BLUE RIBBON POUND CAKE

Blue Ribbon Pound Cake image

Provided by Food Network

Categories dessert

Time 1h50m

Number Of Ingredients 11

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons lemon extract or vanilla, or 1 teaspoon each lemon extract and vanilla
Confectioners' sugar
Fresh whole strawberries

Steps:

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg and set aside.
Cream butter until very light and fluffy, then add sugar gradually, creaming all the while. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition just enough to mix.
Combine the milk and the flavoring (lemon, vanilla or lemon and vanilla). Add the sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Pour into a well-buttered-and-floured 10-inch tube pan, filling to within about 2 inches of the top. Bake in a 300 degree oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until cake just begins to pull from the sides of the pan and a finger pressed gently on the top of the cake leaves a print that vanishes slowly.
Cool cake upright in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out on the rack and cool to room temperature before cutting. Serve as is or garnish, if you like with a dusting of confectioners' sugar and a few red, ripe strawberries