Eat In. Mom's Pound Cake.

My mom used to be a cooking teacher when she lived in Vietnam, but like any real cook, she doesn't have any written-in-stone recipes to show it off.

Except! For this one gem. I don't know why, but it's the only recipe she ever needs to look at whenever she makes it (I know, baking takes precision, but she bakes without recipes all the time!), and it's probably one of the most basic, easy and popular recipes ever.

But I digress. These days, the holiday pound cake baking comes down to me (sadly, I am no cook, but I can bake a mean cookie), so happy holidays, Beats, here is the Tu Family Recipe.

125 grams of sugar
125 grams of butter (try to soften by microwaving it for a few seconds)
165 grams of flour
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
50 grams of raisins and/or nuts and/or whatever you want (optional)

1. Fire up that oven to preheat at 350 degrees.
2. Mix the butter and sugar into a fine paste.
3. Get that mixer out and add flour in slowly while beating.
4. Add one egg at a time while beating.
5. Toss in that baking powder.
6. Add the raisins or whatever you're using after everything is finely mixed. Add them slowly, and just slightly fold them into the batter.
7. Probably should Pam spray those baking pans. I use the loaf size ones (8x4x3, I think), and this batch should be enough for two.
8. Pour the batter into the pans, maybe drop some raisins in just below the surface of the batter for some good measure.
9. Throw them in the oven!

The recipe doesn't say how long it takes, but it's about 50 min.-an hour if I remember correctly. Just wait for the smell to overwhelm you, check for some brownness, and get a toothpick, skewer or chopstick (guess which one I use?) to poke, and once it comes out almost clean, it's ready.

(okay this isn't my picture, but this definitely looks like what I make)

What a piece of cake. Happy baking!

-- Chau Tu

Photo credit: Salt and Pepper blog