Since 1926, the Agricultural Review has been a free newspaper published by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. For many years, The Tar Heel Kitchen was a featured column written by the department’s marketing home economist. These recipes tended to be seasonal with just a handful of ingredients. We thought these recipes needed to be shared in a new format. The Tar Heel Kitchen post will unearth a few of these timeless recipes each month. This week we are looking back at the December 1992 issue and a recipe for brown sugar pound cake.
Valentine’s Day is just a few days away and nothing says love like homemade. Barbara “Babs” Wilkinson calls this pound cake one of her “all-time favorites.” We think it is the perfect amount of sweetness with a hint of vanilla. Serve it warm with a dollop of whipped cream.
To add to the romance, serve it with some North Carolina greenhouse-grown strawberries, available at farmers markets and grocery stores, and a local bouquet of flowers. Search for nurseries with locally grown cut flowers at www.ncfarmfresh.com/nurseries.asp.
Brown Sugar Pound Cake
- 1 cup butter
- ½ cup shortening
- 1-pound box brown sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 5 eggs
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 3 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
Cream the butter and shortening and gradually add in sugars, 1 cup at a time. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour and baking powder together and add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk. Add the vanilla and mix well until light and fluffy. Pour into a well-greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for about 2 hours, or until cake tester inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.