add a splash of sunshine

My mom used to make me red velvet cake for my birthday until the red dye was discovered to be bad for us. I have a vague memory of standing on a chair in the kitchen in Lenoir and watching the red dye swirl out into the batter before turning the batter red. Glorious.

Years later, it was so exciting to have a red velvet cake once again, but Mama’s pound cake had supplanted the red velvet cake as my favorite dessert. And red velvet has made a return from oblivion. Everywhere you turn, there is a red velvet dessert: red velvet cheesecake, red velvet brownies, red velvet ice cream, red velvet whoopie pies…. Obviously I’m not the only middle-aged person out there with a fondness for red velvet cake. Mid-life crisis in dessert form?

What could possibly be better than to turn red velvet cake into a red velvet pound cake? I read quite a few recipes for red velvet pound cake before deciding to make my own based on Mama’s pound cake recipe.

So here goes….

Red Velvet Pound Cake

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup crisco (still looking for a non-soy shortening)
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 eggs, room temperature
• 3 cups flour, unbleached
• 1 cup buttermilk
• red food dye

Preheat oven to 325.

Cream butter and crisco together. Add sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and baking powder. Add eggs one at a time and beat well before adding next egg. (If you don’t do this, it will change the texture of the cake, so if you want a denser cake, then add them all in at once and beat until just mixed. At least that is my experience.) Add flour one cup at a time, alternating with buttermilk divided in thirds. End with buttermilk. Now is the fun part where you get to add the red food dye. I added the entire wee bottle, because I wanted a darker red cake. lol But seriously, it’s totally up to you as to how red you want this.

Prepare a tube pan with butter and flour, pour in that lovely red batter and place in preheated oven and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I’m going to pour a cream cheese glaze over the top rather than ice it.

Cream Cheese Glaze:

• 1-8 oz package cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk (although you may need more)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (or to taste, I wouldn’t add more than 1 teaspoon though)

In June of 2009, I was backpacking in the mountains of Virginia with a few of my favorite people.  I’m not quite sure who found the lone bottle sitting on the shelf at the little camp store in the Shenadoah National Park (although it was probably Stacy), but that lone bottle sparked a tradition.  Whenever our hiking group gets together, we open a bottle of Horton’s Pear Port.

And of course we have to reminisce about that night we took our first sip — from Ingrid’s begging other campers for a cork screw to Kari’s reaction when she turned to see a raccoon sitting next to her.  Oh, the screams!  I have never had that many flashlights pointed in my direction ever!

Combining my favorite dessert with my favorite port is a “no duh” sort of thing.

Pear Port Pound Cake

•  2 sticks butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 eggs, separated
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup Horton Vineyard Pear Port

Cream together the butter, sour cream and 2 1/2 cups sugar.  Add the vanilla.

Now here’s the thing with the eggs.  You can separate them ahead of time and add all the yolks at once.  If you do this, then please remember to mix the batter for at least 2 minutes.  I separate the eggs at this point and add the yolks one at a time, beating well between each yolk.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together 3 times.  Add to the butter and sugar mixture, one-third at a time, alternating with the pear port and end with the pear port.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar.  Fold the egg whites into the batter until smooth.

Pour into a prepared bunt pan and bake at 325*F for 1 hour an 10 minutes.  Check for doneness!

Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Invert onto cake plate and allow to finish cooling.

Pear Port Glaze

• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup pear port

In saucepan, combine melted butter with sugar and water. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.  Stir in pear port.  Drizzle over cake.

Mama’s house always smelled delicious, because Mama was an amazing person in the kitchen.  I can remember standing next to her and watching  her throw a few ingredients together, mix them up, knead until a dough formed, make and then bake the best biscuits you would ever put in your mouth.  I haven’t had one of Mama’s biscuits in decades, but the smell and taste linger.  Mom and I have tried countless times, but we simply cannot recreate them ourselves.  Something is always off.

Thankfully we have had repeated success with Mama’s pound cake.  We eat this pound cake with whatever meal we wish.  And yes, we have been known to eat pound cake for breakfast.  We are Southern and thus can get away with it.

Mama’s Pound Cake

Cream together 2 sticks butter, ½ cup shortening and 3 cups sugar. Add 1-teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extract. Add 6 medium eggs, beating in one at a time. Sift together 3 times: 3 cups flour, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon baking powder. Stir in 1-cup milk divided into thirds alternating with flour so you end with milk. Bake in a well-greased and floured large tube pan at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Let cake stand in pan for 10 minutes before inverting.