All-American Classic: The Pound Cake

What could be simpler? A pound each of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs equals one beautiful golden cake. The only problem? If you actually made that cake, you'd be in for some disappointment. (Not to mention a very large cake!)

The pound cake has change a lot over the years, and that classic ratio of four simple ingredients has been tweaked, adjusted, and joined by a host of other ingredients. The original cake was a relatively dry and un-sweet affair, closer to French genoise and sponge cakes. It was usually soaked with simple syrup to add moisture and flavor before serving.

Compare that to our modern pound cake! These are rich, luscious, and velvety in texture. Modern pound cakes barely need icing or berries or anything else to fancy them up. They can stand just fine on their own. We often serve them at brunches and garden parties, or even just a simple weeknight dessert. We can't remember the last time we made genoise!

We suspect the change has much to do with our very American taste for rich, sugary desserts, but changes to ingredients also had a helping hand. In BakeWise, Shirley O. Corriher explains that the advent of low-protein cake flour and modern fats like Crisco enabled us to work more liquids and sugars into cakes than before.

Either way, we're very happy to have our modern pound cake and will no doubt be making one soon:

• Vanilla Pound Cake from Martha Stewart
• Brown Sugar Walnut Pound Cake with Peach Maple Sauce from Martha Stewart
• Pound Cake with Blueberries and Lavender Syrup from Epicurious
• Ricotta Orange Pound Cake with Strawberries from the Food Network

What's your favorite version of pound cake?

(Image: Martha Stewart)

Comments (12)

Speaking of pound cake.. my mother-in-law will slather a slice with butter as if it's icing. I'd never heard of that before.. is that something other people do, or is it weird to everyone else too?

I've made that epicurious cake with blueberry lavender compote several times and it's always a hit, especially topped with fresh whipped cream. Sometimes instead of lavender I'll put more of a lemon emphasis in the sauce and pound cake. One of my favorite desserts.

And Alison, yeah, that's a lot of freakin' butter. lol.

@AlisonCJ -- my father-in-law would slather a thick butter coating on bread (I never saw him eat pound cake). It had everything to do with the fact that he grew up in Germany during WW2.

Best pound cake I ever made involved substituting honey for the sugar and ice cream for who-knows-what (maybe I just threw it in randomly and added more flour). Luscious. I've never dared try it again since.

Either Bon Appetit or Gourmet printed one last year that was a Vanilla and Cardamom pound cake. That's been my go to recipe ever since then, although Paula Deen's standard is delicious too.

My family traditionally likes to fry a slice of pound cake in a skillet with of butter.

meant to say:

My family traditionally likes to fry a slice of pound cake in a skillet with a small amount of butter - just enough to make it crisp on the outside while still soft on the inside.

Toasting it in the toaster oven will crisp it, too.
My dad liked to "fortify" his slice with butter. He had a stroke.
I ate butter excessively, and I did not grow up in the depression or WW2 Germany. I was a skinny kid and wanted to be curvy.
Now I am regular, but for the sake of my arteries I make my sour cream poundcake with yogurt or part yogurt, which gives a fresh taste. I put on some jam sometimes, but never more butter as there are already two sticks in there.
I like to use some demera sugar and add a shot of bourbon with vanilla or other flavorings with nuts or lemon peel. Almond is my favorite.
Poundcake and cobblers, dessert essentials.

AlisonCJ, my mom will sometimes slather the butter and then put it under the broiler. I like it enough to have a piece of her's but not enough to do it to my own slice.

The Martha Stewart Vanilla Pound Cake is in my oven now. Smells great and is probably the cheapest dessert I've ever made.

I recently made a orange-cinnamon pound cake that used yogurt for some of the moisture. It was incredible, toasted lightly for breakfast!

Hmmm...I make my husband's grandmother's recipe for pound cake (which mainly involves weighing equal proportions of the four ingredients and adding a splash of liquer), and it certainly isn't dry at all. (It's not sickly sweet, either, which I think is a plus.) Perhaps something went wrong in your preparation?

In any case, some of these variations look highly tempting!