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Susan's Rosemary Pound Cake
Takes approx. 1 hr 15 min to mix
1&1/2 cups unsifted all purpose flour (not self rising
1/4 tsp soda
1&1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter minus 1 TBS (use the tbs for greasing the pan-and use real butter or the flavor won't be the same.
1&1/2 Tbs. lemon juice
1&1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon extract
5 large eggs, separated
1/8 tsp. salt (if salt butter used; otherwise 1/4 tsp
1 tsp. cream of tarter
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
LEMON GLAZE
Ingredients:
1 large lemon
1 Cup Powdered Sugar sifted
2 tsp Rose Water
1 tsp Lemon Extract
1 Tsp vanilla
Procedure for the Lemon Glaze:
Squeeze Lemon
Mix all the ingredients together stirring until sugar is dissolved. Set Aside
Prepare the pan as follows: (see note regarding pans at end of recipe) Grease with 1 tbs. softened butter- I use my fingers
for this- and dust with flour; turn pan until it is thoroughly coated with flour; then turn upside down, and tap gently to
remove excess flour.
Now for the cake.
Sift four, soda, and half the sugar into a large crockery bowl. One sifting is sufficient. (The sugar does not have to be
sifted before hand unless it is lumpy.
Add butter softened to room temperature, but not melted or runny. Mix these ingredients with the fingers until well blended.
Add flavorings and egg yolks, one at a time, working them into the whole until well mixed... Fold in the rosemary, zest, and
lemon extract and lemon juice.
Now beat egg whites, which have been left at room temperature for one hour, with salt. You can use an old fashioned whisk,
rotary or electric beater.
But do not beat too stiff. The whites should be moist and glistening and should just hold a peak when lifted with the back
of a spoon.
Add
The remaining sugar gradually and beat thoroughly after each addition; then add the cream of tarter.
This should be folded gently into the whipped whites and not beaten hard.
Pour beaten whites at once over first mixture, and with fingers, mix gently, lifting and folding until the whites are completely
folded in.
Spoon batter into prepared pan and even it with the back of a spoon. Set pan down on table with a rather hard thud-right side
up, of course. This removes air holes and helps achieve a fine-grained cake.
Place pan on middle rack of a preheated oven at 325 degrees F. Bake for one hour without opening oven door; then test without
removing cake. Use a testing wire (an unbent paper clip will do) or a clean broom
Straw. Stick it through cake to bottom of pan If no crumbs cling to wire or straw, turn off heat, and close oven door; let
cake remain in oven 10 to 15 minutes longer, or until it seems to shrink from sides of pan and finger pressure on cakes surface
does not leave an indentation.
If cake crumbs or some butter sticks to wire or straw, bake 10 to 15 minutes longer in a 325 degree oven.
Whenever cake test is done, be sure to leave it in the oven, with heat turned off for 10 to 15 minutes. Then after you take
it out of oven, let it sit in pan for another 10 minutes. If necessary with a dull knife. Loosen edges around outside and
tube (if tube pan is used).
Prick cake with fork tines. Pour lemon rose glaze brushing well into top of cake, making sure it runs down the sides.
Place a piece of waxed paper over a cake rack, extending at least 5 inches of rack. Put paper covered rack over top of cake
pan and invert cake. It should fall out golden brown all over.
When cold, it should have a crunchy crust. You can dust it with powdered sugar or not as you prefer. A white boiled frosting
or fondant icing were sometimes used in the old days, (I prefer mine plain).
Store cake in tin box with a tight fitting lid, (It can be kept fresh a month this way) Use ends of the wax paper to lift
it in and out of the box. This cake also freezes wonderfully. After it is cool, wrap in heavy aluminum foil or freezer wrap.
This cake may be eaten the same day it is made if it stored a few hours before eating, if no tin box is available
Use your pressure cooker, or wrap in foil and leave in refrigerator a few hours. Flavor will have developed sufficiently to
serve.
A note regarding pans---this recipe can be baked in an 8 inch tube pan (holds about 2 quarts), a 9 inch tube pan (holds about
3 quarts) or approximately a
9 by 5 by 3 inch loaf pan (which holds about 2 quarts). If you wish to double the recipe. Use a 10 inch tube pan (holds about
4 quarts) and bake 20 to 30 minutes longer or until it tests done. Remember, any pound cake properly baked will shrink a little
from the pan.
Decorate with sugared flowers.
Frozen Desserts.
Frozen Flower Bowl with Fruit Salad
Ingredients:
Water
Fresh fruit
Organic unsprayed flowers and herbs
Procedure:
To make have a spot ready in the freezer. Fill a bowl part way with water; drop in a cup or so of fresh organic un sprayed
flower blossoms, herbs, berries, or leaves and fruit. Put a smaller bowl in the big bow. Fill the little bowl with ice cubes
to weigh it down. Cover both bowls with a clean dishtowel and tie it all up with string (this keeps the bowls in place as
water expands). Freeze overnight. About Twenty minutes before serving, remove from freezer, unwrap and allow to sit at room
temperature. Separate bowls and fill with chilled fruit, drizzle salad dressing, toss, add flowers toss gently. Set ice bowl
in shallow dish and serve immediately.
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