Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Blue Ribbon Sour Cream Pound Cake

In celebration of National Bundt Cake day, I made my State Fair blue ribbon winning Sour Cream Pound Cake.
As always, it tasted delicious, and luckily it looked beautiful too. 

This cake is a family heirloom!  And just like any other heirloom there are interwoven memories. 

This recipe was made often by my grandmother, and all of her children remember this cake with fondness.  The Bundt shape lends itself to two slice sizes, small and large.  I've heard a story from my aunts about when the cousins (a family of boys) came to visit one time and they all took large slices (unheard of in their home!).  Of course, everyone knows that the large slice should be cut in half (or slivers if one is dieting).  I still think of that story every time I cut the cake. 

When I was in 4th grade, I entered this cake in the SC State Fair and won a Blue Ribbon!!  The funny thing about the win was that my stepfather LOVED the cake, but HATED sour cream and didn't know that this recipe included a full cup of sour cream.  My mother told me that if I won in the fair, I could tell him that the cake had sour cream, not only as an ingredient, but also in the name!!  I still remember the joy I had at the dinner table that night to spill my secret.  Of course, my stepfather wasn't as fazed as I would have liked.  He'll still eat the cake, despite the "slimy stuff". 

When I won the Blue Ribbon, my grandmother was so proud of me, she at that time passed on all rights and privlidges of the recipe to me.  It became MINE!  And hilariously all of my Aunts now refer to it as MY Sour Cream Pound Cake.  I had this rediculous name for the cake: MY FULL NAME South Carolina State Fair Blue Ribbon Sour Cream Pound Cake.  Now I have the recipe on my windowsil with the name "MY Sour Cream Pound Cake"  But I think at this time I should just change it to "Blue Ribbon Sour Cream Pound Cake". 

Every summer I make this cake for my husband's family's beach week.  They love to serve it for breakfast, sometimes after warming it on the griddle with butter!  I think this cake has even passed its heirloom status into their family.  At this point, a week at the beach might not be the same without a sour cream pound cake there.

My bundt pan is a cast iron bundt pan from Lodge which my grandmother bought for me on one of her trips South.  I've properly seasoned the pan, and it has been used 99% of the time to make this one cake.  I always use Crisco to grease the pan, and then flour it myself.   I've never tried that Baker's Joy stuff,  I wonder if it works?