Mega-Vanilla Pound Cake
Submitted by daphnewoman on February 14, 2004 at 12:23 pm

DESCRIPTION
Mega-Vanilla Pound Cake

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under cakes

INSTRUCTIONS
A traditional favorite, is the perfect vehicle for vanilla; the butter-sugar-eggs-flour combination is a rich-but-plain base on which to overlay other flavors. The result: a dense, moist vanilla cake, perfect to serve as is, or adorned with berries or sliced peaches.

Be sure to prepare the pan for this. Even if your bundt pan is supposedly non-stick, you will have to carefully grease it. I use softened butter, making sure to get it on every surface. Then sprinkle the inside of the pan with sugar. This will make a nice sweet, slightly crunchy crust on the outside of the cake. You can still frost or glaze the cake but I like it just the way it comes out of the pan. Yummm!

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
4 large eggs

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugars, salt, vanilla and baking powder till smooth and fluffy. Add the flour and mix well; the batter will be almost paste-like. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition; the batter will be quite fluffy.

Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9- to 10-inch tube pan, 9- to 10-cup bundt-style pan, or 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Bake the cake in a preheated 350F oven for about 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, and allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn the warm cake out onto a rack. Yield: 1 cake, about 16 servings.