Easy Pound Cake

I absolutely love pound cake and I found this recipe on Southern Living which has to be the easiest and most straightforward I have ever seen. And the taste! Rich and buttery, I challenge you to have just one slice.

You will need a tube or Bundt cake pan for this, which is a neat switch up from the usual loaf style pound cake.

You will need:

1 lb. butter (softened at room temp for 30 minutes)
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs (also room temp)
4 cups all purpose flour (I didn\'t sift the flour, but you may prefer to)
3/4 cup of milk
1 teaspon each of almond extract and vanilla extract

Prehaeat the oven to 300F/150C (this is a slow bake cake). Thoroughly grease the cake pan, don\'t skimp, and put a very light dusting of flour over the greased surfaces.

Method:

Beat the softened butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. The butter will become a light yellow colour. This is an important first step since the mixer must incorporate air into the butter, allowing the cake to rise. This process will take up to 10 minutes, depending on the power of your mixer.

Gradually add the sugar, beating at medium speed until the batter is light and fluffy. The butter should be a fluffy white. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each just until the yolks disappear.

Add the flour to the creamed mixture, alternating with milk. Begin and end with flour. Beat at low speed just until blended with each addition. The batter should be smooth with no bits of flour. If you have some lumps, stir them in gently with a rubber spatula. Stir in the almond and vanilla extracts.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 300F/150C for an hour and 40 minutes or until the centre comes out clean when you insert a wooden pick into it. Allow to cool for at least fifteen to twenty minutes in the pan before removing the cake and leaving to rest and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Slice and eat it plain or with a dollop of whipped topping. Fresh berries in season are also wonderful with this cake.