National Pound Cake Day

National Pound Cake day, 03/04. Sorry, I’m a day late with this, but it is all the sweeter for it.

A classic cake. From the very old definition / recipe a pound of flour, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter and a pound of eggs which were assembled via the creaming method. (Not as some say, the weight each slice adds to you…)

“Sour cream pound cake” is a popular variation in the United States, which involves the substitution of sour cream for some of the butter, which also is intended to produce a more moist cake with a pleasantly tangy flavor.

Pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. The traditional recipe makes a cake much larger than most families can consume, and so the quantity is often changed to suit the size of the cake that is desired. As long as the ratio is preserved, the resulting cake will be identical to that using the traditional recipe. Hence, any cake made with a 1:1:1:1 ratio of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar is also called a pound cake or lbs cake, even if the quantity used is smaller or larger than an actual pound.

There are numerous variations on the traditional pound cake, with certain countries and regions having distinctive styles. These can include the addition of flavoring agents (such as vanilla extract or almond extract) or dried fruit (such as currants or craisins), as well as alterations to the original recipe to change the characteristics of the resulting pound cake.

As the photo above shows, one can mix the batter straight up for a “white cake”, portion 1/2 of the batter to the pans and then add coco / chocolate to the remaining mix, portion and swirl for a marble cake. This works very well with fruit, (say blueberries), or nuts (say crushed walnuts.)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 300 F
2. Cream together the butter and sugar , (~4 minutes)
3. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time
4. Sift flour, salt and baking soda
5. Add flour and sour cream in small doses, alternating
6. Whip egg whites until stiff and fold in
7. Spray and Flour a 10″ tube pan
8. Pour batter gently in to pan
9. Bake for ~ 90 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted 1/2 way from tube to wall comes out clean

One can frost, or glaze, top with fresh fruit or with fruit glazes.

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