Weekly Dish

Last weekend, I went to a fall party for my department. We were assigned dishes to bring, based on our rank in the program; first-year PhD’s were assigned dessert. I had a lot going on that day, and I didn’t need the stress of trying something new, so I made this pound cake. It is simple, fast, and unfailingly good. I’ve never messed up this cake, and I’ve made it a lot. It turned out perfectly, as usual, and when I arrived, I was immediately glad I made it.

Graduate students in English are apparently not known for their culinary skills. The other desserts there were small and in plastic wrappers: Little Debbie Snack Cakes! The side dishes consisted mostly of chips and some sour cream dip, although one other southern girl did bring a hot green bean casserole. I have occasionally been accused of food snobbery, but come on. Little Debbie? The moral to this story is: when you go to an unknown social function, always take something you don’t mind eating for dinner. I had three pieces of cake and some red wine. All in all, not a bad night.

Here’s how you make the cake:

One Bowl Pound Cake

3 cups sugar

1 cup butter

6 eggs

3 cups cake flour

1 cup buttermilk

2 t. almond extract

1 t. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in the mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add flour and buttermilk alternately, with the mixer on low, until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Stir in flavorings. Pour into a greased bundt pan. Bake for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, but check frequently towards the end. The only trick to this cake is making sure you don’t cook it too long. When a knife comes out almost-clean and the top is beginning to brown, it’s done. Turn out onto a rack to cool, and dust with powdered sugar.

Posted: Friday, October 21st, 2005 at 10:33 am Filed under: Something Sweet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.