SALTED CARAMEL LAYER CAKE

I don't know how it happened, but, slowly overtime, when our family celebrates a birthday I end up cooking for and entertaining our family. No complaints mind you.... in fact, my favorite part of our little celebrations of life is baking the birthday cake.

Red Velvet Cake, It's A Birthday Tradition!

In our family, tradition is HUGE. If I tried to explain all that it encompasses, we'd be here all day! Suffice it to say, Red Velvet Cake has ALWAYS been the cake of choice when birthdays roll around. My grandmother started that tradition when my sister and I were just wee ones. And now, it's what our children ask for on their special day. My grandmother had her own recipe, and as children we thought it a delightful cake. Not to speak ill of my wonderful grandmother, but as we grew older we realized our cakes were lacking.... something. Then my mother picked up the spoon and she started baking cakes for our children. The kids LOVED MeMe's Red Velvet Cake, and we rode that cake plate for quite some time. But as each generation passes, so must the baking of the beloved Red Velvet Cake.

Quick & Easy Decadent Strawberry Cake

Sunday, April the 5th is Mr.P's birthday! 50 years! 50 years of joys, trials, wonderful memories and living life to the fullest. Mr.P has been a great blessing to our family and our lives have been enriched because of him and what he stands for. We will celebrate his birth, his life and our love. I do love Mr.P!

Cookies and Cream Icebox Cake

What makes a cake? Flour, sugar, greasing and lining pans, whipping and beating and spending all afternoon in the kitchen? I'll admit, I have a few cake recipes that are labor and time intensive — but this wouldn't be one of them. Containing all of four ingredients, and no bake time, this is the quickest and easiest cake I've ever made. Not to mention one of the best!

Blueberry Ricotta Coffee Cake

How about a big WOW for Wednesday? Sometimes you just need something special for the mid-week blues. I don't have a big sweet tooth but I will make an exception for coffee cake. Maybe it's because most coffee cakes are not overly sweet. And most are down right YUMMY! I do take joy in a great piece of freshly baked coffee cake, warm from the oven, and a cuppa joe. And here in North Texas it's finally cool-ER, not cold but just right! I found this wonderful coffee cake recipe a few years back. I was hunting for something exceptional to take to Bread Day at the State Fair. I am always on the lookout for anything baked with blueberries. My absolute FAVORITE berry. This is an excellent addition to any breakfast or brunch. I also serve this with lemonade in the summertime. It is a special treat!

The Perfect Pound Cake

10 Steps to The Perfect Pound Cake

Having tried and failed for YEARS to place with my Pound Cake at the State Fair of Texas, I figured, what's the point....how much rejection can one woman take? It is incredibly hard to place with a Pound Cake, ask any of the women who have spent years banging their heads against the proverbial 'oven door'! 

You may think I'm nuts, but this is what I LOVE about the food competitions at our state fair. Spending twenty plus years gleaning knowledge from some of the best cooks in Texas. The spirited competition is only surface deep, none of the competitor's are out for blood, just a lot of gentle kidding. To be sure we want to win that blue ribbon but we take joy when our friends win for their efforts as well. 

I've said it before, but here it is again if you missed it......these food competitions taught me how to cook, or at least to be a more skilled cook. Visiting with the older members of our close knit group, asking questions, taking to heart that they also had to pay their dues back in the day. Which brings us back to the Pound Cake and that elusive blue ribbon. After twelve years of listening to these wise women and applying their knowledge, I FINALLY WON THAT BLUE RIBBON for Pound Cake! Over the years I slowly picked up the following tips on how to bake the Perfect Pound Cake, I gladly pass them onto you, enjoy!

1. Prepare the recipe as directed using name-brand ingredients. Store brands of sugar are often more finely ground than name brands, yielding more sugar per cup, which can cause the cake to fall. Store brands of butter may contain more liquid fat and flours more hard wheat, making the cake heavy.

2. Measure accurately. Be sure to use dry measuring cups for flour and sugar. Spoon flour into the cups and lightly level with the straight edge of a small offset spatula or knife. Extra sugar or leavening causes a cake to fall; extra flour makes it dry.

3. Have ingredients at room temperature.

4. Beat softened butter, and cream cheese or vegetable shortening, at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until light and fluffy. These steps are important because they whip air into the cake batter so it will rise during baking. Should take you at least 5 minutes.

5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until the yolk disappears. Over beating the eggs may cause the batter to overflow the sides of the pan when baked or create a fragile crust that crumbles and separates from the cake as it cools.

6. To prevent the batter from curdling, always add the dry ingredients alternately with the liquid, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until blended after each addition. Over mixing the batter once the flour has been added creates a tough, rubbery cake.

7. Be sure to use the correct type of cake pan. Pound cake recipes calling for a tube pan won’t always fit in a Bundt pan. I learned this the HARD WAY! Although both may measure 10 inches in diameter, each holds a different amount of batter. The same pound cake recipe rises and bakes differently in each pan. When unsure of size, use a cup measure to fill the cake pan with water.

8. Grease cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, such as Crisco, and always dust with flour—a slippery surface keeps the batter from rising to its full volume.

9. Place the cake pan in the center of the oven, and keep the oven door closed until the minimum baking time has passed. If the cake requires more baking, gently close the oven door as soon as possible after testing to prevent jarring and loss of heat—both can cause a cake to fall.

10. After removing from the oven, place the pound cake, still in the pan, on a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. This allows the cake to become firm enough to remove from the pan without breaking apart. I also learned this the hard way! Remove pound cake from pan to wire rack, and brush with a sugar glaze.....CRUCIAL!  This ensures a moist pound cake. I brush ALL of my cakes with some sort of glaze....ALWAYS. Let your cake cool completely.

Using these good and sensible tips try your hand at.........

My Blue Ribbon Pound Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, I use Crisco sticks
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 eggs, room temp
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup milk, room temp
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

GLAZE INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

WHAT TO DO

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together.
• Add sugar, a little at a time.
• Add eggs, 1 at a time, just barely mixing until you can no longer see the yolk.
• Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk; starting and ending with the flour. 
• Pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan. 
• Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes while you make the glaze. For the glaze, bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Brush warm cake with glaze until it's all gone. Let the cake cool completely before slicing and serving.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together.

Add sugar, a little at a time.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, just barely mixing until you can no longer see the yolk.

Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk,

starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes while you make the glaze. For the glaze, bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Brush warm cake with glaze until it's all gone. Let the cake cool completely before slicing and serving.

Try your hand at this traditional pound cake....

.......you'll be glad ya did!

ENJOY!

~THE DOMESTIC CURATOR~

RONDA