Not all of us can get away to the beach this summer, but all of us can bring some sand to our kitchen. I first saw a recipe for Sand Cake in “Cookies, Muffins, and Cakes,” another no-author book by a publisher (Bay Books). Sand Cakes can take the form of a tart shell or a glorified pound cake. The tart shells have Scandinavian roots, while the pound cakes have German roots. Although I really like all-things Scandinavia, my family has German roots, so I made the pound cake.
I used a combination of recipes and baked my cake in a 9-inch springform pan. The top looked lovely, but I burnt the heck out of the bottom. Fortunately, the bottom was very easily cut off, and the cake tasted lovely once the burnt crust was removed. I brushed the lemon syrup I had left over from last week’s candied lemon slices over the top of the cake, then sprinkled it with powdered sugar. I gave it a dollop of homemade whip cream and ended up with a nice piece of cake.
A fun, summer twist on a different type of sand cake, especially for those of you responsible for little people, is to combine some other sweet ingredients in a sand pail. This type of sand cake is a spin-off of the dirt cake, which typically includes chocolate sandwich cookies and chocolate pudding layered in a clay pot garnished with gummy worms. The fun sand cake can be made with vanilla wafer cookies, sugar cookies, pound cake or a combination of the three. Add vanilla pudding and chocolate sea shells, and you are set for a day at the beach no matter where you are.
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- ¼ cup cake flour
- Cream the butter and sugar.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the vanilla and continue to mix.
- Slowly incorporate the flours and mix until well combined.
- Pour the batter into a greased and parchment-lined, 9 inch baking pan.
- Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown.
