And now for something deliciously different and very original!


A very dear friend of mine was invited over for dinner by her male friend one evening. She was promised something enticing and out of the ordinary-not the usual take-away, nor reinvented left overs!

She arrived punctual and famished as any seductee ought to and was greeted with the delightful aroma of cake baking. Perplexed, she asked, "Did you bake a cake for dinner?" "Yes", he replied. And so it was pound cake for dinner.  Love it!

Was there ever a time you had a meal that was the result of creative, "out-of-the- box" thinking?




Raspberry Pound Cake
This recipe is a variation of the original Raspberry Pound Cake recipe which came with this story. The yummy cake recipe goes like this:

Strawberry Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel (from unwaxed fruit)
  
• 3 eggs (room temperature)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sour cream (room temperature)
• 8 oz. of either fresh raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries (don't mix berries)
• powdered (confectioner's) sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Butter and flour a loaf pan.
3. In a bowl, mix together  the butter and sugar at high speed until it is a creamy soft mixture, about 4-5 minutes, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Add the eggs, one at a time until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla and lemon zest.
4. Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Alternate adding portions of this and the sour cream to the butter and egg mixture until everything is combined. Be careful not to over-beat the batter. Stop mixing when each addition is well incorporated.
5. Pour a 1/3 of the mixture into the pan. place the fruit on top. Pour another 1/3 of the batter on top of the fruit and repeat with the rest of the fruit and batter-this way, I find that the fruit is spread more throughout the cake. Smooth the batter with a spatula.
6. Bake until a cake tester (or wooden toothpick) inserted into the middle comes out dry and clean, about 1 hour.
7. Remove cake from oven  and cool on a wire rack.
8. Run a knife around the edges of the cake pan to loosen the cake and slide unto a plate.
9. Dust lightly with confectioner's sugar once completely cooled.