Welcome to Fishtails and Pearls

I remember Gail Blakely phoning me one day asking me to please join her committee that was in the process of publishing a community cookbook. Knowing Gail and her extensive knowledge of food, along with her phenomenal organizational skills,  I said yes.  What a wonderful experience it turned out to be.  Everyone on the committee had the same goal in mind, which was to creative a quality cookbook that represents where we live and the food we like to eat. So to kick off this new blog here is one of my contributions to the book:

Sour Cream Pound Cake

1/2 lb butter or Earth Balance (melted)

3 cups flour

3 cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

5 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

Confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

• Melt butter

• Place all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl 

• Add eggs, sour cream, vanilla and melted butter

• Mix well with electric mixer on medium for 4-5 minutes

• Grease and flour bundt or tube pan; pour in batter and bake for 1.5 hours or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean; cool in the pan for 20 minutes and then insert knife around edges and remove gently from pan.  Place on rack until completely cooled.  Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving

Coffee cake variation:

• Chop 3/4 cup walnuts and 3/4 cups pecans; to nuts add 4 tbls melted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 tbls cinnamon.
• Pour half the batter in the pan and make a ring of nuts on top of the batter, trying to keep the nuts away from the side of the pan
• Add remaining batter and bake as instructed above

The plain pound cake is the perfect cake to serve with fresh sliced fruit.  The coffee cake is always a big hit when you have company.

Visit the Cahoon Museum to learn more about this gem of a museum located in the village of Cotuit.  The cookbook Fishtails and Pearls is available in their on-line gift shop.