Today with a clear head from my deflated cake experience and multitude of feta cheese with a side of Greek pasta, I decided I was fully prepared for a second round with the "Perfect Pound Cake". Prior to the event, we attended church then went out to purchase chocolate for an ongoing fundraiser I have been doing for my church (Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Chocolate Bars).
While in the store I found the item that made my day...Magi Cake Strips. If you have not heard of these amazing little creations, let me tell you about them. They are heat resistant fabric strips that wrap around your cake pan to force the batter in the center to cook first, allowing the whole cake to raise at the same time. No more hilly, or sometimes cake mountain, cake tops!
To compensate for the day off yesterday and armed with my Magi Cake Strips, I got a little ambitious. I decided to not just redo the Perfect Pound Cake, but also try the next recipe....Double Vanilla Pound Cake. This includes a fresh vanilla bean which creates an infused milk, that in turn is enveloped into the batter. In case you have not used a fresh vanilla bean before, be aware that it is a gross process.
You cut open the bean (not bad at all)
simmer it in milk for a few minutes (Still good to go on my end and smells yummy too)
then you take it out of the pan and squish the seeds out with a knife (impossible)
or in my case, your fingers (the bean seeds are mushy and coated with warm milk, gross)
then you just toss it in with your wet ingredients.
After some waiting and some concern about when it would be ready and if I would have to try this recipe a third time...I am pleased to report that I finally created the PERFECT POUND CAKE and Double Vanilla Pound Cake-Bundt Cakes. Both are flaky, golden, and melt in your mouth!
Success!
Beautiful!
ReplyDelete:)
Brooke