If your childhood was anything like mine, you were greeted with a sweet rendition of this lovable song at least a few times. The sun barely crested the horizon when my momma's sweet voice would drift to me, waking me up and making me smile. Often, this gentle wake-up would be followed by a delicious breakfast and it was a wonderful little bit of calm and joy before the days truly began.

Now that winter is in full throttle here and calls for snow are on the horizon, I am surrounded most often by gray. Don't get me wrong, I love it. I am a rainy day person. It is perfect for warm, comfort food. I love bundling up in sweaters and wearing pretty boots. It's perfect nap weather.... but sometimes I ache for sunshine, having lived most of my life in the deep south where the heat and the sun never go away. 

Yesterday was a gray day in the truest sense. Then we got in our new Nordic Ware Solera Bundt Pans. Coated in a golden finish and shaped like the prettiest art deco sunshine, they literally glow on our shelves as if calling out "Good morning, Sunshine!" in the dead of winter. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.

Of course, being the lover of food that I am, I then instantly wanted breakfast.

Which led me to coffee cake... and a fun idea. I raided our 52 Pounds cookbook and found the perfect cake to make as a coffee cake for our Solera Bundt Pan- a Sun Drop Pound Cake (page 46, for those following along). It is light and lemony and the perfect offset to dark coffee and dreary weather. 

Now, I make every recipe I post, if not exactly when I post it, but I found myself reeeeally wanting to make this. So I will, but why not bake along with all of you? The whole idea of the 52 Pounds cookbook was to have a cake for every week of the year and I, in true Julie and Julia style am going to do it in a series of blogs and vlogs. I would love for y'all to cook with me. 

We will start with the Sun Drop Pound Cake this Friday and I am going to go ahead and give you that recipe now if you want to get the ingredients ahead of time. Some of these recipes are from scratch, some use mixes, and all are delicious. I, however am not a baker. I can make a passable birthday cake and ice cookies, but baking is not my forte, so this may be a challenge for me. I really hope to up my skill level with baking as we go through this and share a few tricks that I do know. Just because my bakes aren't always pretty, doesn't mean they aren't delicious.

If you want to bake along with me, grab your 52 Pounds and Then Some Cookbook in store or online. Lets get cooking!

Sun Drop Pound Cake

Ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened

3 c granulated sugar

½ c Crisco

5 whole eggs

3 c plain flour

¾ c Sun Drop

1 tsp vanilla

I tsp lemon extract

Drizzle:

2 c powdered sugar

2 tbs butter, very softened

4 tbs Sun Drop

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Cream butter, Crisco and sugar together very well
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg.
4. Alternate adding flour and Sun Drop, beginning and ending with the flour.
5. Add extracts and mix well for another minute
6. Bake at 325°F for 1 hr and 15 min.

When cake the cools, cover with glaze and dig in with the full knowledge that pound cake is proof that God loves us.