Sour Cream Pound Cake

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Veronica

This month my Secret Recipe Club assignment was Making Memories, and boy did I have a lot of fun searching Erin’s blog for a recipe I wanted to make. It wasn’t that a recipe was hard to find, it was that there were so many I wanted to make! Hers is the kind of blog you can just keep scrolling and scrolling though because it gets more and more addictive the more you read. She has such fun things, like Booger Pie (I want to make this just to see the reactions I get when I ask people if they want some Booger Pie-lol), Texas Chicken Brittle, Pepperoni Pizza Crescent Rolls, and Unicorn Poop Cookies (something I’ve been wanting to make for months!! I’m enthralled with these cookies!). Needless to say, it was harder to find recipes that I didn’t want to make.

When I found the sour cream pound cake, I knew I’d hit pay dirt. I had signed up for the pound cake competition at the fair this year and I had been tossing a few recipe ideas around, but hadn’t settled on anything yet. I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and choose Erin’s recipe for The Secret Recipe Club, then turn it into the state fair for judging.

And I got 3rd place! I made it look pretty ugly, but I guess taste trumps prettiness. Sweet! I did get my judging papers yesterday and the only negative thing they had to say was that I displayed it wrong, with the bottom-side-up. Well, that’s because I didn’t think bundt pans were allowed for the pound cake category (I know now that they are) and this is the kind of cake that doesn’t dome on top so it’s not pretty to display top-side-up. I also forgot the vanilla in the recipe so I wonder if I enter this again next year with the vanilla and put it in a bundt pan if it will get a higher score. I might have to try it. :)

I got a white ribbon two years ago for my Condensed Milk Pound Cake, but honestly, I think this recipe trumps it. The sour cream makes the texture so velvety soft and the flavor is just so good. Pretty sure this is my favorite pound cake I’ve ever had so far! Thanks for sharing the great recipe, Erin!

Sour Cream Pound Cake

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

2 sticks (1/2 lb) butter
3 cups (1 lb 5 oz) sugar
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
3 cups (12 ¾ oz) flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp salt
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Vanilla Bean Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 vanilla bean

Preheat over to 325F and grease and flour a bundt or tube pan or two large 9″x5″ loaf pans (for loaf pans, preheat oven to 350F). Cream together butter and sugar. Add sour cream and mix. Sift together flour, baking soda. and salt. Alternately add flour mixture and eggs (beating well after each addition). Add vanilla and beat to combine. Pour into prepared pan(s).

Bake 1 hour 20 minutes for bundt or tube pan, or 45 minutes for loaf pans, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Invert onto cooling rack(s) and cool completely.

Whisk the cream into the powdered sugar, then mix in the vanilla and the seeds from the vanilla bean (split the bean and scrape the seeds out). Stir in additional cream as needed for desired consistency. Drizzle over the cooled cake(s).

Note: 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste may be substituted for the vanilla and vanilla bean.

Recipe source: Paula Deen, as seen on Making Memories

*Note: I now have an index for all my state fair posts, current and past years, here.

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Condensed Milk Pound Cake

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Veronica

This is how crazy I am. I made this pound cake for the first time last September and, without tasting it, submitted it to the state fair for judging. I didn’t take a photo and haven’t made it since, even though it won third place for pound cakes. The first two looked like they were made with browned butter, so I thought this must be a pretty good pound cake to get a 3rd place ribbon when this Plain Jane was up against some jazzed-up cakes.

I thought this was a good time to finally try the recipe for myself, while fresh berries are in season, because they make a nice topping for such a heavy cake.

If you aren’t already aware of it, you can confirm my undying love for cake by just taking a look at the long list of recipes I have posted for them (I have more cake recipes than anything else!). But pound cake has never been my thing. Which is just weird, because when it comes to cake, I’m all about the richness, and pound cake certainly fits that bill. Perhaps it’s because pound cakes are served without frosting, and unlike certain aliens living among us (Ahem, my sisters! Imposters, I tell you.), I value my frosting and cake equally. However, this is one good pound cake. Totally crazy-buttery with that soft and dense pound-cake texture. A perfect base for a sweetened-berry topping and a dollop of whipped cream, or for a red, white and blue trifle, cubed and layered with berries and whipped cream.

I hope you try this pound cake. I know I’m glad I finally did! :)

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Generously butter 9×5 loaf pan and set aside.

Stir the flour and baking powder together in a small bowl and set aside. Fit your food processor with the blade attachment and add the sugar, butter, and salt to the bowl. Process until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally. Add the condensed milk and pulse until well incorporated, about 15 times, scraping down the sides of the bowl once. Add the sifted dry ingredients and pulse until no traces of flour remain, about 10 times. Add the eggs and vanilla, and pulse just until combined, about 5 times. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and finish mixing by hand to fully incorporate the eggs.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake until the top is dark, golden brown and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in pan on a wire rack for ten minutes, then unmold and allow to cool completely on the rack, bottom-side down.

Recipe source: Mocha Me