Pound Cake – A Perennial Crowd Pleaser
“I’ll bring a pound cake!” is practically a cliché. If you arrive at a party with a pound cake under your arm, chances are someone else will have already bought one.
Come to think of it, you might end up looking around the room and find a good number of people with the same idea. After all, everyone loves a pound cake, and it’s something easy to pick up on the way if you’re driving by a supermarket.
Although it’s particularly favored in the Southwest, the pound cake is often served at picnics and get-togethers throughout the United States. It’s no wonder that bakers and gourmet chefs alike often applaud the dense, moist, and tasty pound cake as the “World’s greatest cake.”
But how often do you see a homemade pound cake anymore?
No matter how many luncheons or potlucks you attend, the pound cake served usually has a price tag from the local supermarket attached to the bottom of the tin. This is rather interesting when you consider how the pound cake got its name.
The pound cake’s popularity rose from early 18th century Britain, when few could read and write, but many could easily recite the pound cake’s recipe: one pound each of sugar, flour, butter and eggs.
And even though American bakers created a lighter pound cake recipe, they didn’t deviate very far from the original. Even today the basic recipe for pound cake is quite simple to make. To create a basic or a gourmet style variation, all you need is a good recipe and some good cake baking tips.
Once you can bake a great pound cake, you’ve got a fantastic ingredient and even foundation for several other desserts as well! For example, chefs often use pound cake is often used in trifle, bread pudding and French toast.
For you next potluck, show up with a pound cake that’s sure to stand out from the crowd. To achieve this, replace about half of the recipe’s granulated sugar with brown sugar, but don’t replace the butter with margarine. Use fresh, natural ingredients!
Then while your pound cake is still warm from the oven, drizzle caramel rum sauce over the top, allowing it to drip down the sides. You’ll be crowned queen (or king) of the potluck desserts!
And, here’s a great recipe for you:
Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Preheat the oven to 250°F (yes, 250 !). Grease and flour a Bundt pan. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Incorporate the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, again blending well after each addition. Finally add the vanilla, and mix well.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted halfway between the outside of the pan and the tube comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool, and then release from pan.
Serving tip: Top with sweetened, real whipped cream.
The Cream Cheese Pound Cake is from our recipe box in “Cake Decorating Made Easy!” Here’s how one reader responded when asked if she would recommend our Video Books to others:
“Well, I do admit I am very tempted to want to keep the secret to myself and be able to take all the praise and glory from the cakes that I will be making and yet it wouldn’t be fair to keep such a wonderful thing all to myself.
So, I would have to sing your praises and make them understand that you make it easy enough for anyone to do a beautiful job, and that if they don’t understand it the first time then all they have to do is replay and keep on until they get it right, and that they wouldn’t find any better deal than the one they would get from your video books.”
Sherry G.
Perryville, Arizona
The above recipe is about as difficult as dressing up a pound cake gets, but if you’re also interested in the more decorative side of cake making, check out our Sugarcraft article.
Here’s one final pound cake idea! Pop a slice of pound cake into your
toaster or broiler. After it’s lightly toasted, spoon some fresh fruit and ice cream on top. Yum.
Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author
Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2
The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books
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