I have been making this pound cake since I was about 10 years old. Now, pound cake is sort of a Southern specialty, and I always had a pound cake as my birthday cake when I was growing up, and at Christmas there is always plenty of it around. My grandmother would make a pound cake around Thanksgiving and then spend the next month regularly soaking it with alcohol – I’m not sure what sort. I just know that I was never allowed near that cake, and you could smell it across the room!
My grandmother’s recipe was literally pound cake – a pound of flour, a pound of sugar, etc. But when I was a child, my mother was given a recipe for a sour cream pound cake, which I thought left regular pound cake in the dust. I make some every year at Christmas, both for the family and for gifts. I have made it for so many years that I have the recipe in my head; the paper copy disintegrated a few years ago. I have been threatened by the Denver relatives that they might not let me in the house if I don’t have the pound cake with me! Anyway, since I believe that yummy things should be enjoyed by all, here is my recipe!
SOUR CREAM POUND CAKE
3 cups of all-purpose flour, sifted with
1/4 teaspoon baking soda and
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/2 lb (2 sticks) of butter, softened
16 oz of sour cream
2 teaspoons of vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Add flour alternately with sour cream, beating until smooth. Add vanilla. Grease and flour either one tube pan or two loaf pans (this is a great gift size!) and then bake for about 1 and 1/2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes back clean. Cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then remove and finish cooling. Keep significant others and children away from the cooling cakes if you want any left. Trust me on this.
I have learned that at our altitude (7200 feet), I need to cook the cakes a little bit longer. You may need to play with the oven temp, too, depending on your oven, but the cake is always cooked in a very slow oven.
This makes a dense, moist, rich cake.
– She Wolf
OMG, this sounds decadent. I bet this would be good with a drizzle of Amaretto.
It really is nice and rich. And I make sure I use real butter, sour cream and vanilla, which makes it taste even better.
I really am going to break the habit of this lifetime and bake….that sounds delicious 🙂
Darn my egg allergies! this sounds delicious!
I agree with Lori that this sounds decidedly decadent. Since Darryl died I have not baked but I might just get started again. I can well imagine everyone enjoying this specialty.
Jane.
You forgot the rum.
🙂
I wonder what it would taste like with the green stuff.
LOL, Lori. Jane it’s lovely to share in this favourite special recipe of your family!
I smell a trip to the grocery store…