Sour Cream Pound Cake with Vanilla Glaze

It's funny to me how friendships are formed. Sometimes you'll know the existence of a person for years but they are nothing more than an acquaintance. Sometimes that acquaintance will turn into a great friend (sometimes not). Sometime you meet someone and they are your best friend 5 minutes later. And sometimes you can just tell by the vibe they give off that you'll mesh (or not). The circumstances and moments around the moments you meet someone are so intertwined that I wonder if I met friends under different conditions I would still be friends with them today.  I know I can't truly answer that, but it is a thought process that interests me.

Anyway, I'm talking about this because my dear friend Caroline recently moved away from China to the magical city of Paris, and Caroline (along with her husband) was the type of friend that I knew I was going to mesh with instantly. In fact I've really only known her for 6 months, but we bonded quickly and saying goodbye was a sad day. And when you're sad you make cake. You also make cake when you're happy - just in case you're keeping track of these important life lessons, cake is always acceptable.

Caroline is a vanilla over chocolate kind of girl with slightly sweet trumping cloying sweet, bar none. So after much deliberation I settled on a simple sour cream pound cake with vanilla glaze to send her off to her new city of culture and style.

The simple little cake is dense. So give it plenty of time to bake up in the oven. The flavour of the cake is simple and just the right amount of sweet thanks to the sour cream. The glaze adds a nice hit of texture on the top, and when you add it to the still warm cake it soaks in and sends it over the top.

We're marking another special occasion on this little blog today too... it's our 2 year blogiversary! yay! It's been super fun so far and I wouldn't still be doing this if you weren't still reading this - so THANK YOU! Really, thank you. You're awesome. Celebrate how awesome you are by baking yourself up a sour cream pound cake. You will not regret it.

Sour Cream Pound Cake with Vanilla Glaze

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1/8 tsp baking soda

For the glaze:
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 - 3/4 cup powdered (icing) sugar
1 - 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 375 and grease and flour loaf pan (either 8x4 or 9x5 will work)
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and the mixture is a nice light (but bright) yellow colour
3. Stir in the sour cream and eggs
4. Mix in the flour and soda
5. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 45 - 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean
6. While the cake is baking, mix together all of your glaze ingredients and set aside
7. Remove cake from the oven, allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then remove from pan and place on wire cooling rack.
8. Spoon the glaze over the cake allowing it to run over the sides
9. Allow to cool completely and enjoy!