Happy Little Cottages By The Sea

Cottage Charm, Coastal Calm

July 29, 2008

Savannah Classic Desserts & "my" sour cream peach pound cake

I just love how if you pay attention to life, there are little lines of connectivity that all comes together in the most wonderful way. Here’s my little story for you to follow along .

 

 

A few years ago I found this GREAT receipe for a sour cream peach pound cake in Savannah Magazine. The receipe is from Martha Giddens Nesbitt who made the cake for a QVC special that was being shot in Savannah. I started to make the cake to take to parties, give away as holiday gifts and to use for dinner parties. Danny the cup cake eating dog even got into the act. I had one dinner party where I made this delicious cake for desert. Now this is before I discovered it’s really ok to put the dogs in another room while you have company, especially when the dogs are labs who adore food and consider any food on a counter fair game if they can reach the counter…Today , my dogs go in the bedroom while I have dinner parties. Anyway, we were having desert and one of my guests was telling a great story and not eating his piece of cake. Danny was sitting to his left watching the food, watching the story teller and waiting for his chance. Yes, , Danny in one big bite grabbed the cake from the plate and consumed in one swallow. We were so stunned we couldn’t help but laugh!

 

 

Earlier this summer, I came across a used cook book called “Food for all Seasons” by Anne Bryn. I was surprised to find a very similiar receipe in the summer section for a Famous Peach Pound Cake and when I went back to my receipe from the magazine – I see that Martha references this same receipe as one of the inspirations for her receipe. ( see where the lines are starting to form?) And now, a brand new book is coming out called Savannah Desserts by Janice Shay with the forward by Martha Giddens Nesbitt ( who wrote the magazine article for my peach pound cake!) The picture on the cover is MY PEACH POUND CAKE! Look how gorgeous this is!
Here is the fabulous receipe! You’ll make this over and over again because of the raves you’ll receive and it’s so good!

 

 

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream
2 cups diced fresh or canned peaches ( I use canned peaches)
Glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbsp cream cheese, at room temperature
1 Tbsp milk
Preparation:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch fluted tube pan.
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time beating well.
Fold the flour, baking soda, salt into the creamed mixture, alternately with the diced peaches and sour cream. Stir in the vanilla and the almond extract.
Bake for 65- 75 minutes until the cake is golden brown and will just release from the sides of the cake pan. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan ( at least) then cool completely on a rack.
Glaze: once the cake is cool, cream the confectioner’s sugar with the cream cheese and milk and pour over the cake. Fresh peaches can go on top for decoration ( see the cookbook picture above!)

 

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Hurricanes and the Georgia Coast

Many of you ask me about hurricanes and should you take the trip insurance we offer on our website. I always encourage you to take the insurance if you think there might be a reason why you need to cancel. Sickness, older parents, kid’s schedules are all reason why vacations need to be cancelled, but one reason that I really don’t worry about is hurricanes. Of course I can’t promise we won’t be hit, but here is some information about hurricanes and the Georgia Coast that may make you feel better.

The last “big one” to hit Savannah and Tybee was August 27th, 1893 as a category 4 hurricane. Our part of the Eastern Seaboard is among the most storm-shielded area of the coast. “The likelihood of a direct hit by a big storm is very, very small.” WTOC TV Meteorologist Pat Prokop. “We are about the furthest point on the East Coast. We are located in somewhat of a cove. Hurricanes traveling from south to north will largely miss us.” However the storms that threaten our area come in the “back door”which means they brew in the Gulf of Mexico and hit us by land. These storms usually produce high winds and heavy rains but seldom produce the damage from storm surges or cause evacuations.

There is a fascinating website you can visit to learn more about hurricanes and also track hurricanes throughout the season. The National Hurrican Center website is worth checking out. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

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