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April 09, 2011

A long overdue thank you and Tate’s Pound Cake with Dried Cranberries




In this first year of blogging I have left thousands of comments on my favorite blogs. For the first nine months or so, I have also left countless of comments for giveaways. I have to say that I am not the luckiest girl of this planet when it comes to prizes, giveaways, etc. and I say it with a smile on my face. I never buy lottery tickets because I know that the good luck goodess is not on my side. If there are 10 prizes and 11 tickets you can be sure that I am holding the 11th unlucky ticket in my hands. This is a family curse following me, my mom, my dad, my brother and everybody else related to me by blood. I don’t complain. In Italy we say “sfortunati in gioco, fortunati in amore”, which reads more or less as “unlucky in the games, but lucky in love”. That works for me in the big scheme of “what is really important in life”. But come on….let’s be honest…who doesn’t like to win a little prize from time to time and feel like a kid…jumping around the house in silly happiness for a little victory. I DO! I DO!

That’s what has been happening in the last 3 months. The family curse has been broken over Christmas holidays. It started with me winning Josie’s giveaway at Daydreamer Desserts. I won a cookie press, right on time for the cookies exchange with my neighbors. Thanks Josie! I am in love with my cookie press.

The good luck goodess visited me again a week later, when I won a whole set of spices thanks to Christiane (at The Mom Chef. Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a time). Even if I don’t post about my cooking experiments I have to say that those spices have been very much appreciated in my home. Wally even started to cook more often since then. Hence, a double thank you to Christiane!

All this was followed by another amazing giveaway victory for which I owe a long overdue thank you to Evan at SweetEbakes. Through Evan I got Tate’s Bake Shop cookies and cookbook. I still have other two giveaway prizes to thank for….I promise my thank you will come soon, together with what I created with those giveaways prizes. But for today I would love to share with you what is already my favorite recipe of Tate’s book: the pound cake. It should suffice to say that after the first time I made it, I was asked to make it again twice in the same week. The pound cake is delicious in itself. I did not change a single thing in the recipe. I just added dried cranberries and we loved the addition but you can easily love it just plain.



The first time I made this pound cake I followed the recipe literally. I was a bit scared by the huge amount of certain ingredients. Three cups of sugar and six eggs?!? I hoped that these huge quantities were justified by the taste. But I have to admit, I got a huge huge huge pound cake and yes, the ingredients amount was totally justified by the amazing taste. I shared it with friends but I could not make another like that just for Wally and me. The second and third time I halved the ingredients and baked it in a 9by5 loaf pan and the result was just as spectacular as the first time. I’m leaving you with the full recipe. You will decide how much you want of it J



Sour Cream Pound Cake (with dried cranberries)
Ingredients

320 g (11.25 oz or 2 ½ cups) all purpose flour
65 g (2.25 oz or ½ cup cake flour
1 g (¼ tsp) salt
2 g (½ tsp) baking powder
225 g (2 sticks or 1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
600 g (21.3 oz or 3 cups) sugar
5 ml (1 tbsp) vanilla extract
6 large eggs
240 g (8.6 oz or 1 cup) sour cream
1 cup dried cranberries


Method

Preheat the oven to 300F degrees and butter a 9” bundt pan.

In a small bowl, sift the flours, the salt, and the baking powder together.

In a medium bowl, mix the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer until the batter is creamy, light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla and continue to mix. Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing and scraping down the bowl after each addition. Finally add the sour cream and mix until well incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients and the dried cranberries and mix the batter until they are well combined.

Spoon the batter into the bundt pan and bake for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.

Let the cake completely cool on a cooling rack before trying to unmold because it’s very soft and it will break into pieces if you try to unmold it while still too warm.

Have a sweet day!

Source: Tate’s Bake Shop Cookbook by Kathleen King

27 comments:

  1. It's so much fun to win things and I'm glad your winning streak is continuing. On that note, I'd like to sign up to win one of these poundcakes please ;)

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  2. Oh my word. This pound cake looks so moist! Definitely this is a winner.

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  3. That pound cake looks delicious! I have heard so much about Tate's it so nice of you to share that recipe with us!
    Glad your luck has changed, who knows what you will win next!
    Cheers
    Dennis

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  4. I love love love pound cake, especially with the tartness of sour cream! Can't wait to try this with the cranberries, yum!

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  5. ummm cake looks so yum,,wish ya happy weekend

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  6. It certainly does sound like a wonderful pound cake. It better be with all that sugar!

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  7. Lucky us, because your pound cake recipe is so good. Congrats on breaking your losing streak.

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  8. Congrats on all the winnings!!
    That pound cake looks stunning... nom nom nom!

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  9. Beautiful photo of the pound cake!! I can tell how moist and rich it is and I want to make one now :-)

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  10. soft delicious cake looks wonderful

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  11. I should of made this instead of these raspberry lemon bars I have in the oven, they look nothing like the photo I found on the internet. Surprise, surprise. lol I hope the curse is permanently lifted and that you are having a great weekend.
    -Gina-

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  12. I love pound cake too! They all seem to have tons of sugar, butter, and eggs. It is special treat so I don't mind...too much! Love trying a new recipe for it. Thanks!

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  13. Beautiful. The dried cranberries are a neat touch. I'm so used to doing a slather of fresh fruit on slices I wouldn't have thought to do dried in the cake itself.

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  14. I've got the coffee pot and will be there tomorrow! I want that pound cake! Wow, it looks so incredible.

    I'm so glad that you're enjoying the spices. We love them as well. :)

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  15. This is one stunning pound cake. The moistness just pops on the screen. Nicely done!!!

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  16. This must be a moist cake with that sour cream. I have been thinking of getting the book and I think you have convinced me to do just that.

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  17. Your pound cake looks wonderful. You are officially luckier than I am. At first you had me thinking that we had been separated at birth :) Maybe your luck will now pass on to me.

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  18. Hooray for good luck! And good pound cakes :) This one looks fantastic :)

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  19. Among 60 some-odd cookbooks on my shelf, Tate's is easily in the top 5. You will love it. So far every recipe I've made has been stellar (my faves are the Carrot Cake, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes), but I haven't tried the pound cake yet. Sounds like it's about time I did!

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  20. Good for you--glad you won! This cake looks so moist and INCREDIBLE! ...need a slice.

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  21. Sounds like your luck has turned! Congratulations on all the wins.

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  22. Glad to hear your luck has changed. congrats on all the winning.
    the cake looks amazing, so moist. need a reason to make is soon, and I mean soon.
    Thanks for sharing Sara

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  23. No more curse - yea! That cake looks like a winner too! Yum....

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  24. Well you are quite welcome :) I actually havent opened that cookbook in a while.. and now I know which recipe to make next! This pound cake looks fabulous. Hope you're doing well Sara!!

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  25. Woo Hoo!!! You are a serious winner!! I won a CSN Giftcard from jean at Lemons and Anchovies and I purchased a hand mixer with it, I still have the little card that came with her gift (she sent a book too!) and I think of her every time I use it.
    Nice job on this cake, Sara, you did a good job!!

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  26. Well, I'd say you have a lucky streak these days. :-) You know, I've been really wanting a pound cake lately but I've also been afraid of how much sugar, butter and eggs my waistline would have to commit to. :-) I think I'd ignore that for this, though, especially if you cut back on the sugar and eggs and still got a delicious pound cake. For the record, I like the addition of cranberries, too. Bookmarking...

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