When I was growing up, my grandmother, who lived with us, cooked a dessert every Saturday night. Apple pie was everyone’s favorite, but she also made cakes, cookies, puddings, plus other kinds of pies so that we never tired of any sweet. It was always a treat.
After I married, I thought that was a tradition I should continue. It didn’t take long before Bob and I realized we did not need to eat so many treats. Both of us were consuming what four used to nibble on over days. Although stopping this tradition was easier than starting, it still was bittersweet to me. I wanted to be as good a cook as my grandmother.
Over the years, I’ve collected three fat books full of recipes. These days, especially for desserts, I limit my cooking to what my family members or guests list as favorites. I rarely experiment with a new dessert anymore.
So during the Christmas holidays, it was a surprise when my sister-in-law told me that she had taken my Moroccan Pound Cake to a party and it was a big hit. In looking through her collection of dessert recipes, she settled on this one because she remembered it making an elegant presentation towering tall on a cake stand. She had requests for the recipe.
I haven’t made this recipe in years. In fact, I had to search it out. Finding it, I discovered that it was a combination of three recipes.
I used the Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe that a friend had given me in the 1960s. The Moroccan variation was clipped from a magazine. And the Rich Mocha Frosting came from a newspaper column. While I will not make this dessert just for Bob and me, I do plan to make it the next time we have company.
Sour Cream Pound Cake
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon soda
2 sticks butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 teaspoon lemon flavoring
1/2 pint sour cream
Mix flour salt, soda. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well, to butter/sugar mixture. Add flavoring. Add dry ingredients, alternating with sour cream. Bake in slightly greased and floured 10” tube pan at 300 degrees for one hour or until cake shrinks from pan.
Moroccan Pound Cake
To the pound cake recipe, add one cup raisins and 1 cup chopped pecans. Pour 3/4 of the batter into the cake pan. To the remaining one third, add 1 tablespoon cocoa and 1 tablespoon cinnamon with remaining batter. Spoon onto batter in cake pan. Cut through to marbleize cake. Bake according to recipe directions. When done, let cake sit ten minutes before removing from pan. Let cool. Either sprinkle with powdered sugar or ice with Rich Mocha Frosting.
Rich Mocha Frosting
1/4 cup butter softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons hot, strong coffee
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Soften butter. Add one cup sugar mixed with cocoa and cinnamon. Mix well. Add hot coffee and vanilla, mix well. Add remaining sugar and beat until smooth. Spread over cake.
2019
Beautiful