America!

Yesterday was the 4th of July and after spending the morning at the Country Club, my pal Jenny and I decided to make a cake for the barbeque we were attending in the afternoon. A close friend brought pound cake into the office the other day and since I tasted it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I saw this cake on the cover off Family Circle years ago and always wanted to make it. I think many people's families have created variations of it over the years. I used Paula Deen's Mama's Pound Cake recipe, which I will share below.

You'll need:

2 sticks of butter
1/2 cup of shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour,
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. I set my butter out to soften for a few hours and by the time I was ready to prep, it was perfect. I didn't actually use a mixer - this recipe can easily be done without on.
• Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.
  
• Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour.
  
• Mix in vanilla.
  
• Pour into a greased and floured pan and bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Let it cool completely - you are dealing with Cool Whip afterwards, afterall.
  
• Once cool, slap on some Cool Whip. We needed one and a half packages of strawberries and a half package of blueberries to make the flag.
• Enjoy!