Lately, I’ve been making all kinds of pound cake. You’d be surprised by the variations, both in ingredients and technique, from one recipe to the next. I mentioned how a couple weeks ago I made a new (to me) buttermilk pound cake recipe to much success. It also stands as one of the simplest, most straightforward recipes I’ve come across for a pound cake in recent years.
One thing I’ve noticed is when I’ve brought a pound cake, someone eventually asks me about the recipe. This has provided many a discussion on family recipes for pound cake, how they differ or overlap, with one thing standing out: the fat. Sour cream, buttermilk, cream cheese, warm milk, heavy whipping cream—these are some of the most popular bases for a classic vanilla pound cake.
Now, a little story. When I was a teenager, I really wanted to perfect my baking skills. I mean, at some point you have to advance from boxed cake to the real thing, and a pound cake seemed the perfect place to start.
It began when my eighth grade physical science teacher, Ms. Seale, was discussing mass, volume, and density. One such example she gave was a traditional pound cake recipe, where each ingredient is equivalent to a pound in weight. Up to that point, I had no idea why a pound cake was called that, aside from the obvious—it’s not exactly a low-calorie option.
Then, I went home and dug out a treasure trove of a book, Breaking Bread with Providence Baptist Church. This cookbook features a wide variety of recipes from many family members of mine, given that this was once our family’s church of choice. So I sought out the different pound cake recipes, trying my hand at a cream cheese pound cake after school.
It was, much to my surprise, quite simple. My grandparents broke into it after supper that night and quickly put in a request for another once this cake ran out. What followed was a near weekly routine of making different pound cake recipes to feed to willing family members, who were (if you can imagine) very willing.
It was this bout of pound cake education that exposed me to some pretty finicky ways to go about baking one of these Southern staples. For instance, a whipping pound cake that required a Pyrex measuring cup of water to be placed by the pan while baking.
Another is the problem with cream cheese pound cakes: timing the mixing just right. There’s a standing theory that cream cheese pound cakes require no more than seven minutes of beating with a mixer. Overbeating can lead to streaks of moisture throughout that yields an inconsistent crumb.
Thus, I prefer a whole milk or buttermilk variation, because they tend to be less fussy than some of the more novel varieties. From the same cookbook, my great-great aunt Sadie Merle Whitcomb contributed a recipe for a plain pound cake. If I know anything about the way she cooked, she got this recipe from her mother (and my great-great grandmother), Emory Vanda (Hurt) Tucker.
What I love about this recipe is not only its simplicity, but its versatility. The addition of 6 Tablespoons of cocoa to the flour makes a chocolate version of this same cake, without drying out the finished cake. Another unique facet to this recipe is the inclusion of lard for the added fat, which ensures a tender crumb.
Sadie Merle’s Pound Cake
- 3 cups sugar
- 2 sticks butter
- 1/3 cup lard
- 1 cup milk
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- 5 eggs
- 3 cups cake flour, sifted
Instructions:
Cream together butter and lard, until light and fluffy. Add sugar, beating for 4 minutes, or until the mixture has doubled in volume. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in the milk and vanilla, followed by the flour. Beat together until just combined. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Optional: Add 6 Tablespoons of cocoa to flour for a chocolate pound cake.
A recipe that I’ve used before heats the whole milk on the stove before adding it to the cake batter, alternating with the flour until mixed through. I can’t say I’ve tried that in this recipe, but I’ve been rather curious what results that may yield.
Another addition I make with my pound cakes is adding a little extra vanilla. I have both liquid vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste, and find that an equal amount of both really raises the bar for this. That is perhaps my one and only real edit for this beloved recipe.
If you can’t find lard, or just don’t want to use it, Crisco is a fine substitute. In fact, Crisco is the secret weapon in a number of modern Southern kitchens.
Recently, I’ve acquired a 10-inch tube pan from an estate sale back in Linden. In fact, it belonged to my art teacher, Ms. Carlton, who also taught me the importance of keeping a cold drink and Old Dutch Maid cookies out for company.
Much in the same way, it’s a long-held belief that one should have a pound cake out for company—just for propriety’s sake. Baking in this proper, vintage tube pan makes me feel connected to her now that the painting classes are over.
I like to imagine her putting out a pound cake in her sunroom with some lemonade, watching her lion fountain by the pool, reading about the Impressionists. A pound cake feels like more than a cake to me; it feels like walking through a screen door and into the arms of someone who knows you.
It’s one of those dishes that feel like home.
