two day pound cake

I found this recipe on 17 and Baking some time ago, and I set it aside because I knew a cake would never survive untouched for two whole days in my house. We had a party last weekend, though, and I was called upon to make a non-chocolate cake option, and since my better half was out of town, I figured I'd go for it and hide it in my closet.

I've been asked to post the recipe, so I am doing so. Everyone who tried this cake raved about it ... except for me. It really didn't do anything for me. It's not like I don't enjoy a good plain pound cake, either, so I have no idea what my problem is. So I post this without my own endorsement, but with the recommendation of a half-dozen people who worship at the altar that is this cake. Your mileage may vary.

Buttermilk pound cake
1 1/2 cups room temperature butter
3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cultured buttermilk (or 1 tablespoon lemon juice then fill to 1 cup w/ milk)
1 lemon worth of juice (if you're lazy like me it's 2-3 tablespoons of the bottled stuff)

Preheat oven to 300°. Grease & flour bundt pan.

Sift together flour, salt, baking soda. Cream butter, adding sugar slowly. Add one egg at a time, mix thoroughly after each. Add vanilla. Add flour & milk in alternating parts, mixing thoroughly after each. Stir in lemon juice.

Bake 75-90 minutes. Cool 20 minutes in pan, then on rack. Put in cake carrier or equivalent, then hide cake away for about 48 hours. Serve.

my family's cake

I've been meaning to post this recipe for ages now. The story of its origin gets a little blurry, but my understanding is that my great-grandmother came up with this during the Depression as a way of not wasting spoiled milk. It seems a little strange to make an entire cake to avoid throwing out a little milk, but it's also the kind of crazy "logic" my family has been known to practice.

At any rate, this makes an excellent cake. It's a very mild flavor, with a dense texture. The only problem is I can't get the damn thing to come out solid enough--assuming I can get the cake out of the pan without it tearing in half, it often crumbles while I'm frosting it, and I make the frosting nice & fluffy just to avoid that. So I don't know. Any advice would be welcome.

I've also included my favorite frosting recipe, which is incredibly simple, but I love the outcome. You may remember it from the chai frosting experiments of yore. It came from here originally.

Depression-era sour milk cake
1 cup boiling water
2 squares bitter chocolate
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
2 eggs (separated, but you do use both parts)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour milk (if not available, use 1 tablespoon vinegar & fill to 1 cup w/ milk)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Stir chocolate into boiling water until dissolved, set aside.
Combine flour, salt, baking powder - set aside.
Cream shortening, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients and sour milk in alternating parts.
Add baking soda to chocolate (must wait until cooled), stir.
Blend chocolate in to batter.
Beat egg whites, fold in to batter.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, two round cake pans.

Buttercream frosting
1 lb. confectioners' sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk

Combine. Add more milk until you're happy with the outcome.

ginger maple chicken

A while back I got an email chain letter that proposed a recipe exchange. I thought this was pretty awesome, and it became pretty much the first email chain letter that I passed along. Very few others thought it was awesome, sadly, but I did get this excellent recipe from a Canadian pen-pal (are they still pen-pals if there's no pens involved?). I finally got around to make it last weekend and I was absolutely delighted by the results.

- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of soya sauce
- 1/2 cup of maple syrup
- 1/3 of flour
- 1 1/4 lb of chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons of oil (I use olive oil, but whichever I guess)

1. Put the oven on - 325 F
2. Cut the chicken in pieces and cover them in flour.
3. In a pan, add the oil and cook the chicken pieces for 5 minutes (or until they're golden on all sides).
4. In a bowl, mix the maple syrup, cider vinegar, soya sauce, ginger, garlic, and pepper.
5. Pour the sauce on the chicken and cook in the oven for 5-10 minutes.

Edited 11/13/2010: I can now recommend using almond. I crushed some up and put it in the skillet with the raw chicken and it added a nice texture to the end result. Also, this combination of cider vinegar/soy sauce/maple syrup went very well in a chicken soup that I made a few days later.