Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

I really enjoy lemon treats.  To me, there is something refreshing about the lemon flavor.  I have a few favorite lemon desserts, but this pound cake is one of my favorites.  I honestly cannot remember where I got the recipe from, so although I would like to give credit where credit is due, I am going to blame the forgetfulness on my Mommy brain.

Ingredients
2 ½ cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon lemon extract
5 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk or evaporated milk
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup poppy seeds
Powdered sugar, if desired

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and side of angel food cake pan, 10×4-inches, 12-cup bundt cake pan or 2 loaf pans, 9x5x3-inches, with shortening; lightly flour.
2. Beat sugar, butter, lemon extract and eggs in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 5 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Beta flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with milk on low speed, beating just until smooth after each addition. Fold in lemon peel and poppy seeds. Pour into pan(s).
3. Bake angel food or bundt cake pan 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, loaf pans 55 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes; remove form pan(s) to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

I have now posted here every month for the last year and really enjoyed doing it.  It got me to think more about the fact that I do like cooking (more than I thought I did).  And also to see that I have come quite a ways since my first cooking experiences.  Of course, I am still far from calling myself a “cook”, but I am getting closer the more I try out Maria’s recipes!  I am going to go back to just posting recipes occasionally on my own blog now for this season of life.  I really appreciate Maria giving me the opportunity to do this and encourage her other friends to join in and share your recipes as well!

All the best,

Wacky Cake

One of the family traditions we have in our home is to make chocolate-covered strawberries for Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately this year, I was not able to find any decent looking strawberries in our small Sicilian town. So I went on the hunt for a new recipe that could satisfy the bill of being a chocolaty Valentine’s Day treat. That is how I stumbled upon the Gingerbread Bagels site and her Wacky Cake recipe.

The recipe itself is pretty simple and only takes about 45 minutes from start to finish. And it was definitely chocolaty! It got the seal of approval from all five of the cake eaters in our home (even my oldest who insisted as we were making it that she only liked vanilla cake). One of my favorite things about the cake was that it holds its tastes a few days afterwards. Where a lot of cakes made from scratch can go stale, this still tasted moist and fabulous two days later.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day and is having a wonderful week.