Sour Cream Pound Cake

Back in May, SB and I were visiting new friends down in South Torrance. There I met a lovely woman who found out that we like to cook. She told us she had a State Fair, Blue Ribbon winning sour cream pound cake recipe. I quickly jumped at the chance for this recipe. Which she gladly gave me. Apparently this is a cake she makes at all the parties and is the first to go. She'll sometimes put fresh strawberries or a lemon glaze on it. I choose to try it simple.

This cake should bake in a floured 10-inch tube pan. I didn't even realize I had one. But my spring form cake pan has a fluted tube attachment. The recipe called for lemon and orange extract, both of which I'd never bought.  Someone heard me talking about that and by Sunday I had both in my possession. Next time I'd like to try it with fresh squeezed lemon and orange juice and/or maybe zest of both.

Another of her handwritten notes is that everything especially the eggs and butter have to be at room temperature. You can see my fine mess above after all the measuring and mixing.

SB was so excited about me making this cake. We had it for snacks and for breakfast and then I started giving as much as possible away. I knew the pounds of butter in this recipe would add pounds to us both and I still have lots of baking to do. Enjoy!

2 3/4 cups of sugar

1 cup butter or margarine

6 eggs

3 cups of sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup dairy sour cream

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 teaspoon orange extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

In mixer bowl, cream together sugar and butter or margarine till light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together flour, salt, and soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beating after each addition.Add extracts and vanilla; beat well.

Pour batter into greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake in 350F oven for 1 1/2 hours or till cake tests done/  Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan.

When cool, frost or sprinkle with confectioners sugars, if desired.  Or add fresh berries or a lemon glaze.

Cheesecake

So last weekend J threw a party for some friends. I helped with the hors d'oeuvres. I had extras of puffed pastry, white wine sauted crimini mushrooms, white bean puree and cream cheese left. Plus an arsenal of lemons that have been supplied by friends and co-workers who are fortunate enough to have lemon trees. All this equated to a few scratches on the head what to do with it all before it spoils. The mushrooms ended up on flattened pan fried chicken.

For the puffed pastry I rolled it out the and chopped up some apples sauted with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Then I rolled up the apples in puffed pastry, brushed with egg wash baked in 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Delish. SB who isn't usually overwhelmed with my cooking IM'd me during the day to say YUMMY, love the apple pastry. Yeah a winner and just an afterthought. Love it when that happens.

Now what to do with the VAT of cream cheese and lemons. Hmmm...lemon cheesecake. I found a few recipes online and combined them to come up with this. Lemon cheesecake with a graham cracker and chopped toasted almonds crust. Cream cheese mixed with the juice and zest of a few meyer lemons Polished off by a sour cream, sugar, and lemon zest. If you know anything about my obsession with sour cream you will see how much this is my perfect cheesecake recipe. Refreshing and light with a special almondy crunch.