May Roundup

Pound Cake! Congratulations to everyone that participated in this month's challenge. It seems that some of you had some trouble but they look wonderful in the photos. Who knew pound cake could be such a challenge. Sara Lee makes it look so easy! :)

No fail Pound Cake

Posted by - Vivian


So sorry for the late post... May has not been the kindest month to us. Had a break from health problems and so I caught up a bit on my challenges. First up was making my pound cake and I found an intriguing recipe on Allrecipes.com that used the addition of cake mix. Now,generally cake mixes are not my go to item unless I need something done ASAP. However, I recently made a wedding cake and found an awesome recipe using cake mix. It was so successful that I just had to try this recipe for No fail Pound Cake - big hit! I mean, this was a massive huge hit for my family. I did make a few minor adjustments (no surprise there!) but here goes...

No Fail Pound Cake
by Patsy with adjustments by me (in italic)

• 1/2 cup butter


• 1 cup white sugar


• 3 eggs


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract I used 2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste instead of the extracts


• 1 teaspoon lemon extract omitted


• 2/3 cup water


• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix I used Betty Crocker Super Moist Butter Recipe, Yellow


• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.


2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and lemon extract (or in my case the vanilla bean). Beat in water and sour cream. Beat in the cake mix and flour. Pour batter into prepared pan.


3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean( mine took just under an hour). Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Pound Cake Fail!

Posted by - Nancy

I was so excited about this months challenge. I love pound cake, but I have never attempted to make my own. However I wanted to make something unique and and tasty because why not if I'm going to the effort of making a pound cake? So one afternoon while on Food Networks site I found this recipe for Mascarpone Pound Cake courtesy of Giada. I recently cooked with mascarpone cheese and I loved it, so I was excited to find a recipe that would use the rest up. Well, as you can see from the title of this post, it failed. As in, totally inedible, not cooked, disgusting mess. I think the cooking time is way off and it should be baked in a tube pan, not a loaf pan. The batter was really dense, like a brownie batter, so a loaf pan didn't allow the middle to set at all.

So now I have a recipe from my friend Alton Brown that I want to try since I am without a delicious pound cake. Maybe I will get a chance this week to make it!

Bring on the Fruit

 Michelle is so right about the many choices, we have, when selecting a pound cake.  Thanks Michelle for a great choice.

I love this cake with its combination of strawberry and lemon.  The strawberry dominated over the lemon but that was good,  The background of lemon flavor made for a perfect setting for the strawberries.

Strawberry Lemon Pound Cake Ingredients:

3/4 cup oil 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup Rice milk 3 eggs 1 teaspoon lemon extract 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 2 cups  gluten-Free flour mixture

1 cup fresh strawberries,

sliced thin

Method:

	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees .  Grease and flour a loaf pan.
	In a large bowl, mix together the oil and sugar until Well mixed. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Combine the flour and baking powder, and stir into the batter alternating with the Rice milk and lemon extract. When well mixed, fold in the sliced strawberries and spoon into greased loaf pan.

The Bag Lady's Favorite Chocolate Pound Cake

Posted by - Michele at Alwayzbakin

For this month's challenge, I decided to go with The Bag Lady's Favorite Chocolate Pound Cake. I definately wanted something chocolate. The recipe called for baking the cake in a bundt pan. I LOVE bundt pans.

It was simple to put together and it smelled wonderful while it was baking. It makes a great breakfast treat too! If you would like to try it, and I think you should, take a visit to Paula Deen's site.

Thanks Michelle from Something New is Cooking, for an awesome pick!

Cream cheese pound cake

Posted by -Cindy

I was very excited to see pound cake was our next challenge. I love pound cakes! The recipe I chose ended up being somewhat disappointing. I think it was dry & the crumb was coarse. Not what I had enjoyed from pound cakes in the past. Usually, I eat pound cake plain; but this cake could only be helped by adding some kind of topping. I would not make this recipe again.

I used the recipe from a blog called "lick the bowl good".It was not original to her, but she had already halved the recipe so I used hers.


Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Berries adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes

1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 cup fresh berries (I used raspberries and blueberries)

Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan and dust with flour. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.

Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, 1/2 a cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. After the last addition, mix for 30 seconds on medium speed. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Place the cake in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 325 degrees F and bake, without opening the oven door, until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-45 minutes.

Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert it onto a rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Marble Pound Cake

Posted by -Angela/Soap Mom's Kitchen

I know we have to make a new recipe we never tried before, but I have to confess this  pound cake recipe has been one of my favorites for a long time (45+ years). My mother has been baking this since I was a child. I know there are many recipes out there for pound cake, but I think this is the best, so why bother searching. I have made several variations like lemon poppyseed, key lime, red velvet, orange, banana nut, pumpkin, mini chocolate chip, etc. You can use your imagination but this base recipe produces a moist, fine tight crumb.  If you are a fan of Sara Lee's Pound Cake then this one is for you. My family was thrilled with the challenge because they all love this pound cake, neighbors included.   It never disappoints.

Recipe:
10-inch non-removable bottom tube pan: generously buttered and flour
Put into a cold oven and then turn your oven on to recommended temperature


2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
3 cups sifted cake flour (must only use cake flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 large eggs, room temperature
1 T. vanilla extract or  seeds from one vanilla bean
1/2 cup heavy cream (room temperature)
1/2 cup sour cream (room temperature)
3 oz. dark chocolate melted
3 oz. semi sweet chocolate melted

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and lighter in color. Add each egg one at a time and beat. Continue to cream until well incorporated. Add the sour cream and heavy cream. Continue beating until mixed well. Slowly add cake flour and salt. Add vanilla.

Take 2 1/2 cups of batter and mix in melted chocolate until well incorporated. Add 2/3 of vanilla batter into tube pan. Add chocolate batter and then remaining vanilla batter on top.

Put into a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes and then reduce oven to 325 degrees and bake for another 35+ minutes. Do the toothpick test. Sometimes you might have to add another 10 to 15 minutes of baking time. Cool completely and remove from pan. Sprinkle with powder sugar or drizzle a confectioner's glaze or even chocolate ganache is nice. Enjoy!
Wrap cooled cake with plastic wrap.  Gets better with age.  Stores up to 5 days.  Freezes well.

May Challenge: Pound Cake

Posted by - Michelle S

I haven't participated in Have the Cake in awhile. I feel bad. I decided the May Challenge would be Pound Cake. That's only because there are so many varieties of pound cake recipes out there.

I just read that pound cake received its name for the "original formulation: a pound each of sugar, flour, butter and eggs." Hmm...

I'm curious to see all the different kinds of pound cakes made will be! I promise I will post for my own turn this month! Happy Baking!

My personal favorite pound cake that I have made is Paula Deen's Chocolate Chip Pound Cake. It was very moist and really, really delicious!

The Recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 package butter recipe cake mix

One 3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix

One 3.4 oz package instant chocolate pudding mix

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

6 oz chocolate chips

confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, water and vanilla by hand. Stir in the cake mix and pudding mixes. Slowly add the butter and oil, and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cake plate. Sift confectioners' sugar over the cake, or drizzle chocolate sauce over it, if desired.

Some others I have made are:

Devil's Food Pound Cake

Perfection Pound Cake

May Roundup

Buttermilk! Who knew? Thank you Gerri for the May pick. I love all the variety this month. Looking forward to next month!

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Posted by - Nancy

First, I apologize for the lateness of this post. I was having a hard time thinking of a good buttermilk cake that I wanted to try. I was intrigued by the fruity versions of the cakes posted however none of them made me want to break out my pans. I thought the brown sugar version might be good, but just not what I was looking for. Then I realized I was craving some chocolate cake. I had seen some at a little bakeshop and wished I had eaten a piece. So after a quick search I came up with a pretty good recipe and decided to give it a stab. Of course I put things off, then baked the cake late one night. It was delicious, and I was all ready to post when we had to head out of town for the holiday weekend. But now we are back and here is my post with partial pictures*

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

First, I prepped my pans. A layer of cooking spray, a layer of waxed paper, another layer of cooking spray and a dusting of cocoa powder.

Next was the measuring of the dry ingredients.

I didn’t take pictures of the buttermilk I made, but it turned out well.

After mixing I poured the batter in the pans and baked them.

*Now this is where you have to use your imagination. My camera had a run in with a sippy cup full of water and is no longer working so I haven’t been able to rescue the final product photos yet.

Since I thought it was a good idea to bake this cake at night I had to wait for it to cool so I could frost it. After an hour or so I thought it would be cool enough so I mixed up the cream cheese frosting listed on the recipe but I only added about ¼ of the sugar. I filled the middle and stacked the top then realized the cakes were still a bit too warm so I quickly frosted the cake before it slid apart. After some photos, I cut 1 piece out and quickly refrigerated the rest. It was nice and warm and delicious. Yum!

MANGO CREAMZ in a BLOOMING DREAMZ.......

BUTTERMILK MANGO++++ CAKES

Now im a total Mango lover and love those Cakes and Cupcakes, Mango Jam and jellies, Mangada and Mango Dollies and Mango Candy but dont fancy
[ie dont like at all] Mango ICecream and Mango Mouse , yet am gaga over this MAngo CUrd.... well but aint here to figure my taste buds ,but only indulge them ...and hope to indulge urs too , ALONGWITH mine!!!

FOR MANGO CURD ,CLICK HERE

A buttery mango BATTER WITH A LAYER IN BETWEEN AND TOPPED WITH
MANGO BATTER and some MANGO CURD...

A super delicious Absolutely buttery mango cake with a fresh mango layer in between and topped with MAngo and doted with salted butter too!!!!!!!!!!

Why MAngo +++, coz there's Mango everywhere, in the batter, in between and atop.....u jus cant miss the large mango bites...delicious......

When HAVE d CAKE, one of d wonderful groups am a member of, chose ButterMilk Cake , well Gerri and Rena thanxx for the wonderful Choice, i was more than jus happy....coz ,most of the buttermilk cakes i loved ,had fruits and am totally donnuty at the moment for fruity delights.
HAve quite a few more bookmarked and another baked too, and maybe i'll post another one Jus about soon...

U can sub Sour cream for buttermilk ,but i prefer buttermilk:-))
And added lods of Mango Curd too:-))

BUTTERMILK and MORE
What exactly is buttermilk? [as far as my knowledge, exprnce and reading goes:-)]
Well the only commercial one we ger readily here, is a lightly spiced watery one:-)
Really good for marinating meats though, But the water i strain after draining yogurt thru a cheese cloth is also butter milk[BM] to me, but thats talking of the low fat kinda buttermilk.

Now for the sake of the word Butter in BM [lol], lets get to the thicker version of BM, i normally would use some yogurt [almost always make buttermilk at home] with half&half and whole , let it stand in a warm place for a thick buttery BM...
Not convinced???????????????
Well then i love the CRUZE's BM story as muc as their Delicious good BM pound Cake too....

There's lods to learn about buttermilk all around the place too, and i loved reading about BM here , here and here too!!!

What i did was whisk some yogurt [Nestle curd], add some warm half and half[lite cream] and let stand for 3 hours...perfect!!

Before we get back to our buttery MANgo BM Cake, featured here [yummmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!]

For the MANGO CAKE HERE , i read this recipe at Trini GOurmet , a good mango cake, and GELs Kitchen Mango Cake

Buttery Yummy Delicious MAngo Cake
Adapted From NY times ,a butter cake by MArgaret Brauns

Ingredients

• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 1/2 cups sugar, plus 1/2 cup for sprinkling
• 4 large eggs [or 6 if u skip the mango curd]
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract [i used 3 whole vanilla beans]
• Finely grated zest of 4 lemons (for lemon cake, but i do love what it did to the mango cake]
• Juice of 1 lemon (for lemon cake-optional]
• 1.5 cups sour cream
• 1.5 cups Mango chunky mango bits with juice
• [as i chopped a few mangoes, i had pieces from the cups and thick puree from the seeds]
• 3/4 cup mango curd[am sure i added a bit more:-)]

Mia's Notes
~~~this quantity makes quite a bit of cake, i halved it and still had lods of cake
~~~if making a few cuppys too, tip the tops with some mango Curd ...delicious!
~~~love the crust that forms atop with the sprinkled sugar:-)
~~~the original called for 6eggs but since i had mango curd ,i cut it down to 4:-))

Preparation

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Butter and flour two 10-inch round cake pans.

I buttered a few heart shaped cuppy cakes moulds and a large mould.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2.In another bowl, cream the butter and 4 1/2 cups of sugar until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in the vanilla or scrape the vanilla seeds into the batter.

Add the lemon zest and juice and the cubed mango pieces and puree mash.

3.Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, alternating with the buttermilk and mango curd.

Scrape batter into prepared cake pans.

A few cakes , were half filled, a mango slice inbetween and then covered with batter again!

4.Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of the sugar on top of the batter or a mango slice if u want too or both!

Bake until set, when a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean (about 1 hour).

5.Let the cakes cool in their pans, and then invert them onto a rack.

Right outa the oven , we popped a few ,right into our mouths....warm and tender and so so soft......

Delicious and butterly so.....flavor sure develops the next day!!!

Some part of the cake was almost like a pudding cake....

While some was soft and tender.......

• nOTE -With this dessert the Lees suggest a dry Champagne, like Veuve Clicquot.

Now for the GIveAway.... avery pretty Giveaway......

FOR THE MANGO CURD RECIPE AND BAKE IT PRETTY GIVEAWAY AND MORE PICTURES HOP HERE.