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Friday, January 16, 2015

Bride of Magazine Challenge: Sour Cream Pound Cake

So.
This is a sad, cautionary tale.  I needed a pound cake for the trifle I made for Christmas dinner with my dad's family.  I remembered that there had been a pound cake I'd been meaning to make in an Everyday Food earlier this year.  I read the recipe and decided that it was just the ticket - other than I didn't really want a tube pan of cake.  I was thinking a loaf was more my speed.  And pound cake is often in loaves, isn't it?
This is where the tale of woe begins.
After comparing Martha's recipe to "similar" ones that I found online, I figured that I could easily just pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and everything would work out.  I made the batter, and set it to baking.  The picture will tell the tale of what happened next.  Good thing it was tasty.
I present to you now from the June 2006 issue of Everyday Food, Sour Cream Pound Cake:

Ingredients:
1 c butter, softened
3 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2-1/2 c sugar
6 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 c sour cream
Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 325F.  Butter a 10" tube pan.  Stir together flour, soda and salt.
2.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in vanilla.
3.  Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream in batches, beginning and ending with flour.  Stir until just combined.
4.  Pour batter into prepared pan and tap against counter to ensure even distribution.
5.  Bake at 325F for 75-80 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool 20 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

From Everyday Food, June 2006 (Martha doesn't have this recipe on her site.  You'll just have to trust me.)

So, yeah.  I thought I knew better.  This is the result.  It took longer to bake, and thankfully I had the presence of mind to stick a baking sheet on the lower rack.  Cleanup, at least, was at a minimum.

But when I did turn it out, it was lovely.  Stoneware is my friend.
And seeing as I was using it for trifle, pretty wasn't the name of the game.  This is a great cake.  It's dense and sweet, and is good in trifle or plain with a cup of coffee.  Just learn from my mistake.  Use a tube pan.

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