COLD OVEN POUND CAKE with BUTTER RUM GLAZE

My recipe interests seem to fall into three main categories. First, there are the “some day” recipes, which are generic recipes that sound good and “some day” I hope to try them. Next are the “have promise” recipes, which are recipes that I have tried a few times but they still need a little tweaking. Finally, there are my “go to” recipes, which are ones I have no reservations about; I know they will turn out great. The Cold Oven Pound Cake is one of my “go to” recipes. It is sweet, dense, moist, buttery and easy to make. It is truly a great recipe.

DO NOT PREHEAT YOUR OVEN
3 ¾ cups powdered sugar
2 sticks (half pound) of real butter (do not substitute)
4 eggs
3 cups flour (sift into cup and level off)
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract (don’t leave out)

Cream butter in large electric mixer bowl. Add powdered sugar and mix well. It will seem very dry at first, but it WILL cream together. Beat until very fluffy (to the consistency of a good frosting) it will take about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape walls of mixing bowl down between each egg. Add extracts and mix well.

Sift flour directly into a measuring cup and level it off with a knife. Put three of these cups into a small bowl and mix in baking powder, set aside. Next, you will be adding the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternately with the warm water. You will do this step in thirds (1/3 four + 1/3 water, etc.). Scraping down the bowl walls between each addition. Mix well. Pour batter into a well-greased and floured bundt pan and put into a COLD oven. Turn oven to 350 and bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Cool cake in pan about 5 minutes before turning out. Wrap hot cake with plastic wrap and let cool to room temperature. Glaze cake.
BUTTER-RUM GLAZE
¼ cup butter
5 tablespoons water
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon rum extract
Mix all ingredients and boil for 3 minutes. Spoon over cake.
NOTE: Do not let this glaze boil like crazy. Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat so that it is still boiling, but not going crazy. This glaze will be very thin after 3 minutes of boiling and will thicken as it cools. In this photo, I coated the cake with a thin glaze (the shiny part) then came back a few minutes later and did a decorative drizzle with the thickened glaze.