Merry & Bright Linkup: Peppermint Pound Cake

Merry Christmas Eve Eve y'all! How is there only 2 more days until Christmas? Hopefully y'all finished up all of your shopping (if not check out all of my gift guides in one post right here) and are baking away making all of your favorite treats for the big day!

Cathleen, Cristina, and Rachel are hosting their #GalPalHoliday Linkup today (check out my previous posts for Halloween and Thanksgiving) and, of course, it is Christmas themed! One of my family's favorite traditions is hosting a Christmas party for our neighbors and family friends. For the past couple of years, I have picked a recipe to make for dessert so I decided to share that with y'all today!

After looking through my Christmas Pinterest board, I decided to make this yummy Peppermint Pound Cake that I knew would be perfect for the party!

This recipe also includes a yummy peppermint glaze so I included that as well!

The Peppermint Pound Cake

 Ingredients

Sugar, Softened Butter, Eggs, Flour, Milk, Peppermint Extract, Vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Grease a bundt pan

3. In a large bowl, blend sugar and softened butter

4. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition

5. Alternate adding flour and milk to mixture, blending well

6. Add peppermint and vanilla extracts, and stir until blended

7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 70 to 80 minutes (the exact timing depends on the size of your bundt pan, check the cake with a knife or toothpick and if it comes out clean with no batter on it, the cake is cooked!)

8. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes

9. Remove the cake from pan and cool completely

The Peppermint Glaze

Ingredients 

Powdered Sugar, Milk (or half and half), Peppermint Extract, Candy Canes

Instructions

1. Mix the first three ingredients together, blending well

2. Crush the candy canes (I like to do this by placing them into a Ziplock bag and then crushing them with a wooden mallet)

 3. Drizzle over cooled pound cake

4. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes and let glaze set

Peppermint Pound Cake

Ingredients
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 sticks butter, softened
- 5 eggs
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 to 2 teaspoons peppermint extract (depending how strong you want the peppermint flavor to be)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease a bundt pan
3. In a large bowl, blend sugar and softened butter
4. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition
5. Alternate adding flour and milk to mixture, blending well
6. Add peppermint and vanilla extracts, and stir until blended
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 70 to 80 minutes (the exact timing depends on the size of your bundt pan, check the cake with a knife or toothpick and if it comes out clean with no batter on it, the cake is cooked!)
8. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes
9. Remove the cake from pan and cool completely

Peppermint Glaze

Ingredients
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons milk or half and half
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3 crushed candy canes, for garnish

Instructions
1. Mix the first three ingredients together, blending well
2. Crush the candy canes (I like to do this by placing them into a Ziplock bag and then crushing them with a wooden mallet)
3. Drizzle over cooled pound cake
4. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes and let glaze set.