The return of the butter pound cake

Sometime ago, you featured a recipe for butter pound cake. I hope you can reprint the recipe for all of us who missed it the first time. – Cristina G. Panes

Here’s a simple recipe for a basic butter pound cake. You can make variations to the recipe by adding crushed walnuts. Sweet raisins or black currants that have been soaked in dark rum can be added, as well, topped with halved green cherries. This basic recipe is also known to be a good base for wedding cakes:

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Butter and flour a round 9-inch cake pan. Lining the pan with parchment paper makes it easier to remove the cake after it is baked.

Sift 4 cups of flour, 4 tsps. of baking powder, and 1 tsp. of salt. Set aside the dry ingredients.

Cream 1 pound of butter (that’s two bricks!) with an electric mixer, gradually adding 3 cups of sugar until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Crack 6 eggs, beating well after each egg is added to the mixture.

Gradually add the dry ingredients, followed by 1 cup of milk, 2 tsps. vanilla extract, and 2 tsps. pure lemon extract (you can use grated lemon zest).

Pour the entire beaten mixture into your floured-and-buttered cake pan and bake for 1-1/2 hours. Once done, allow the cake to cool in its pan for about 10 minutes before turning over onto a wire rack to cool further. This is when you can pour in the rum-soaked black currants or raisins.

Once thoroughly cooled, the cake can be set on a cake platter and readied for serving.

* * * A Traditional Tocino Recipe

I’ve enjoyed surfing your website. Will you please provide me with a recipe for tocino? Thanks a lot. – Jeanne Alameda, HCT, AC, United Arab Emirates

Tocino can be made if you have Prague powder or salitre to cure the pork. This gives the marinated (overnight is sufficient!) pork that red tinge and sweet taste (adding some sugar won’t hurt!). That’s the reason why when you fry it, some portions turn black because of the burnt sugar. Tocino is best eaten at breakfast, with garlic fried rice, scrambled eggs with cheese and a side dish of achara or chopped tomatoes and patis. Happy breakfast feasting!

* * * Reader Shares Gravy Recipe

I read in your column sometime ago about a reader asking about a delicious gravy. Well, I can share my own recipe, which I’m sure will make a rich sauce. It can be used with either chicken or beef. Here’s something you could try!

Melt the following in a pan: 1/2 cup butter or margarine, 1/2 cup flour, 2 cubes chicken or beef bouillon, 2 cups water, 1/2 tsps. salt, 1/8 tsps. pepper, 1/2 tsps. crushed rosemary and a few drops of Knorr seasoning or Maggi Savor seasoning. Let it simmer. Enjoy and happy eating! – Lerma N. Ortaliza, U.P. Village, Quezon City

Thank you, dear reader, for sharing this precious gravy recipe with our other readers. We have received many questions about making the perfect gravy for that perfect chicken casserole or beef stew. Thank you for your very own creation, and we invite our readers to share their own recipes as well!

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