Good Old Fashioned Pound Cake

Pound Cake

Nothing beats a dessert baked from scratch. Not only will you have a higher quality snack to eat (free of artificial flavors, stabilizers, and other nasty chemicals) but there is something to be said about the anticipation created by a house filling with the sweet aroma while you wait for it to be done.

Traditionally, the term pound cake refers to a cake made using 1 pound each of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. As such (and due to the lack of a leavening agent), this is a much denser cake than you might be used to, closer to the texture of a good cornbread than the spongy versions you’ve probably eaten previously.

Makes a 4-5 lb. cake

Ingredients:

4 cups flour
1 pound butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
8 large eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt

Butter, flour, and sugar make up the bulk of the expense of this recipe. To keep your costs down the best tip is to stock up when the item is on sale. All three keep for a quite a while and if you plan to start baking regularly the savings can really add up.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Allow butter to soften at room temperature.*

Grease and flour a tube pan and set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy; add vanilla and spices and mix well.

Add flour a little at a time, making sure to incorporate it thoroughly.

Spoon batter (it will be very stiff) into pan and smooth the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and check for doneness with a toothpick (or as in my case with a long bamboo skewer). If necessary place back in oven for 3 minute intervals until tester comes out of the center of the cake clean.

Remove tube portion from main cake pan and allow cake to cool on counter before transferring to a cake plate.

* If you’re in a rush I have found that I can soften my butter in my microwave by running it 1 minute at a time at 10% power and checking often. Be aware that microwave oven wattage varies and so, therefore, may your mileage with this tip.

Serving:

As I’ve mentioned, this is a dense cake. It is best served in a thin slice, topped with sliced fresh fruit, and perhaps a dollop of whipped cream on top.

Want something really good? Try this topped with some warm honey pears.

Alternately, you can drizzle a little chocolate syrup on top, or heat some all-fruit preserves on the stove until runny as a sauce.

Variations:

replace some of the butter with oil if you are worried about saturated fat in your diet
replace some of the butter with sour cream for a moister cake
replace the vanilla extract with something different (i.e. almond extract, orange extract, etc)
add a cup of dried fruit or nuts to the batter before baking
add a cup of chocolate chips to the batter before baking

Adapted from:

The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Classic Stories

You might also enjoy:

The Cake Bible

Jim Fobel’s Old-Fashioned Baking Book: Recipes from an American Childhood

Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net