Mama's 7up Pound Cake

Mama's Pound Cakes were always a hit! She made big batches of them to freeze and gift later. She would always warn us kids when she was making them. She'd send us outside while they were baking because she didn't want us running around and making them fall. My older brother would always sneak in and slam the oven door on one, because that meant she would let us have the one that fell. It was always the most moist pound cake ever! Well, mine fell and they are super moist! They didn't really need the glaze, but the hubby asked for it! 

Mama's 7up Pound Cake

2 sticks butter
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon extract
8 oz 7up

Cream butter and shortening. Add sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add flour gradually. Add flavorings. Slowly add 7up. Mix until combined. Do not over mix.

Pour into loaf pans and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes - 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Note: I used disposable pans that were smaller than loaf pans and cooked in 45 minutes. Loaf pans will take about an hour. Just check them with the toothpick method. 

Mama's handwritten recipe card!

Blueberry Mini Pound Cakes

These little cakes are great for individual snacks when a large cake would go to waste. They are also great as gifts and can be made in big batches and frozen. I like to keep some on hand in the freezer for quick treats or desserts for parties. Just be careful if you have sneaky snackers like my hubby. He chooses forgiveness over permission every time!!!

For cakes:

2 cups fresh blueberries, frozen
1 package vanilla or yellow cake mix with pudding
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

For icing:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon of water, or enough to create a glaze

Rinse the blueberries and drain them on paper towels. 

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour about 4-5 mini loaf pans. The number of pans will depend on how full you fill the pans. I fill them a tiny bit over half way. (I get sets of 5 for $1 at the local "dollar" store.)

Measure out 1 tablespoon of the cake mix and set it aside in a small mixing bowl. Place the remaining cake mix and the sour cream, water, oil, eggs, in a large mixing bowl. Beat until the ingredients are mixed, 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat for 2 minutes longer, scraping down the side of the bowl again if needed.

Place the blueberries in a small bowl and toss them with the reserved 1 tablespoon of cake mix. (This will keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the batter.) Fold the blueberries into the cake batter until just evenly combined. Divide the batter evenly between the mini loaf pans. Place the cake pans on a cookie sheet and place in the oven. 

Bake the mini loaves until they are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cake pans to wire racks and let the cakes cool for 5 minutes. Poke plenty of holes in the cakes with a skewer or toothpick.

Mix the sugar and water and pour glaze over cakes a little at a time. The glaze will soak into the cake and leave holes. Keep adding glaze until the cakes a covered. Cool completely. Wrap with plastic for storage or freeze to enjoy later.

Southern Candied Pecan Pound Cake

I had a friend ask me to make a Pecan Pound Cake a few weeks ago. I told her to give me a little time to round up some pecans. I have pecan trees in my yard, but they have not been producing the last couple of years. I hate to spend a lot of money on pecans when I have the trees! Ugh! Anyway, I finally found some, so here I go... The next step was to come up with a recipe that I felt would make the most of the precious pecans I had. I looked through all my Mama's and my Grandmamas' recipes and this is what I came up with...

Pound Cake:

1 cup pecan halves, broken into pieces and toasted

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2¼ cups self-rising flour

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1⅓ cups granulated sugar

5 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup sour cream

Candied Pecans:

1 cup pecan halves

2 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

Caramel:

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare two loaf pans by lightly greasing them with shortening and dusting with flour.

Toast the pecans by placing them in a dry sauce pan over medium heat. Toss and stir constantly. Cool, and then toss with 1 tablespoon flour. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; sift or whisk together to mix. Set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  While adding the sugar, stop the mixer occasionally to scrape the mixture off the paddle and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula so the mixture blends evenly.

Add eggs one at a time, beating until thoroughly mixed. Add the vanilla along with the last egg. 

With the mixer on low speed, add about ½ of the flour mixture, mix just until the flour is almost completely blended. Scrape the bowl down, and add the sour cream, blending just until mixed. Scrape the bowl down again and then add the remaining ½ flour mixture, mix just until blended, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. Do not over mix.  Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold 1 cup toasted pecans into the batter.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan

and smooth the surface with the back of a large spoon.

Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until a long toothpick, wooden skewer, or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Place pan on a wire cooling rack to cool for 10 or 15 minutes then remove cake from the pan and place the cake on the wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

Candied Pecans:

Melt butter over Medium-High heat. Add pecans and toss to coat.
Add sugar, and stir until caramelized, approximately 3-5 minutes. Stir and watch constantly, because they can turn quickly and burn. Spread on wax paper and cool.

Caramel: 

Combine the sugar, butter and corn syrup. Heat to a boiling and stir constantly. Cook about 3 or 4 minutes. (This sauce is not supposed to be a brown and thick caramel. It is supposed to be used as the “glue” to adhere the candied pecans to the cake. Re:picture)

Once the cake has cooled some, start “gluing” the candied pecans on the top of the loaf cake with the caramel sauce. Don’t worry about having chunks or clusters of pecans, just attached them with the caramel. I also used the remaining caramel as decoration. I reheated the caramel and put it in a plastic bag, cut the corner and piped the caramel over the cakes. 

ENJOY!

These made their way to Columbia,

and one traveled on to the beach! :-)

Old Fashioned Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze

Every time I bake, my kitchen dies a little. It usually turns out alright. It's never a pretty site! These cakes fell, but my hubby says that it only makes room for frosting! :-)

1 pound Flour* = 4 cups
1 pound Sugar = 2 cups
1 pound Butter = 4 sticks
9 Eggs
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Extract

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large mixing bowl. Cream the butter and sugar to the texture of whipped cream. Add one egg at a time until 5 have been added, beating each egg 2 1/2 minutes. Add the others 2 at a time, beating 2 1/2 minutes. Add lemon extract. Fold in flour, a cup at a time. Grease and flour cake, bundt or loaf pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. 

* Use self-rising flour

This recipe made 2 loaf pans and a 5-inch cake pan full!

Lemon Glaze:
1½ cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, finely zested

In a small bowl mix the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and zest together until well blended. Use a toothpick or skewer, poke holes in the cake for the glaze to soak into.
Using a large spoon, spoon the glaze onto the cake and spread it around using the back of the spoon.

Nut Cake

This recipe is another one of Mama's that I found scribbled on a small piece of paper... very simple and to the point! It's more like a pound cake consistency...Notice that she didn't mention what kind of nuts? Since nuts were very expensive and money was VERY tight back then, most people used things on hand. Having pecan trees around, I'd say she used pecans. You can decide what you'd like to use... maybe walnuts! I decided to try it with Pecans and I added a Peach Maple Sauce!

Cream: 1 cup butter 

           3 cups sugar 

Add: 6 eggs, one at a time 

Mix in: 3 cups plain flour
          1 cup sour cream 

Stir in: 2 cups nuts

Bake at 350 for 1 ½ hours.

To make the peach-maple sauce:  

1 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 sliced peaches

Combine maple syrup, light-brown sugar, 1 stick unsalted butter, and 1 teaspoon salt in a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves and liquid comes to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in heavy cream, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat; add sliced peaches. Let thicken, 5 minutes.