Easter Cake Recipe and Gift Card Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered, and congratulations to Renee for winning the $100 gift card!

Thanks to HP Hood for sponsoring this giveaway and for providing me with a gift card to buy ingredients as well.

Well hello there, April. Where did you come from? With our somewhat non-existent Winter, I feel like I am completely confused as to what month it’s supposed to be, and I am just not ready for it to be the month I am running the Boston Marathon. Gulp.

I AM ready to share a delicious recipe that is perfect for Easter or any Spring weekend AND a $100 Visa gift card to help you buy the ingredients and whatever other fun groceries or cooking items you would like.

A few weeks ago I received an email from a representative of  HP Hood sharing a recipe for a Sweet Raspberry Tea Cake (recipe is at the very bottom of this post). I love sour cream cakes, and I love raspberries, so I was definitely on board. Random memory –  the first time I ever made a sour cream cake was in 9th grade in my Food for Daily Living class. My neighbor and class partner was a 12th grader, big shot athlete, and he would always steal my paper during tests, make me do all the work, and then eat everything. I put up with it then, but I definitely would not today. I wonder what he got up to after the glory days of high school sports were over? It’s kind of interesting how memory works, isn’t it?

Anyway,  I received my own Visa gift card to buy the ingredients, and over the weekend I whipped up my own version of the cake. I just can’t seem to ever follow a recipe 100%. . .

The cake came out great, with sweet bursts of raspberry jam popping up here and there. I also threw in whole raspberries, which wasn’t part of the recipe but made it even better.

To help you all make the recipe, Hood is offering a coupon for a discount on their sour cream. To access the coupon, click here.

(I used frozen raspberries instead of fresh; the fresh ones didn’t look very good.)

If you make the cake, let me know what you think!

To enter the giveaway:

1) Leave a comment here telling me a favorite baking memory or baked good.

2) Like either  HP Hood  or Hood New England Dairy Cook Off on Facebook

3) Check back on Thursday; I will choose a winner and announce it then.

Good luck!

Hood^® Sweet Raspberry Tea Cake

Ingredients

(Cake)

1 cup Hood Sour Cream

1 cup Hood Half & Half

2 sticks unsalted butter, plus 2 tbsp to coat the pan

2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 cup seedless raspberry jam

3½ cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

(Icing)

2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp Hood Half & Half

½ pint fresh raspberries

Instructions

Cake:

Before starting, make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.

Generously coat a large 6 cup bundt pan with 2 tbsp of unsalted butter and set aside.

Preheat oven to 325°. In a large mixing bowl, sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) together and set aside.

Thin out the raspberry jam with the vanilla extract in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the remaining unsalted butter until smooth. Add in the sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy.

Beat the eggs in one at time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Mix in the Hood Sour Cream.

Add the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the Hood Half & Half, being careful to not over mix.

Carefully fold in ½ of the raspberry jam mixture, but do not incorporate completely.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared bundt pan.

Take the remaining raspberry jam mixture and spread it over the batter in the pan, being careful to stay away from the edges.

Pour the remaining cake batter into the pan.

Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. Cool completely and remove from the pan.

Icing:

Combine the Hood Half & Half, vanilla, and confectioners sugar in a small bowl and stir until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the top, allowing the icing to fall down the sides of the cake. Garnish the top with fresh raspberries and serve.