Cake

I've had a request from a friend of Fenway for my favorite cake recipe, which works really well for ANY occasion and which can be modified a million ways. My favorite cake recipe is based upon this one, which is good in it's own right but which improves, in my opinion, with whole-grain substitution. 


Here's my version:

• 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour (from soft white wheat, finely ground and sifted. I grind it myself with the Wonder Junior mill, and I sift it for special occasions like birthdays when I want a fluffy cake without that wholegrain vibe)
• 1/4 cup ground raw almonds (can be ground in a coffee grinder)
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 3/4 cups of sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or non-hydrogenated margarine (substitute canola oil in a pinch)
• 4 large eggs from happy, free range chickens—a healthy orange yolk adds wonderful color! 
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sour cream or plain yoghurt (I've substituted all sorts of things for this ingredient and it always comes out fine)

Beat butter and sugar together with vanilla; add dry ingredients, mix, then add sour cream, mix, then add one egg at a time and mix thoroughly in between additions.

Bake in preheated oven at 325 degrees for at least an hour, sometimes an hour and fifteen minutes—until the cake starts to pull away from the edges of the pan and the top is just starting to color a bit. 

I like to make this cake with a can of peaches (drained) poured in the bottom of the cake pan instead of the pineapples and caramelized sugar topping; I have also made it with sugared raspberries, canned cherries, or just about any other fruit on hand. It's fine plain, too, and is great frosted. You can serve it upside down, decorated with fruit or frosting, right side up, covered in whipped cream and cherries, plain, round, square, in loaves . . . it's a great substitute for pound cake and works great with ice cream or sorbet. I adapt this recipe for everything and it's always a crowd pleaser! 

Happy baking,

M