Pound "Crack"

After an insanely busy week working/cooking, you'd think I wouldn't want to step foot in a kitchen, but I guess I was wanting to cook for me. I decided I would bake a pound cake layered with sweetened strawberries and cream cheese whipped cream. A shortcake of sorts.

Since I can't cook "small" anymore (after 5 years of cooking for thousands, it's hard to cook for under 100), I made two batches: one batch made 24 muffin-size pound cakes and the other batch made 3 small bundt cakes. One bundt would be for dessert at home tonight and 2 bundts claimed space in the freezer for teacher appreciation day next week. The muffin-sized cakes are in the freezer too, for a last minute dinner party dessert or a whoops-look-what-fell-out-of-the-freezer-and-into-my-mouth treat.

I used a friends pound cake recipe but changed it a bit with some Jiffy Cornbread mix. I wish I had had my camera when she took a bite, her eyebrows curved in uncertainty, and I told her the part about using Jiffy in her already divine pound"crack" recipe. I'm calling it pound"crack" because it's so addictive....and no, I've never used crack...it's just an adage people. I'm guessing she thought it was pretty good since we almost (notice I said "we") attacked the one I had saved for someone else. I wonder if it will still be there tomorrow?

Lemon Cornmeal Pound-Short Cake

Yield: 1 large bundt, 12 muffin-size, or 2 small bundts

For the cake:
3 sticks unsalted butter
8 ounces cream cheese
3 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon extract (or 2 tsp. lemon zest)
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Jiffy cornbread mix
For the strawberries:
2 pints sliced strawberries, stems removed
1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. water
For the Cream Cheese Whipped Cream: (a version of the Easter Strawberry Cream Cake)
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease or spray your pan/pans. Beat the butter and cream cheese for the cakes until light in color. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the flour and Jiffy until combined. Pour into desired pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. While the cakes bake, mix the sliced strawberries, sugar, and water together and set aside. Whip together the cream cheese and sugar for the whipped cream filling. Add the heavy cream, slowly. Whip the heavy cream-cream cheese-sugar mixture until fluffy and whipped like whipped cream. Let the cake/cakes cool completely and slice in half horizontally. Layer with the strawberries then the cream then the second cake layer. Top with the cream and then the strawberries.
Note: this cake may be made without the Jiffy by replacing it with all-purpose flour.

Upside-Down Goodness

You'd think, being a Southerner and having gone to culinary school, I would have made a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake before.....never! This cooking adventure started while taking our 8-year old out for a special dinner a few days ago. We went to Central BBQ for ribs (I've now switched from Corky's to Central as my fave). We went to a place called Sweet for a dessert treat. What does that name say to you? Bakery, desserts, cookies, pastries, maybe confections? Oh, they had desserts...in a case...about 8...and a decent dessert & food menu. But the restaurant was dark with flittering candles, looking a bit too melodramatic for our impetuous sugar fix. That's when I saw the full name of Sweet Bistro. That's also when my daughter saw a mini pineapple upside-down cake and wanted it as her treat. We decided not to stay and pay $10 for the cake, plus tip, plus tax, plus all that ambiance lost on kids, plus getting home waaaayyyy after bed-time. We opted, instead, for cookies, M & M's, and egg-shaped chocolate candy-coated malt balls at Mamaws house down the street and with a pinkie-promise we would make a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake together on the weekend. Well, it's Saturday and I did promise....

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Yield: One 10-inch cake

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
One 14-oz. can crushed, sliced, or chunk pineapple, drained but not dry (juice reserved)
2/3 cup sugar
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup cake flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup reserved pineapple juice
Whipped cream, toasted pecans, and maraschino cherries (optional garnish)

Preheat the oven to 350. In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, melt the 6 Tbsp. of butter. When melted, add the brown sugar and let come to a low boil (medium heat) for 1 minute. Spread or lay the pineapple in the brown sugar to cover the entire bottom of the pan. In a large bowl, beat the 8 Tbsp. of butter with the 2/3 cup sugar until light in color, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Add both the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, pineapple juice, and buttermilk. Mix to combine. Pour the batter into the skillet on top of the pineapple. Bake for 35 minutes or until the center comes out clean when a toothpick is inserted. Cool for 5 minutes and invert onto a cake plate. Serve with toasted and chopped pecans, whipped cream, and a maraschino cherry.