking From My House To Yours" by Dorie Greenspan) Ingredients :
2 cups all-purpose flour or 2-1/4 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar (I use 3/4 cup)
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method :

Getting ready : Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan or an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch loaf pan. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 to 2 minutes after each egg goes in. As you're working, scrape down the bowl and beater often. Mix in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated - don't overmix. In fact, you might want to fold in the last of the flour, or even all of it, by hand with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Put the cake into the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes. If it's browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. If you using a 9 x 5 pan, you'll need to bake the cake for 70 to 75 minutes; the smaller pan needs about 90 minutes. The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 30 minutes. Run a blunt knife between the cake and side of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

(my notes : Mine was done at about 50 minutes)