Derailed by Vanilla Pound Cake

So, I recently began my new healthy eating plan. I was doing very well and then day “9” happened. It was our turn to host my parents for Sunday dinner and I needed to make a dessert. Since, I’m more of a pie person than a cake person my strategy was to make a cake…. a very plain cake, a pound cake, so that I could resist the urge to eat it (all). The strategy failed. The heavenly vanilla aroma when I cut into it enticed me away from my good intentions. It was truly delicious. It was pretty, too, as the recipe calls for a bundt pan, rather than the traditional loaf pan. Supposedly, the recipe makes 16-20 servings. Shamefully, I ate 7 of those servings……

Dorie Greenspan (who I get to hear speak at the International Food Blogger Conference in September {insert fist pump here}) is the author of the cookbook I found the vanilla pound cake recipe in,  Baking with Julia. The recipe calls for sifting the white ingredients. I don’t sift. It still turned out.

Vanilla Pound Cake

a recipe from Flo Braker found in Baking with Julia written by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 sticks (8 oz each) unsalted butter, at room temp.
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temp, lightly whisked
• 1 cup milk, at room temp
• 2 t. vanilla extract

Cooking Directions:

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Mind you, I do not sift & this cake was still totally delicious.
2. Beat the butter with a paddle attachment (or hand held mixer) at medium speed until smooth. With the machine running, add the sugar in a steady stream. Scrape down the sides as needed. Beat until light and fluffy – about 4 to 5 minutes.
3. With the mixer still running at medium speed, add the eggs in small additions (about a tablespoon at a time). If the mixture becomes to watery or shiny, stop adding eggs and beat more. Scrape down the sides as needed. The mixture is properly combined when it appears white, fluffy and increased in volume.
4. With the mixer running on low, add the flour mix and milk alternately – 4 additions of flour, 3 of milk, scraping as needed and mixing until batter is smooth after each addition.
5. Add the vanilla and mix just to blend.
6. Bake in a butter and floured bundt pan or 10 inch tube pan at 350 degrees for 55 to 65 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean).
7. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes and then invert out of pan and cool to room temp.
8. Serve in thin slices.