day eleven: a piece of cake

Pound cake has always been my favorite, so a few years back I decided I was going to learn how to make one. After many, many failed attempts (including making the mistake of using self-rising instead of all-purpose flour and creating a bubbly, burned, liquidy mess in the oven), I finally figured it out. And ever since then, I make them whenever I have the opportunity...and this 40 day project is as good of a reason as any to bust out the KitchenAid and bunt pan.

Last night, while we visited Suzy's German sister who's in town for a few weeks, I baked a cake at Suzy's parents' house. And this morning, I took it to the church for our custodians, assistants, and office volunteers (the rest of the staff got some, too), and...

It was a hit! Everyone loved it, but no one could believe the I was the one who made it. I got comments like, "You can bake?!" and "I thought some little old lady made this!"

But it was really nice to see everyone enjoying something that I made, something that I enjoy so much myself. Denise, Joyce, Bobbie, Joe, and all of our volunteers do an amazing job of keeping the church running and functioning. The jobs they do are thankless, often taken for granted, and they're almost never recognized for their work, which is anything but easy.

I realize that a piece of cake is not much thanks for a job that is anything but. But I think they enjoyed it nonetheless...

This was at 10:00 o'clock this morning...

...and then at 2:00 o'clock this afternoon...

...and then again at 4:00 o'clock.

If you want the recipe, you can click here. It's actually Paula Deen's sour cream pound cake, but with a couple of changes:

- Use cake flour instead of regular

- Use 1 1/2 C. of sour cream

- Use 1 1/2 tsps. of vanilla

Once all the ingredients are in the mixer, beat the batter VERY well. I usually don't even preheat the oven. I wait until the batter is ready, set the mixer on medium speed, and let it mix while the oven gets hot.

Bon appetit!