Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Brown Sugar Pound Cake - made January 31, 2014 from Cricket's Cafe

This is another recipe I've had so long on my pin board that I either had to make it or delete it. As always, click on the recipe title to take you to the original recipe page and blog I got the recipe from. It'll probably be better for you to see the original picture that sucked me in and got me to make this cake because it looked so moist and appetizing.

Mine didn't turn out quite the same way so I'm scratching my head wondering if I baked it too much or not enough because my cake doesn't look like that when sliced. When not sliced, as you can see from the pictures, it looks really homemade. As in, it didn't come out of the Bundt pan very cleanly and I was lucky it didn't break completely apart. Taste-wise, it was good although when I first tasted it, I thought it was too sweet. Not surprising with that much sugar in it but I was surprised that it didn't have more of a caramel or butterscotch flavor from all that brown sugar. Instead, it was just sweet. I liked it better when it had completely cooled because, although I could still taste the sweetness, the texture was soft and had a good mouthfeel.

1 1-lb box light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
5 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
1 cup walnuts, optional

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour bundt pan or loaf pans.
3. Cream butter and shortening. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to the creamed mixture.
5. Add vanilla and maple flavoring; mix well. Add nuts, if using. 
6. Pour into prepared pans and bake 1 1/2 - 2 hours for bundt pan, less time for loaf pans. Cake is done when toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.