7-Up Pound Cake with Vanilla
Why I Love This Recipe
This recipe appears elsewhere on the site, with one slight variation from mine. I'm submitting this version because I prefer the vanilla flavor as opposed to the lemon extract flavor in the recipe already posted. The choice of extracts makes a big difference in the flavor of the cake--they hardly seem like the same cake to me--but it is strictly personal preference. This is my family's favorite cake. It can be served with any kind of fresh or canned fruit but we like it best plain with a big glass of cold milk (or coffee or tea). When my daughter married recently, she asked the baker to use this recipe for the bottom (and biggest) tier of her spectacular square wedding cake. It turned out great and was a hit with everyone except my mother, who pronounced it "too heavy." Well, Mom, it IS called pound cake, after all.
Ingredients You'll Need
3 sticks butter (3/4 c.)
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups unsifted flour
3/4 cup 7-Up (fresh and bubbly)
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350-degrees. Generously grease a heavy bundt pan (or tube pan)and dust with flour. We dust the pan with granulated sugar, instead of flour, because it gives the cake a crunchy "crust."
In large bowl, cream butter and sugar VERY well, until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
Alternately add 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup 7-Up, beginning with flour and ending with 7-Up, beating well after each addition.
Add vanilla and thoroughly blend into batter.
Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in center of oven until cake tester (I use a long, thin bamboo skewer) comes out clean, about 1 hr. and 15 min. Because ovens can vary so much (and mine never seems to behave in a consistent way), I begin testing at 55 min. and do so every 5 min. until the tester comes out clean. If you can catch the cake near the minute it is done, the result is an incredibly moist cake. Not to worry, if you catch it 5 min. late, it's still a wonderful cake.
I find that the recipe makes just a little too much batter to fit into my bundt pan, so I bake the remainder in a very small foil pan (pot pie size)and it is done in about 15 min.
Remove bundt/tube pan from oven and place on a rack to cool for 20 min. Set your timer--if it stays in the pan too long, it won't come out in one piece. Place a cookie or cake rack, upside down, over the pan and flip over. Lift the pan off the cake gently to make sure the cake is not stuck to the pan. If it is, I find whacking the top of the baking pan with the handle of a table knife is quite effective in getting the cake to turn loose. Cool completely before serving.
