What's your favorite pound cake recipe?

[~gd]

This is my favorite and go to .....needs no baking powder and I think it is perfect!!!

Million Dollar Pound cake

Ingredients
CAKE
1 lb butter, softened
3 c sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
6 lg eggs
4 c all purpose flour
3/4 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Directions
1 Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Grease and flour a 10-inch tube or Bundt pan.

2 In a large bowl, cream the butter;
gradually add sugar,salt beating with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.

3 Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
Gradually add flour alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour and mixing well after each addition.
Mix in almond and vanilla extracts.

4 Pour batter into pan and bake 1 hour and 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan 10 to 15 minutes then remove to a wire rack.

This recipe is 1 lb butter, 1.3 lb sugar, 1.1 lb flour. A little sweeter than the old standby, but thats OK. You're probably using standard commercial flour, right? I hear that coarser flours (like what I get out of the Junior WonderMill) can't accommodate as much extra sugar. Looks like some milk is substituted for eggs. That's probably one of those SS adaptations that needed when you're running short on eggs and the chickens can't be persuaded to lay another in time for the cake!

Down south here those are known as cream cakes and many like them better than pound cskes. They are lighter than pound cakes and easier to make-bake The true pound cake seems to be a dieing art based only on the number of entries at the County Fair.

 

[lazyday]

Sorry, I grew up on the understanding that a pound cake just represented the use of pound of butter, not the other ingredients. I googled what is a true pound cake and from what I have learned it is a pound of each ingredient. Thank you for the correction and thank you gd I like the sound of cream cake better (now someone will correct me that this recipe has no cream ). I do need to state this is NOT a light cake but a wonderful dense, moist cake.

 

[~gd]

Sorry, I grew up on the understanding that a pound cake just represented the use of pound of butter, not the other ingredients. I googled what is a true pound cake and from what I have learned it is a pound of each ingredient. Thank you for the correction and thank you gd I like the sound of cream cake better (now someone will correct me that this recipe has no cream ). I do need to state this is NOT a light cake but a wonderful dense, moist cake.

If I want pound cake I can buy either 'cuts' or small ones baked from the same batter at the Spanish market. They also have full pound cakes but I could not eat that much cake and live afterwards. Everything except flour is off my diet. I don't think there is real cream in our so called cream cake. We are short on milk cows but long on chickens and pigs. Our cream cakes remind me of nice moist dense muffins. If your pound cake is over baked try dampening it with burbon or other tasty drink.

 

[lazyday]

Thank you gd.... this cake is moist and I only make it 2 or 3 times a year but I just might have to dampen it with bourbon just to try. After researching online true pound cake I am going to try and see if this is a better cake. I do not think my Grandma or my mother would have made a true pound cake and it makes me wonder when it was invented, since you are cooking with pounds verse cup and number of eggs.
I know my hens eggs do not weigh the same. Makes you wonder.

 

[~gd]

Thank you gd.... this cake is moist and I only make it 2 or 3 times a year but I just might have to dampen it with bourbon just to try. After researching online true pound cake I am going to try and see if this is a better cake. I do not think my Grandma or my mother would have made a true pound cake and it makes me wonder when it was invented, since you are cooking with pounds verse cup and number of eggs.
I know my hens eggs do not weigh the same. Makes you wonder.

Wonder about what? If your Grandma or mother sold eggs they had an egg scale you know small medium Large extra large and Jumbo. Most of the good old bakers just eye-balled the ingredients and adjusted by look and feel. Seing what today is I usually gifted my mother with a new set of measuring cups since she usually managed to have broken, lost or repurposed the set I got the year before...
Pound cake goes back to the eary 18th centry.

 

[lazyday]

This is how my Grandma cooked, she never used measuring cups or spoons that I am aware of.

 

[k15n1]

Thank you gd.... this cake is moist and I only make it 2 or 3 times a year but I just might have to dampen it with bourbon just to try. After researching online true pound cake I am going to try and see if this is a better cake. I do not think my Grandma or my mother would have made a true pound cake and it makes me wonder when it was invented, since you are cooking with pounds verse cup and number of eggs.
I know my hens eggs do not weigh the same. Makes you wonder.

Wonder about what? If your Grandma or mother sold eggs they had an egg scale you know small medium Large extra large and Jumbo. Most of the good old bakers just eye-balled the ingredients and adjusted by look and feel. Seing what today is I usually gifted my mother with a new set of measuring cups since she usually managed to have broken, lost or repurposed the set I got the year before...
Pound cake goes back to the eary 18th centry.

Basically, pound cake is as old as modern cakes [1]. More history details below. Availability of sugar is a major factor. The article mentions oven technology but I think that's a minor factor. Same for food molds.

The history of cake dates back to ancient times. The first cakes were very different from what we eat today. They were more bread-like and sweetened with honey. Nuts and dried fruits were often added. According to the food historians, the ancient Egyptians were the first culture to show evidence of advanced baking skills. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the English word cake back to the 13th century. It is a derivation of 'kaka', an Old Norse word. Medieval European bakers often made fruitcakes and gingerbread. These foods could last for many months.

According to the food historians, the precursors of modern cakes (round ones with icing) were first baked in Europe sometime in the mid-17th century. This is due to primarily to advances in technology (more reliable ovens, manufacture/availability of food molds) and ingredient availability (refined sugar). At that time cake hoops--round molds for shaping cakes that were placed on flat baking trays--were popular. They could be made of metal, wood or paper. Some were adjustable. Cake pans were sometimes used. The first icing were usually a boiled composition of the finest available sugar, egg whites and [sometimes] flavorings. This icing was poured on the cake. The cake was then returned to the oven for a while. When removed the icing cooled quickly to form a hard, glossy [ice-like] covering. Many cakes made at this time still contained dried fruits (raisins, currants, citrons).

1. http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcakes.html

 

[k15n1]

The history of baking powder. Fascinating!

http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq.html#bakingpowder

 

[Marianne]

This is pretty stinkin' interesting!

 

[Emerald]

hehe.. cream cakes got that name cuz you "cream" the sugar into the fats.