Yummy Stuff: Mollie Katzen’s Pound Cake

My big sister Krista has always been one to teach me things. For instance, when I was four years old, I asked her where the water from the shower came from, and she assured me it was sea turtle pee. I believed her, of course. Then there was the time she taught me some crucial moves from Michael Jackson’s Thriller. She introduced me to the proper method of plucking one’s eyebrows (never pluck on top of the brow, only on bottom, or you’re bound to overdo it). Big sisters are for things like that.

As we’ve grown into adults, she still teaches me things every single time I’m with her. Mostly these things have to do with how to do something I’ve been doing a little better. And I don’t mean this in a bad way- she is never condescending or know-it-all. She just knows tricks. Like how to flawlessly apply make up (something I never learned to do, and will share with you in tomorrow’s post!), and how to really, really make a cake. She is the best baker I know, and often adorns her amazing creations with homemade marzipan decorations. She has made several wedding cakes for her friends, and it’s not even her job. That’s the interesting and amazing thing about my sister. She somehow knows how to do a little bit of everything, and she knows how to do it really well.

During her visit this past weekend, Krista blew my mind with yet another baking trick. I watched as she beat simple butter and sugar into the perfect fluffy, light mixture- and right then and there I realized I had been doing it all wrong. 

Here is the recipe she followed, to perfection. (By the way, the recipe comes from The New Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen, a book which everyone should own. Every recipe I’ve tried has been unbelievably perfect and simple- so go get it as a gift, or for yourself of course!)

Pound Cake

• 1 lb (4 sticks) butter, softened (plus more for buttering the pan)
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 4 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Bring butter and eggs and milk to room temperature. Preheat oven to 350, then butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 10-inch tube or bunt pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at high speed until light and fluffy (here’s where my sister taught me the trick- two minutes of high-speed mixing and you will see the mixture completely transform into a beautiful light and fluffy mixture).

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Set aside.

Sift together dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix together milk and vanilla. Add dry and wet ingredients alternatively to butter mixture, beginning and ending with dry. Mix by hand, just enough to bled thoroughly without excess beating.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until a sharp knife inserted all the way down comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto plate. Cool completely before sifting powdered sugar on top (optional), and slice. Serve plain. It is just that good!