Vanilla Pound Cake.

Vanilla Pound Cake.

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar
6 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Grease and flour a tube pan.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla. Add the flour. Continue to beat at medium speed for 10 minutes.Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a rack to finish cooling.

Note: This is about as close to Sara Lee or Entemanns as you'll get. I prefer to eat it plain, but if you want to spice things up, serve with fresh strawberries and blueberries. Another good "topping" is cinnamon rum -- take a 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of dark rum, 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Reduce over a low flame until slightly thick. Drizzle over the cake until well soaked. Serve with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

If you don't eat it all, save the left-overs for making trifle.

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