Living in the Colorado high country is pure joy. Baking in it isn’t. High altitude makes cookies spread in the pan, cakes fall, and few baked goods turn out as they do at sea level. This twice-monthly column presents recipes and tips to make baking in the mountains successful.

This Feb. 14, forget the cards and give your favorite people a little heart of tender vanilla pound cake. It’s a fine way to say “Happy Valentine’s Day,” “congratulations,” “thank you” or “you’re special.” Keep some in your freezer and you’ll always be ready to surprise someone with a treat that shows you care. Don’t have a heart-shaped pan? Use any metal mini-bundt with 1-cup capacity cavities. 

I use the paste method — also called reverse creaming — to make this cake. I beat butter into the dry ingredients and a little liquid as a first step (making a paste) and add the remaining liquid and eggs afterwards. It’s a good choice at high altitudes where reduced air pressure can lead to over-creaming cake batter, adding so much air to the batter that the cake collapses as it bakes. It’s a quick-and-easy process, just be sure to beat/blend ingredients the full amount of time specified in the recipe. 

Vanilla poundcake minis

Adjusted for altitudes from 7,000 to 10,000 feet. Bake in a mini heart nonstick shiny metal pan with 1-cup size cavities. Yields 5 heart-shaped mini cakes.

Cake

• 2 jumbo eggs
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 1 cup plus 2 teaspoons cake flour 
• 1 cup granulated sugar, preferably superfine
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Vanilla syrup

• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, preferably superfine
• 1 1/2 tablespoons water
• A pinch salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste

Confectioners’ sugar, optional

Raspberry topping, optional

• 1/2 cup raspberry jam/preserves
• Pinch salt
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice 
• 2 teaspoons crème de cassis or water
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Get ready: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, with a rack in the middle position. Grease 5 cavities in your mini-bundt pan with a baking spray that contains flour.

Prep the ingredients: Lightly whisk the eggs, milk, and vanilla in a small bowl until combined and set aside. Cut the room-temperature butter into 18 pieces and set aside. Place the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and, using a whisk or an electric mixer on low speed, blend them for about a minute until combined. 

Make the batter: Scrape down the bowl often in this step. Add the butter and half of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until they are fully moistened. Turn the mixer to high (medium if using a standing mixer) and beat for one and a half minutes. In three additions, add the rest of the egg mixture. Beat for 30-40 seconds after each addition. 

Bake: Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling them about 3/4 full, and smooth and level the tops. Tap the pan on a solid surface to dislodge any air bubbles in the batter. Bake until the edges start to pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean, 15-20 minutes.

Prepare the vanilla syrup: While the cake bakes, stir the sugar, water and salt in a small pan over medium heat until the mixture boils and the sugar is totally dissolved.  Remove from the heat before it thickens, cool slightly — it must be thin enough to sink into the cake rather than sit on top — and stir in the vanilla. 

Add syrup and cool: Remove the cake pan from the oven when done and place it on a rack. If any cakes have developed humps as they baked gently push them down. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes then invert the pan onto the rack and let the cakes fall out. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops of the cakes and brush syrup over them and down on the sides. Stop as soon as the cakes are saturated and slightly sticky, don’t overdo even if you don’t use all the syrup. Cool until they reach room temperature, then refrigerate them for a day so the flavor can deepen or freeze them for a month. 

Thicken your preserves, optional: Do this if you’re going to pipe the preserves in a heart shape to decorate the cakes. Warm the preserves, salt, and lemon juice, in a small saucepan at medium-low heat. While they heat, dissolve the cornstarch in the crème de cassis. When the preserves are hot, stir in the cornstarch mixture, continue to stir, and increase the heat until the preserves reach a low boil and thicken enough to hold a shape. Remove them from the heat, scrape them into a small container and chill them so they thicken further. 

Decorate the cakes, optional: While the preserves cool, remove the cakes from the refrigerator. Use a knife to level the bottom of any cake that doesn’t sit up straight and dust the tops with confectioners’ sugar. Then, pipe the cooled preserves into the cakes’ centers. They are ready to be served or stored covered in the ‘fridge for a day. 

Vera Dawson’s column “High Country Baking” publishes biweekly in the Summit Daily News. Dawson is a high-elevation baking instructor and author of three high-altitude cookbooks. Her recipes have been tested in her kitchen in Frisco, where she’s lived since 1991, and altered until they work at elevation. Contact her at veradawson1@gmail.com.