Tea and cake

Today, after what seems like months of 100+ degree heat, we're finally getting a little rain here in Austin. It seems like I only like to write blog posts when it's raining, since the last time I wrote was during another rainy day.

But on a rainy day, I usually want to stay inside with a cup of tea and enjoy the weather. Today's cup of tea is a lovely Darjeeling, with a nice winey, fruity flavor. Actually, there's just a hint of grassiness in there, too, which makes it a summery sort of tea.

I've been on a bit of a baking binge lately--my friend's mother died, and I was baking things for her family all last week--but all I can think about today is baking a pound cake. So I've been going through my recipes, trying to find a pound cake recipe for which I have all the ingredients. I always thought that pound cakes were the simplest, most basic thing to make, but as I've read all the different recipes, I've revised that opinion.

From the traditional 1-2-3-4 cake to pound cake with sour cream, yogurt, or more butter than you can imagine, the recipes are just all over the map. And, something I didn't know either, apparently pound cakes can be quite difficult to make--something about the fact that the ingredients are supposed to be all at room temperature, and if they're not, the batter curdles. That's not something I've ever encountered, and after my coffee cake debacle of last week, something I'd much rather stay away from!

The coffee cake debacle was rather surprising--I was using an America's Test Kitchen recipe that had 1 tablespoon of baking powder, and it overflowed the pan almost as soon as I'd put it in the oven. Then it took forever to even get close to fully baked--when I finally took it out after almost twice the recommended baking time, it still wasn't done in the middle. And no, it wasn't my oven, as everything else I baked that week came out fine. I've emailed America's Test Kitchen to ask them if possibly there was an error in the cookbook (since you have to pay to see their recipes on line), but they haven't responded with anything more than a form e-mail (and an offer email to buy more of their cookbooks!)

So that little adventure has made me a bit gun-shy in trying new recipes, where usually I just jump right in and see what happens. After careful perusal and consideration of my options, I think I'm going to go with my tried-and-true recipe from the "Paris Sweets" cookbook by Dorie Greenspan (one of my absolute favorites). It's actually a recipe for a lemon or orange cake, but she includes an option to make it a vanilla cake instead. I've made all of them before, and they always come out just perfect, with a fine grain and great flavor.

The only thing that had been stopping me from making it was that I didn't have enough cake flour, and had no heavy cream. So it looks like I'm off to the grocery store in between showers. Then I'll be able to sit down later and enjoy another pot of Darjeeling with a fabulous vanilla pound cake, just like I've been craving!