easter and a ginger poundcake

I was looking for an excuse to include this recipe on my blog, and along came Easter. So, I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter – even if you don’t make this cake. If you don’t celebrate Easter, this recipe has absolutely nothing to do with Easter, so you can make it anyway. I hope I haven’t excluded anyone. Unless of course you don’t like ginger, and then why are we having this conversation? Please let me know if you try this recipe and what you think of it. (It will tell me a lot about you.)

This is one of my very favorite cake recipes. Very favorite. The cake is moist, not overly sweet and studded with candied ginger. It is straight forward and uncomplicated. If you like ginger even half as much as I do, you will love it too.

Very Ginger Poundcake

• 5 eggs
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup milk
• 3 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. grated fresh ginger (don’t be stingy)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (I prefer 1 full cup)

1. Grease and lightly flour a 10 inch tube pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugars, beating until combined. Beat in grated ginger and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition and scraping side of bowl frequently.
2. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low to medium speed after each addition just until combined. Gently stir in crystallized ginger. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 60 – 70 minutes or until tester near center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes Remove cake from pan. Cool on rack. Prepare yourself for a little taste of heaven.