Everyone has at least one recipe that they are known for, their signature recipe.  One of mine is this one step pound cake and it is about time I share it with you.  I don’t know the source, but it has been in my family for as long as I can remember. My mom thinks it came from one of those church compilation cookbooks, but isn’t sure.  This could be a family secret recipe….but honestly, I just don’t get secret recipes.  Besides making my family things they enjoy eating, sharing recipes with others is what I love about baking.  Is there really a better compliment than when someone asks you for a recipe?

Last night we hosted the last of our Christmas gatherings and I made pound cake for dessert. We don’t see my husband’s family often, so when we do, I have to make sure that this pound cake is on the menu.  They just go crazy for it and I don’t want to let anyone down.  The best thing about this pound cake is that there is no separation of ingredients. You just dump everything in to a mixer bowl, mix 3 minutes and done.  I can have the batter made in about 15 minutes and then bake for an hour.  How easy is that?   I like to serve mine with sweetened strawberries with whipped cream, but it is delicious straight up too.  As if my husband would eat a strawberry!  But, now that he saw that strawberries touched the pound cake he ate…

One-Step Pound Cake

Yield:  1 bundt

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup sour cream

1 cup very soft unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs, room temperature

Vanilla bean, scraped or 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)

Preheat oven to  325°F.  Grease a bundt pan with butter and flour. Set aside.

Put all ingredients into a mixer bowl and beat on medium, with a paddle, for 3 minutes.  Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 55-60 minutes.  It is ready when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with a few crumbs.

Source:  My mom, Linda, from an unknown source

Helpful Hints:

• Make sure your butter is really soft so it incorporates well into the batter
• Butter you pan well.  I then put a bit of flour in my hands and clap them together over the pan so you get a fine mist of flour, instead of clumps.
• I have used cooking spray with and without flour in the past and I have had a lot of sticking issues and they often leave a film on the pans that is almost impossible to remove.
• I think that the pound cake tastes better the next day.
• Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto your serving plate.
• This cake is a good base for other flavors. Mix in Oreos, chocolate chips, add a layer of cinnamon sugar, use different extracts….