I had often thought about making a pound cake. I mean the recipe is simple enough, one pound each of flour, sugar, eggs and butter. What could be simpler than that?
Researching "Pound Cake History" made it much different. Most sources did agree that pound cake originated in Europe in the 1700s. The basic recipe is attributed to the high rate of illiteracy at the time, so a recipe where the amount and ingredients were easily memorized was prized. Many recipes from the period called for adding other items (rose water, brandy, orange or lemon zest and/or juice) for flavor. Later recipes differ in whether it should be made with regular or cake flour and whether it should be made in a loaf pan or bundt pan.
Since cake flour is generally attributed to have been invented in the mid 1800s and in the 1700s when the recipe was supposedly started I think most folks used whatever flour and pan they had. I decided to use all-purpose flour as that is probably the closest to what they had then. I also decided to use a more modern pan, a
Silicone Loaf Pan. If I had either a copper or cast iron loaf pan I would have used that, but I am trying to stay as true to the basic recipe as I can.
A couple items I noticed in my research was that while the basic recipe called for one pound of each of the ingredients most homes in that day only had one or two cooking pots so the amount of the ingredients would be tailored to the pot while keeping the 1:1:1:1 ratio. Another was that no leavening was added. The rise of the cake was determined by the amount of air whipped into the batter. I'm glad I have a power mixer.
On a final note, since I am using a loaf pan to test this I'm going to make an "Old Fashioned Half Pound Cake" in that I am going to use only a half pound of all the ingredients.
Let's get baking!
Preheat your oven to 350*F
First you need 2 sticks of room temp butter. If you forget to get them out with enough time to soften, you can soften them in the microwave. Beat them at low speed with your mixer until thoroughly creamed.
Next add the confectioners sugar. 1 - 3/4 cups worth. Again beat at low speed until thoroughly creamed together. I use a silicone spatula to scrape the sides down and make sure everything is mixed well.
5 eggs are next. I crack the eggs one at a time into a clear glass custard cup and check for any shell fragments before adding it to the mix. Once all 5 are in the bowl, mix thoroughly.
One side note. Keep the spatula away from the beaters when mixing. Once I got it a little too close (like in the beaters) and ended up with chunks of silicone in the mix. As you can guess, that ended that mixture right then.
Now add 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour. Mix it very well, scraping the sides down into the mixture.
I was also baking dinner as I was mixing this, so I neglected to take photos of each step after the mixing was done. I'll do that next time and add them here.
Pour the mixture into the loaf pan, leveling it with the spatula. If you're using a
Silicone Loaf Pan you'll need to place it on a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper between the baking sheet and Silicone Loaf Pan.
Bake at 350*F for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool for 15 - 20 minutes in the pan on a rack and then carefully remove to the rack to finish cooling.
Slice, top with fresh fruit or ice cream or your favorite topping and enjoy!
