When it comes to cake, there is no flavor I love more than butternut. I grew up with my family making Butternut Cake with a muted yellow frosting and lots of nuts. This go-round, I decided to go with a Butternut Pound Cake. No frosting or nuts, just butternut flavor goodness. The recipe is fairly easy, but, there are a few things that I would do differently, as it wasn’t quite perfect. This recipe is adapted from a community cookbook of teachers. It has some of the best recipes you will ever make but also some of the worst. As a true Southern lady, I’ll never say whose nor which recipe didn’t make the cut. However, this Butternut Pound Cake has the best flavor and it’s incredibly moist. Thanks to Debra P. Hammon of Skyline High School in Scottsboro, Alabama for sharing this recipe with the world. (If you would like to read what I would do differently, keep scrolling, scrolling, scrolling after the recipe.)
Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. (I like to use the Crisco “Butter” sticks.)
In a bowl, cream together softened margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition.
Mix in butternut flavoring.
Alternate between adding the sifted flour and milk, adding slowly, and beating after each addition.
Beat until all ingredients combined.
Pour batter into the prepared tube pan. Bake at 325° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes on cooling wire rack.
Turn out on the cooling rack to allow for it to cool completely.
Things I Would Do Differently
Let my margarine sit out for longer. After I had trouble creaming together my margarine and sugar, I decided to look up what it should look like. It should release from the side of bowl and look almost like whipped cream but a pale yellow. What mine was, was not that. The margarine was too cold in the middle to properly cream. Mistake #1.
Sift my flour multiple times. I sifted it maybe three times but it was not as accurate as it should have been. I would have done a better job of making sure it was sifted properly. Mistake #2.
DO NOT PREHEAT THE OVEN!!! The last time I made a pound cake, I took the advice of Toni Tipton Martin in Jubilee and did not preheat the oven. My pound cake came out perfect! This time, I wanted until the last step of step 5. It was too long. My pound cake split open with the outer being finished at the hour mark but the inner part being finished at the 1 hour and 15 minute mark. I was sad but I second guessed myself, which one should never do in the kitchen. Mistake #3.
All in all, this was a positive cooking experience. Everyone enjoyed it and the cake is down to two slices after one day. Not bad for deciding to cook it at the last minute. Thanks to my mom for the recipe assist and bringing me back to my childhood.
Until next time,
Xoxo~Christilisa