15 October 2010

Livin' in the South

I took a Food and Wine Pairing class online where we had to take a traditional Southern recipe and update it. I guess I'm boring (or lazy) (or both) because I just went ahead and picked a pound cake. I also think of pound cake as being one of the most basic cakes.



I went through countless traditional recipes of pound cake, each asking for "a pound" of each ingredient. I updated the recipe, measurement-wise, and added a pecan element as a callback to the Southern requirement of the assignment. I also added a maple drizzle. Don't ask me. I don't know why.



This wasn't my favorite thing. But it's a pretty basic pound cake, when it comes down to it. If you're a big pound cake fan, then you should try this. Otherwise, maybe just look at the pretty pictures and feel satisfied in that.

Butter Pecan Pound Cake with Maple Drizzle
Makes about 12 servings

1 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon rum (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1 cup chopped pecans, plus 1/3 cup whole pecans
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt pan.

Using paddle attachment on a standing mixer with a stationary bowl, cream together butter, shortening, and sugar until very fluffy, about seven or eight minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well-combined.

In a small bowl, combine rum and vanilla extract with milk. In another bowl, whisk together baking powder and flour. Alternately add liquid and dry ingredients to the butter mixture, starting and ending with liquid.

Stir in walnuts. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan. Bake for about 70 minutes until cake tests done. In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and maple syrup. Drizzle over the cake after it cools for twenty minutes. Sprinkle whole pecans over cake.