Southern Living 101:
Front porch swings, and rocking chairs with a slight breeze blowing.. can’t you smell the fried chicken cooking inside, the aroma of homemade biscuits, a glass of sweet tea in hand or a cup of fresh squeezed lemonade and let’s add a warm slice of pound cake…. Just another Southern Summer loading in 2023.
My Thoughts about Southern Pound Cake:
1. Pound cake can probably be found at family celebrations & holiday gatherings especially if they are potluck type gatherings.
2. You will always find at least one pound cake at church picnics or potlucks in the South… after all, it’s an essential Southern staple!
3. Pound cakes are a central part of any good dessert table.
4. Pound cakes are either a grand mystery of baking to some and to others.. well, they seem to navigate any pound cake recipe like a pro.
5. Pound Cakes can be baked different pans… Bundt, loaf pan, or a tube pan AND Most Southern cooks have a definite preference on which they use regularly to bake a pound cake.
A Trip Back Into Time Regarding Pound Cake:
Pound cake is exactly what you think it is. It’s a fairly simplistic looking dessert. The origin is quite literally what it sounds like… the first pound cakes were made with one pound of flour, eggs, butter, and sugar! In today’s recipe equivalent… 3 1/3 cups of flour, 8-9 eggs, 4 sticks of butter and 2 cups of sugar. When you begin to think about that, most traditional pound cake ratios are slightly different today!
I didn’t realize until recently, that the first recipe for pound cake appeared in 1796 in the American Cookery Cookbook and Pound Cake Recipe was rooted in Northern European cuisine… Europeans measurements were by weight, hence, a pound of butter, flour, sugar. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how to stir and create a fluffy pound of butter with only using a wooden spoon😳!
Strange Things about Pound Cake:
Personally, the strangest reaction I ever witnessed about a freshly baked pound cake, I encountered a few years ago. I had made a pound cake to share with the staff at the hardware store and as we prepared to slice the cake, a former employee shouted out, “let me go find some honey or molasses to go with the cake to cut the dryness of the pound cake”. I was stunned. What on earth was this person’s perspective concerning pound cake??? I realized that they had potentially NEVER eaten a pound cake that wasn’t dry. To never have eaten an amazing piece of pound cake… moist on the inside yet with a crust on the outside.
Comfort Food 101:
Comfort Foods tend to be hearty, homey, and let’s just face it, good for your soul. The mental boost that your favorite comfort food creates, can restore your equilibrium.
As far as dessert goes, Cream Cheese Pound Cake is a family favorite comfort food. My Mom regularly makes this one for us when we visit, so frequently that my niece named Mom’s pound cake, “Nanny Cake”. The name has stuck. We all call Mom’s Cream Cheese Pound Cake, “Nanny Cake.” Now that’s truly Comfort Food 101!
My Personal Tips for Baking A Pound Cake:
1. Grease pan with Crisco /flour dusting mixture instead of using a baking spray. I have never had a great success with using a baking spray. For making a chocolate pound cake, dust with a mixture of flour and cocoa powder.
2. I always preheat my oven… before I begin to mix ingredients. One of my cake cookbooks recommends that you preheat 30 minutes before baking. This allows your oven to fully come up to temperature and allows for even baking of cake layers… I would bet that would extent to a pound cake as well! (Note: Some pound cake recipes are cold oven pound cakes and you are asked to not preheat oven)
3. Use the oven light and your nose! If it smells like it is almost done then it probably is … the oven light keeps you from peeking inside and provides a nice visual . Each time you open the oven door your temperature drops about 25 degrees and adds to the chances of your cake falling.
4. Use a cake tester after baking time elapses to check for complete baking doneness.
5. Pound cake recipes calling for a tube pan won’t always fit in a Bundt pan. (Tube pans have higher sides and will hold more, while Bundt pans are more shallow and fluted.)
6. When unsure of size of your cake pan, use a measuring cup to fill the cake pan with water to determine the pan’s capacity.
7. Read entire recipe and make sure you have all ingredients ready before beginning! Gather ingredients prior to mixing. It’s important not to overmix pound cake ingredients.
8. Bring cold ingredients to room temperature before baking… items like… eggs, butter, cream cheese, milk.
Happy Summer Baking Y’all!
The Hardware Life - A wife's journey into the hardware business 