Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Brown Sugar Pound Cake
From Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
Makes two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2 inch loaves (I halved the recipe to make 1 loaf)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
3 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Butter two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2 inch loaf pans; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs one at a time beating until combined.

3. Add the reserved flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, and smooth with an offset spatula.

4. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the centers come out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn out cakes onto the rack to cool completely. Cakes can be kept at room temperature, wrapped well in plastic, for up to 3 days.

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Happy Kind-of Belated Birthday America! (Hey, it's still technically the birthday weekend so it's not totally belated yet.) This weekend, from coast to coast, and sea to shining sea, we collectively fired up our grills to do some outdoor dining. We stuffed ourselves full of hamburgers and hot dogs, baked beans and potato salad. But what about dessert? Apple Pie is an All-American classic, but what about when we gather, at dusk, on blankets to watch the skies light up in a rainbow of colors? Pie doesn't travel quite so well. I need something sturdy enough to take on a picnic, but great enough to be the star of the afternoon cookout too. I need Pound Cake.

I've been feeling a bit uninspired lately. I'm currently without a computer, (let's just say the cat made his feelings known about how much time I was spending online...) and my lack of internet access means a lack of blog browsing for inspiration. With the holidays approaching, I knew I wanted to make something sort of festive, but I had no idea what. Usually, that's when I turn to you guys and your amazing blogs for ideas, but without them, I was stuck with only cookbooks. I didn't feel up to my sugar cookies (I'll have enough of that at the end of this month... you'll see!), and with 2 cupcake recipes to make for an event at work over the weekend (more on this later too!), I didn't really want to make cupcakes either. I was down to the last bit of time to bake before the weekend, and I was running dangerously low on options. Finally, flipping through my Martha Baking Handbook, I came across a recipe for Brown Sugar Pound Cake. With only a little more than a handful of ingredients and a bit of time, it was simple and absolutely perfect for my uninspired mind.

Not overly sweet, the pound cake is perfect to serve at a backyard barbecue, sliced up and topped with whipped cream and some fresh summer berries. Leave it plain and wrap it up, and you've got a perfect portable sweet treat for a picnic! I sliced mine into thick pieces and packed it in my bag to take with me downtown to the annual Red, White, and Boom fireworks on Friday night. We got there early to stake out our spot, and had about 3 hours to kill before it got dark. Unfortunately, I was so full of free hot dogs and funnel cakes that I didn't really get to eat much else while we waited. (The 2nd funnel cake was a bit more than I could handle, but who could turn down a free funnel cake? Certainly not me. Gotta love knowing people that work in the food booths!) I guess it's a good thing I had about 2 pieces of cake before we left! (Hey. It was good. Don't judge my overindulgence.) The fireworks were great! The waiting 40 minutes in the parking garage to go home wasn't. But I had fun anyway!

Pound cake is the perfect dessert for the perfect summer day, so try it out next time you're headed to the park or the lake (or the ocean for some of you lucky people). Go ahead and unwrap a slice for a quick bite while you're hiking. Who needs that boring trail mix or granola bar when you can have cake! You'll probably have to wait until next year to enjoy it under fireworks, but there's still plenty of time to have a midnight snack under the stars! So what are you waiting for?