Golden Vanilla Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberries

There's a danger of not posting recipe soon enough.  One, the season may have passed and that strawberry post is becoming old story when everyone has moved on to apple.  Second, I tend to forget where I get the recipe.  A pound cake recipe could come from fifty different books or one hundred Pinterest ideas.

This forgetting business is scary because as I'm growing older, it seems like one brain cell fades away everytime I'm idling.  Retracing steps has become a bit harder, a tad slower.  That's why I like it when everything is put back in place in the house because then I don't have to worry of not finding it in its usual place.  And it helps to put a bookmark in the book so I can retrace where I get the recipe :)

This is a very simple recipe of a pound cake.  The idea of eating fresh strawberries, pound cake, and whipped cream is one the reasons I bake.  I love the idea of brushing the top of the cake with sugar mixture; it adds sweet crunchiness to the tender crumbs of the cake.  Another way to eat this is to cube the cake and make a parfait consisting of ice cream, whipped cream, and chopped strawberries.

Local strawberries is a distant memory now but surely that will be replaced with different berries or even peaches.  Yes, I can't wait for peach season!

 Golden Vanilla Pound Cake With Fresh Strawberries

Yield 9" loaf cake, 18 servings

For the cake:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
5 large eggs, at room temperature
3 tablespoons milk
1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

For the topping:
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon water

Whipped cream
Fresh sliced strawberries



Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Lightly grease a 9" x 5" x 2 3/4" loaf pan.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter, cream cheese, salt, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract, and almond extract until well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; the mixture may look slightly curdled/grainy.  After you've added the final egg, beat at high speed for 3 minutes.  Once all the eggs are added, stir in the milk.

Sprinkle the flour gradually, with the mixer going at low speed.  Mix just until combined.  The batter will be smooth and thick, but still pourable.  Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

To make the topping, combine the sugar, vanilla, and water.  Stir until the mixture is syrupy.  At first, it'll seem very stiff, but will become "drizzlable" as you stir.  Set the topping aside.

Set the cake on a baking sheet for easiest handling.  Bake it for 55 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven, and brush/drizzle with the sugar mixture.  Return the cake to the oven for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.  Remove the cake from the oven, and set it on a rack.  Insert a toothpick into the center; it should come out clean.  The very top, right under the crust, will still be kind of soggy; don't worry about it.

After 5 minutes loosen the cake's edges and turn it out of the pan to cool completely on a rack.

Eat with whipped cream and sliced fresh strawberries.


Source:  adapted from The King Arthur Flour

Corn Crepes with Blueberry Sauce

Before making this dessert, honestly, I've never tried eating corn with blueberry.  I've eaten corn kernels sauteed in lots of butter and spoonsful of sugar with a dash of salt or an Indonesian version of sweet tamale--a mixture of corn, shredded coconut, sugar and salt wrapped in corn husk and steamed until soft.  Boy, that was a good sweet snack!  But never corn with blueberry and ice cream.

This doesn't make me not like the pairing; I think it's a wonderful one especially when the corn and blueberries are in season.  I love crepes and there's an interesting texture of the crepes with the addition of cornmeal in there; a little different but in no way bad.  Blueberry sauce is one of my family favorites to use in desserts so it can't go wrong in this dish.  And, oh boy, the vanilla ice cream just finishes off nicely!

In the last few weeks of summer--it's already cooling down rapidly here in Oregon--I'm sharing this recipe before it's too late!

Corn Crepes with Blueberry Sauce

Makes 6 servings


Corn Crepes:
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup (about 1 ear) uncooked fresh corn kernels, preferably white
3 tablespoons white cornmeal, preferably stone-ground

Blueberry Sauce:
1 1/2 pints blueberries
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Vanilla ice cream


To make the crepes:  Put the eggs and milk in a food processor or blender.  Blend until smooth.  Sift together the flour, cornstarch, and salt and add it to the egg mixture.  Blend until smooth.  Add the melted butter and again blend until smooth.

Transfer the batter to a bowl and stir in the corn kernels and the cornmeal.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes to overnight.

Heat a 6-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Lightly grease the bottom of the pan.  fill a 1/4-cup measure three-quarters full with the crepe batter and pour it into the pan, rotating the pan so that a thin layer covers the entire bottom.  Cook for about 1 1/2 minutes, until lightly browned.  Using the edge of a knife, loosen a corner of the crepe from the pan.  Using your fingers, flip the crepe over and cook for another 15 seconds.  Place the finished crepe on a large plate.  Continue cooking crepes, stacking them, slightly overlapping, on top of each other, until there are at last 12.  It is not necessary to grease the pan after making each crepe.  Wrap the crepes in plastic wrap until ready to use.

To make the blueberry sauce:  Place 1 pint of the blueberries, the sugar, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan.  Cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the blueberries are soft and juicy, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the remaining blueberries.

To serve:  Place a small scoop of ice cream in the middle of each of the crepes.  Fold crepe over the ice cream.  Place 2 crepes on each of 6 plates.  Accompany with some warm blueberry sauce.  Serve immediately.


Source:  A Passion for Desserts by Emily Luchetti

Hot Vanilla

For almost two weeks, I've done nothing to update this blog.  First of all, I've been pretty sick with bad cold, which could further be aggravated by hay fever too.  It's hard to know which one was first happened, but I felt ugh all week long.  Even today I still had some cough that doesn't want to go away.  Secondly, last weekend I went up north to Seattle with my family to attend my husband's surprise party.  This friend turned big five-oh this year, we weren't so sure whether we could make it this week, but thankfully we did find time to go.  It was a fun weekend for us, most of the activities involved eating, talking, and more eating :)  I had some shopping done on the last day too, so I was pretty happy.

The cookies that accompanied the hot vanilla were quite good too that I'm going to post it possibly tomorrow.

Though I felt pretty awful, I managed to make something that's I could write about here.  Even if they're only hot beverage and a batch of cookies.  I had a homework that needed to be done for my online photography club that involved hot drinks, so the timing was not too bad.  I needed one or two hot drinks anyway.  My first thought was to look for coffee-type drink, but I soon looked for something simpler.  I chose to do Hot Vanilla, which was essentially hot milk and sugar, topped with whipped cream mixed with chocolate syrup and cinnamon powder.  Weather in Oregon was a chaos, cold in one week, and mild in another, it's hard to know what would come each day.  When I made this drink, the weather wasn't too terrible, in fact the sun came out for a few days and on the weekend too.  Drinking hot milk with whipped cream mixture was a luxurious sip that didn't involve over inflated budget, I'm sure I could afford this every week if I wanted to.

Hot Vanilla

Serves 6



1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon chocolate syrup

Dash of cinnamon

1 cup milk (per hot vanilla)

2 teaspoon sugar (per hot vanilla)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (per hot vanilla)



Start with the topping:  In a medium bowl, whip 1/2 cup of whipping cream until  it is frothy.  Add 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup and a dash of cinnamon; then continue to whip the mixture until everything is well blended and peaks form.  Makes enough to top about 6 drinks.

For each hot vanilla, microwave 1 cup of milk and 2 teaspoon of sugar in a mug for 90 seconds.  Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  Top with a dollop of chocolate cream, a drizzle of chocolate syrup, and a dash of cinnamon.



Source:  Family Fun magazine