Mile-High Pound Cake and Cupcakes ***AMENDED***

Amendment: Funny how when you make something once then make it again it can be two completely different outcomes.  King Arthur Flour posted a video the other day about the proper way to measure flour.  Check it out here https://www.facebook.com/kingarthurflour/videos/10153541608809174/.  My second go at this yielded much less batter. You would think that would make the outcome that much more buttery-delicious.  Not so.  The cheaper butter I bought at the store to pinch some pennies left everyone in my household feeling somewhat cheated out of what should have been a buttery slice of heaven.  The first time, I baked it for 1 hour.  Because the second one yielded so much less batter, it needed much less baking time.  So be wary!  Spend the money on good butter! My original post follows below :) 

So the other day I made some delicious Mile-High Pound Cake because my oldest son loves Sara Lee variety. Wanting to save some pennies, I halved a recipe I found and tweaked it for Mile-Highness and for my own love of vanilla extract.  I was skeptical about the recipe because of all the added liquids yielding such a thick batter and it didn't give a temperature.  Most recipes are 350 degrees, so I increased accordingly to 375 degrees for the 5K+ Mile-High adjustment.

Still worried, I consulted with my friend and fellow baker.  She assured me that cakes in the Mile High always have a thicker than normal batter, and urged me to lower my temperature to 350 degrees. I did momentarily, but reading about the faster evaporation at higher altitudes, I thought better of it and returned it to the original 375 degrees.  The end result, quite lovely.  In retrospect, I think I would have used a regular loaf pan instead of the casserole dish, but this cake was gone the next day! 

I baked mine for 1 hour then gave it a toothpick test. 

So for Labor Day, I searched for a cupcake recipe and found that lo and behold, the cupcake recipe from another source, was indeed the same recipe as the pound cake with additional milk added to it.  I increased that even more, but I think it muted the buttery taste of the original recipe.  And who wants muted buttery taste?  Not this girl, so I'm sticking to my original recipe.

So as with any baked recipe, I start by mixing my dry ingredients in one bowl and my butter and sugar in a separate bowl.  Continue to add wet ingredients to the batter, one at a time, mixing well between each addition before sifting in dry ingredients.  Cupcake recipes always tell you to pour your batter in 3/4 of the way full.  I think this is too full and creates a large muffin top. And I always have one or more that are excessively muffin-toppy for some reason.  I opted for a 1/2 full instead to avoid the muffin top all together. 

Being a new recipe, I'm sure I opened my oven too many times to check on the progress.  In the end I overcooked my cupcakes to a golden brown because I was thinking of the delicious crust of the pound cake. They ended up with a crunchy shell, but very moist and airy on the inside.  Next time, I will decrease my time so they are not golden brown, and just do the good ol' toothpick test.  I'm thinking closer to 18 minutes versus the 24 minutes I did these for.  Add a homemade buttercream frosting and voila! C'est Magnifique! Gobbled up and not a one was left after the Labor Day BBQ.  

Sweet little cupcake, made from scratch
Why oh why do you wear such a crunchy shell?
Opened up soft, sweet little treat, this batch.
High altitude liquids, your secrets, do tell! 

Hope you'll try them. Yum! 

xo ~

Rolly <3

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup salted butter at room temperature 
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 2 T heavy whipping cream
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. In a separate larger bowl, mix sugar and butter until creamy.
4. Add eggs and mix to combine
5. Add vanilla and whipping cream. Mix to combine.
6. Sift dry ingredients into batter, about a 1/4-1/2 cup at a time, mixing between each addition.
7. For pound cake, pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour - 45 minutes to an hour and 10 minutes.
8. For cupcakes, use cupcake liners. Pour batter 1/2 full into each cup. Yields about 15 cupcakes. Bake 18-22 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.