1/2 Pound Cake
I haven't had chocolate cake (you know it's my favorite food from a previous post) since my blogiversary in April. And to get technical, I didn't actually eat my blogiversary cake on the actual day. It was a week before, so it's been a while.
We stayed in a lovely villa last week on our vacation. It came complete with our own private cook. The food was delicious! Every night was a four course dinner. Each evening I asked myself, "Is it going to be chocolate tonight?" No. It didn't happen. She could have thrown a little cinnamon in and called it Mexican Chocolate Cake. I didn't care. When the craving hits, I'm not picky. (I've been known to eat a spoonful of cocoa in a pinch).
So this week, guess what was on my to do list? Chocolate Cake. I found a new recipe, set aside Monday afternoon, and then realized no baking soda was to be found. (I had used the last of the box when I washed towels. Helpful hint: Add 1/2 c. baking soda to your rinse cycle to freshen up towels. This works magic folks). Maybe it exists, but I couldn't quickly find a chocolate cake recipe without baking soda. Defeated, I hoped that a little butter and sugar would help me forget about my chocolate craving. I had peaches, so pound cake was the direction I went.
This recipe from Nancie McDermotts' Southern Cakes, is a geniune pound cake: equal weights of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. I halved the recipe and made a 1/2 pound cake. Caution: This does not make it any more low-fat or low-sugar. It's just a smaller cake.
1/2 Pound Cake
Adapted from Waddad Habeeb Buttross's Classic Pound Cake of Southern Cakes
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 pound (about 1 1/2 + 1/3 cups) confectioner's sugar
3 eggs
1/2 pound (about 2 cups) sifted flour
1/2 t. vanilla
Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease one 9x5 inch loaf pan.
IN a large mixing bowl, beat the butter at high speed, scraping down the bowl once, until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners' sugar and continue beating to combine well, scraping down the bowl often, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating just enough each time to mix the egg into the batter.
Add the flour and beat at low speed, or stir with a large sppon, until it disappears. Stir in the vanilla, and then scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until the cake is golden and springs back when touched lightly in the center, and until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen cake with a knife and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely top side up.
P.S. Problem solved. Husband and I went out to eat last night and there was a delicious bite of chocolate cake in my bento box.
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