Blind Faith, Friendship and Love

I think that the older I get the more amazed I am that time flies without even leaving the ground.  It has been a month since my last entry, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy.  I have still kept up with my recipes, but have slipped on the entry part! Sorry to those who follow…

Two weeks ago I took a mid-winter trip back to my home state, the great and magnificent Oregon!  This wasn’t just any trip.  My best friend got married!  The words here won’t do justice for how happy I am for Aaron and Erin (yes…you read that right!), or the Aaron’s as I call them.  They are a wonderful couple and having only been a together for a little over a year, have a solid foundation of love, trust and compassion for each other.  While watching them interact over the course of my visit to Oregon, I couldn’t help but to think about my future someone.  We are often so rigid in finding “The One” that we become lost in the clutter and mess of it all.  Why is it so hard to stop thinking and put a blindfold on trusting that life will be okay?  We must trust that love will find us in exactly the right place, faithful with our blindfolds on. 

The recipe below is for a Cream Cheese Pound Cake with a raspberry reduction.  Friendship, for me, has been the foundation of my life; much like this cake, it is solid and unwavering (Believe me, the cake came out with a thud!!).  It’s been through some heat and much like its shape, has come full circle.  But despite all the ingredients that have gone into making this amazing friendship, there was something missing within the cake that allowed it to be complete.  Love.  Love that coats, enhances, and just makes life a little bit sweeter.  This was most definitely the most delicious thing I’ve ever made!  I would highly recommend it and the best part is that it wasn’t so time consuming!  ENJOY!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

By: The Best of America’s Test Kitchen

3 C cake flour (I used All-purpose)

1 tsp salt

4 large eggs plus 2 large yolks @ room temperature

¼ C milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 C sugar

24 tblsp (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 oz cream cheese

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.  Grease and flour 12 cup non stick Bundt pan.  Combine flour and salt in bowl.  Whisk eggs and yolks, milk and vanilla together in 2 C liquid measuring cup. 

Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat sugar, butter and cream cheese together on medium high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Reduce speed to low and very slowly add egg mixture until incorporated (batter may look slightly curdled) Add flour mixture in 3 additions, scraping bowl as needed.  Give batter final stir by hand. 

Scrape batter into prepared pan and gently tap pan on counter to release air bubbles.  Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  1 hour 20 minutes to    1 ½ hours, rotating pan halfway through baking.  Let cake cook in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.  Remove cake from pan and let cool completely, about 2 hours.  Serve. (Cake can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days)

Raspberry Reduction

By: AnnMarie Ely

1 1/2 C of raspberries

2 tblsp sugar

1/4 inch of water in the bottom of a sauce pan

1 tblsp corn starch (or flour)

Combine all ingredients and stir on stovetop until mixture is reduced to liquid.  Note cornstarch should be added before mixture is heated.