The name pound cake refers to the fact that the traditional recipe uses a pound of flour, pound of butter, pound of eggs, and pound of sugar. A recipe for pound cake appears in the first American cookbook, American Cookery, published in 1796. By the mid-1800s, alternative recipes began using smaller portions of the same ingredients to produce a lighter version of pound cake. Today an endless number of pound cake variations exist, including vanilla, almond, sour cream, rum, lemon, cream cheese, and cornmeal pound cake.
Recipe Servings: 16
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Total Time
1 hour 10 minutes
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
- Shortening, as needed to grease pans
- 3¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra to dust pans
- 2 cups (4 sticks) butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 9 large eggs
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans lightly with shortening and dust with flour.
- Cream the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar while continuing to mix until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
- Add the flour slowly and mix just until blended.
- Pour the batter equally into the pans.
- Bake the loaves for 60 minutes with an aluminum foil tent placed over them to prevent over browning.
- Remove the loaves from the oven. Let them cool in the pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes before turning them out to cool completely.
Recipe introduction and directions © Copyright 2016-2025 World Trade Press. All rights reserved.