Mirlandra's Epic Pound Cake

• Ingredients

  • 1 cup salted butter
  • ½ cup shortening, plus additional for the pan
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract (or 1 tsp. vanilla with 2 tsp. lemon extract for variety
  • ¼ tsp. almond extract (omit if you are using some lemon with the vanilla as above
  • 5 eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for the pan
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1¼ cups buttermilk

Found on mirlandraskitchen.com

Description

Ingredients

• 1 cup salted butter
• ½ cup shortening, plus additional for the pan
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract (or 1 tsp. vanilla with 2 tsp. lemon extract for variety)
• ¼ tsp. almond extract (omit if you are using some lemon with the vanilla as above)
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for the pan
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1¼ cups buttermilk

Directions

• Bring all cold ingredients to room temperature (butter, eggs, and buttermilk). Use shorting to grease a 10-inch tube pan (sometimes called an Angel Food Cake Pan)* and coat it with flour. Tap out excess flour and set aside.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment beat butter and shortening at medium speed for 1 minute. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed, until light, fluffy and very pale yellow in color. This is takes five minutes. You are done when the mixture has about doubled in size. Dont over-mix which can cause the batter to break and prevent your cake rising correctly. Scrape sides and bottom.
• Add extracts and eggs, one at a time, beating just until yoke disappears after each addition. Scrape sides and bottom after last addition.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add half of the flour mixture to creamed mixture. Follow by slowly adding the buttermilk and then the rest of flour, continuing to mix at low speed until combined. Scrape sides and bottom.
• Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour to 75 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan. Serve with the top up. The cake is amazing alone but also excellent with whipped cream and berries or your favorite decadent chocolate sauce. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.
• *There is wonderful debate on the internet about what constitutes a tube pan versus a Bundt pan. I have concluded that different pans have different names depending on the region you learned to cook in! Im using a 10 Calphalon brand Angel Food Cake Pan. What you need to know here is that this is a LOT of batter. Using a pan that is too small will cause the cake to fall (I know, Ive done it!) and using a pan without a hole in the center will make it impossible to get the middle cooked before the outside burns.