The Pound Cake

I absolutely love pound cakes, it just reminds me of home. My mom always made them growing up, not necessarily for a special occasion, just to have around the house for "merienda" (our middle of the day snack) and cafecito (a small cup of coffee, our Venezuelan espresso).  So the other day I just woke up wanting to have this delicious cake around the house, for breakfast, snack and dessert.

If you've never made pound cake you'll find the ratio kinda weird, but trust me i'll be perfect! Here's my mom Anamelia's recipe:

Ingredients::

_ 6 eggs

_ 3 sticks of butter (softened)

_ 3 cups of sugar

_ 4 cups of flour
_ 1/2 cup of milk

_ 1/2 lemon zest

Directions::

_ Preheat oven to 350º

_ Mix the butter and sugar until nice and creamy

_ Add the eggs, one by one

_ Slowly add the flour and mix. Add the lemon zest

_ Pour into a buttered and floured pan (that's the way mom does it!)

_ Bake for 1 hr or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean

Topping::

_ You'll have to eye ball this one: Start with 2 cups of confectioners sugar and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and mix. Keep adding lemon juice or water until you reach the right consistency, you want it to be a little runny but not too much, kinda like honey. Pour all over the cake and top with some more lemon zest!

I love it with coffee in the morning, its so nice and dense you can actually dunk it in your cup... yum!


NOTE: After reading this post, my friends at how2heroes.com asked me to make a video of it, of course I said yes :) Check it out: Anamelias Pound Cake!

Asado Negro

The name "Ven a Comer" came to me while going through my food memories growing up. It was what my mom yelled when dinner was ready, she would say "Carla, ven a comer!" (Carla, come eat!) and I would come running, always picking up my dad and brother along the way.

My mom, Anamelia, is an amazing cook. She's extremely creative and ambitious, and she's never afraid. I learned a lot just by watching her, she'd come up with great meals on the fly, throw great parties with great food, or feed my friends late at night after my own parties. She also always wanted to learn as much as she could, I remember taking "bagel making" classes when we first came here. Somehow I've been able to carry on her talent and love for food, one of my favorites times in the day is dinner time, when my hubby sits down to eat and tells me how delicious whatever I made was... just like my dad always did (and still does) to my mom.

Here is a video of me making one of my favorite Venezuelan dishes: "Asado Negro". My mom taught me how to make it over the phone :) It's a traditional beef dish cooked with panela (cane sugar) that helps create the dark caramel color of it's thick, sweet sauce. The smell of it cooking on the stove instantly takes me back home... it's a wonderful feeling.

If you're still curious about more Venezuelan & latin food, watch my other videos: arepas, fried plantains, tostones & tres leches cake.

_NOTE: not sure why the video is cut off on the right, sorry about that!