I must say that my baking has taken on a more thoughtful approach than before. This is due to the high cost of eggs and butter. We did buy eggs in bulk at the local Walmart which came to $4 per dozen instead of the $4.50 at the Aldi. Our other favorite discount grocery closed and we miss it. Butter is $4.50 per pound at the discount grocers.

But it is Hubby’s birthday and his favorite cake is pound cake with a light vanilla glaze. But this is not really an old-fashioned pound cake because it is not using a pound of eggs, butter, and flour. This recipe is from the Kitchen-Aid Cookbook (1992) which I bought at a discount store (now defunct) and not the booklet that came with the mixer because I cannot locate that one at the moment.

I followed the instructions which used higher speeds than I usually use but changed out the lemon zest and juice with a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk, I used non-dairy almond milk.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs

Place the dry ingredients into the bowl of the stand mixer. Make a well in the center and add the butter and milk. Using the flat beater “stir” for 30 seconds; stop and scrape bowl and beat at Speed 4 for 1 minute. Add eggs and vanilla and beat at Speed 2 for 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn to Speed 6 and beat for 1 minute.

Pour batter into a greased and floured, or parchment lined, 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour and 10 minutes. I then added 10 more minutes to the time. I think at 350 degrees the time in the recipe would have worked. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. If you use parchment paper like I did, you do not have to wait the 10 minutes.

To make the glaze I whisked together 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 1/2 tablespoons of water and a dash of vanilla extract. Hubby pronounced this “the best ever!”

Thoughts: As I was preparing to bake this and then when cleaning up my kitchen, it occurred to me that I have gluten all-over my kitchen. No wonder my daughter cleans everything twice when she is here and we are cooking together. She is very sensitive to gluten. I was going to get her a KitchenAid stand mixer for her birthday this year as she is experimenting with baking gluten free breads, cookies, and muffins and apparently gluten-free baking requires long mixing times.

But as it happens… I took her to France instead!