Simply Pound Cake

Originally uploaded by lools.

Even though I love to cook, baking has always intimidated me. There seems to be much more science involved in whipping up a meringue pie than churning out a rigatoni with eggplant! Of late, I've been having intense sweet cravings at all odd hours of the day but have been disappointed to not find a delicious homemade cookie or leftover pie lying around.

I decided to be adventurous and try my hand at baking this evening. I was encouraged by a very simple recipe for pound cake that I came across in The Fondue Cookbook. Those of you interested in the origin of words will be tickled to know that pound cake originated in North Europe and is so named because the original recipe called for an equal weight of the ingredients!

Here's the easy recipe in case you feel like giving it a shot as well:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs

1. Lightly grease and flour a 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 3 inch loaf pan. Sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add 1 tablespoon of flour if the mixture starts to curdle. I used my CuisinArt food processor for this and it worked just wonderfully.
3. Fold in the flour and pour into the load pan. Bake in a preheated oven, at 350F, for about 45 minutes until golden. To test if the ckae is done, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. The cake is ready if the toothpick comes out clean.
4. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan; then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

I followed instructions to the tee and I'm thrilled to say that my first baking experiment in years turned out ok. Now I'm really looking forward to making more sweet treats to survive the winter.