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| Buttermilk Pound Cake Photo by L. Shauntay Snell of The Cake Monologues & E. Snell Design |
I've been in culinary school, Star Career Academy of New York, since March and it's been...entertaining. Many would think that I'm 300 lbs. by now but that's certainly not the case. In fact, I've lost 20+ pounds since entering school and it's July.
School has taught me a serious lesson about food: be careful and very mindful of what you eat. My newly discovered respect for different seasonings and ingredients has surpassed my expectations prior to entering school. In fact, it inspired me to dig deeper into old school favorites, including revisiting a pound cake recipe that required some extra love.
Sure, chocolate and caramel are great flavors but there's nothing like having something simple. Simplicity brings me back to a place where things weren't so technical or second guessed. You just...do it. So here's to childhood, here's to plain Jane who doesn't get the credit that she deserves for being beautiful in her very organic way and here's to saying "screw extravagant." Hope this recipe serves you as well as it has me:
Buttermilk Pound Cake
For 1 loaf pan
(Double up on recipe to fill 2- 8x2" pans, 1- 10" bundt pan or 2 loaf pans)
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour (a/p for short)
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 large egg
1/4 c. butter or margarine (Butter is better and imagine Paula Deen is saying this while you read this)
1 c. granulated sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
cooking spray or butter & flour to grease pan
Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Sift together all purpose flour, salt & baking powder and set aside. Cream, another term for mixing together two products until light, together butter (or margarine) and sugar until light, approximately 1 - 2 minutes on low if butter is at a decent chill, slightly above room temperature on low to medium speed. The appearance should be a pale yellow. Add egg to mixture until incorporated. Combine buttermilk and vanilla into separate bowl. Alternate using flour mixture and buttermilk mixture into whipped butter mixture until fully incorporated. Always be mindful to start with flour and end with flour. In addition, do not over whip your ingredients. The last thing you want is a light and fluffy pound cake that suffers from tunneling (air pockets in baked goods). Use plastic spatula to make sure there's no flour mixture sticking to sides or bottom.
Pour mixture into desired pan and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Use a toothpick or cake pricker to test if done. If you're using this recipe for an event, slice into thick slices and top with freshly sliced fruit such as strawberries or raspberries and whipped cream.
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