In the days before Pinterest and food-based websites, recipes were neatly trimmed from magazines or printed on lined paper and added in to homemade cookbooks. For as long as I can remember, my mom has had two black cookbooks brimming with the family recipes I grew up with. My favourites have always been the sweet treats. Now that I’m a mom too, I’ve tried many, mostly the cookies: shortbreads (yum), come and get ‘em cookies (yummier) and gingerbread cookies (complete failure). But I’ve avoided homemade cakes and pies because I didn’t have the tools I needed.
But not anymore, friends! I am so, so excited to partner with KitchenAid this holiday season. I have loved their iconic, colourful stand mixers for as long as I have had a kitchen. And the new line of ceramic artisan bowls are the best combination of pretty and functional. They look beautiful on your counter and are microwave/oven/freezer/dishwasher safe? Yes, please!
I knew the first recipe I wanted to test with my pretty-in-pink KitchenAid Stand Mixer and bowl would have to be a special one. My dad’s favourite cake was always my mom’s pound cake. It’s a recipe handwritten in one of her little black recipe books. He always asked for it plain, but I believe everything is better with a little icing, so I added a strawberry lemon glaze to this one. I think what made it even more special is that my very picky sons love it just as much as he did.
RECIPE
CAKE
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups butter
1 8 oz block cream cheese
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups pastry flour
GLAZE
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 - 2 tbsp strawberry lemonade
SUGARED CRANBERRIES
cranberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 water
Mint to garnish
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350
- Add sugar, butter and cream cheese to KitchenAid mixer bowl
- Cream together at speed setting number 4
- Add eggs one at time and continue mixing
- Mix in vanilla
- Slowly add in flour while mixing (I used speed 4 the entire time)
- Pour into Bundt pan, spread evenly, tap a couple times to allow any air bubbles to escape
- Bake for one hour, or until a skewer comes out of the centre clean
To make the glaze, mix 1 cup of icing sugar with 1 tbsp of strawberry lemonade. Stir. Add more lemonade as needed. Pour over cake.
To make the sugared cranberries, mix 1/2 cup of water with 1/2 cup of sugar in a small pot on medium heat. Stir for 2 minutes. Pour in cranberries and complete coat them. Let them dry for at least a couple hours. Spread 1 cup of sugar on a baking sheet. Toss cranberries in sugar. Store in fridge if needed.
Place the cranberries on the top of the cake and add mint leaves to garnish. Then take a ton of photos of it before your family sneaks in and eats every slice!
I’m not going to lie, I was a little intimidated to try the Stand Mixer for the first time but I am so happy with the results. It’s easy to operate and even easer to wash. The five quart mixing bowls house a lot of batter, which will make it so good for doubling recipes. I’m now inspired to make so many holiday treats this holiday season….it may have even made me brave enough to attempt gingerbread cookies. First though, our favourite, shortbread cookies with chocolate chunks!
Thank you to KitchenAid for partnering for this post. Pop over to KitchenAid.ca to learn more about saving up to $100 with an online/mail-in rebate on select KitchenAid small appliances this holiday season! And take a moment to swoon over the full collection of beautiful designer ceramic bowls.
