Perfect Pound Cake Recipe
With Berries and Vanilla Cream
Aren't we always on the lookout for the best pound cake recipe? I know I am. And no matter what's on the table for our monthly family dinner, we pretty much always have pound cake for dessert. Along with the occasional sweet potato pies!
The Secret Formula
When I was a kid, my mom taught me the secret recipe to pound cake. I never forgot it.
2 + 2 + 2 = 6
2 sticks of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of flour, equals 6 eggs. And that's it - the base for a great pound cake.
The Variations are Endless...
The fun part about this pound cake recipe is making it your own. You get to choose the cheese (if you want any at all) and the flavor. We tend to stick in one of two lanes - cream cheese with vanilla flavor or (my personal favorite) lemon. The easy way is to use a couple teaspoons of extract. But if you want authentic flavor, don't be afraid of scraping the seeds out of a vanilla bean!
As I've started experimenting more, I recently tried something that I loved. I'm planning on changing this is on my family to see if they'll notice. I'm switching from cream cheese to mascarpone! If you don't know about it, do your life a flavor and check it out.
This Pan is Amazing!
I've cooked with many cake pans in my lifetime. But this was by far the best one. It's so sturdy and well-made that you'll feel like a baker for sure. And even better, the grooves in this pan pretty much slice the cake for you. If you slice along the grooves, you will get perfect portions all the way around - half small slices and half large.
Why the Berries and Cream?
I don't know why, but I've always felt like pound cake needs something to go with it. I'm not a big fan of that powdered sugar frosting you see so often. Or even worse, just plain powdered sugar. I also don't want my cake to become soggy if I need to walk away and refresh my coffee.
So berries and cream is one of my favorite desserts of all time - especially if the cream is custard. But obviously, the custard would be too much to pair with cake. One day, while eating strawberry shortcake, my inner fat kid thought, "Why not combine my two favorites into one dessert?" So that's what I did. And I'm so glad I did.
Recipe for the Berries and Cream
For the berries...
Take whatever assortment of berries you like and rinse well. Place them in a large bowl and sprinkle with ¼ cup of sugar. Mix well, then set aside at room temperature (for about 2 hours) to allow berries to release their juices. Mix every half hour.
For the cream...
In a large mixing bowl - add 2 cups heavy cream, ½ cup sour cream, ½ cup sugar, and 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract. Whisk with hand mixer until peaks form.
Pound Cake with Berries and Vanilla Cream
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. vegetable shortening
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened, unsalted
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups sugar
- 6 eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Grease bundt pan with shortening. Set aside.
- In large mixing bowl (I use a hand mixer), mix butter and vanilla until fully combined.
- Add sugar ½ cup at a time.
- Add eggs, one at a time.
- Add flour ½ cup at a time. Once you begin adding flour, the goal is to mix as little as possible so they cake does not become chewy.
- Transfer batter to pan, spreding evenly. (You may need to pat bottom of pan firmly.)
- Bake for 90 minutes - or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Place cake place upside down on bundt pan and flip. Allow to cool completely.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
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