Old Fashioned Pound Cake with Fudgy Butterscotch Dunking Sauce - Be My Valentine

Valentines Day is upon us and love is in the air. I'm making an Old Fashioned Pound Cake with Fudgy Butterscotch  Dunking Sauce to share with those I love. Everyone can have a slice of pure love! Love conquers all -  so go ahead, be a little daring darling, cook up something sweet for your sweetie pie and the friends and family you love. Be my Valentine!

Pound Cake

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering pan

3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) plus additional for dusting

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups sugar

7 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup heavy cream

Special equipment: a 10-inch tube pan (4 1/2 inches deep; not with a removable bottom) or a 10-inch bundt pan (3 1/4 inches deep; 3-qt capacity)

Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven.

Generously butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess flour.

Sift together sifted flour (3 cups) and salt into a bowl. Repeat sifting into another bowl (flour will have been sifted 3 times total).

Beat together butter (2 sticks) and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or 6 to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down side of bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes. Batter will become creamier and satiny.

Spoon batter into pan and rap pan against work surface once or twice to eliminate air bubbles. Place pan in (cold) oven and turn oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inner and outer edges of cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack to cool completely.

Fudgy Butterscotch Dunking Sauce

This intense butterscotch frosting is first boiled, and then beaten, resulting in a fudgy consistency and deep, rich flavor. Use it as the crowning touch to your favorite recipe for old fashioned pound cake.

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

4 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons evaporated milk, more as needed

Pinch salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, butter, evaporated milk, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the baking powder and vanilla extract. (At this point, the icing will be the consistency of thick syrup.) Use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the mixture until it is glossy and smooth and has thickened to frosting consistency. Immediately spread over cake; the frosting will harden slightly as it cools. (If you over beat and the frosting becomes too thick and dry, beat in a tablespoon or so of evaporated milk until it reaches the correct consistency.)