Are you familiar with pound cake? If not, it’s high time you baked one! This cake is easy to prepare, wonderfully moist, and tastes darn good to boot. The best part: You don’t need any fancy ingredients. A true highlight among cakes, the pound cake may not be fancy, but it sure is yummy.
Pound Cake: Simple Ingredients, Seriously Moist
You might remember pound cake from your grandma’s dining room table — but did you know this down-home cake has roots that go way back? This moist, buttery treat originated in early 17th-century England, where it was known by the same name: pound cake.
If you’ve ever scratched your head and wondered how this cake earned its name, we’ve got you covered. Its name comes from its ingredients: Originally, the recipe called for one pound each of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. This resulted in a large, dense cake that could feed many and stay fresh for a long time. As the English colonized the Americas, they brought their culinary traditions with them, including their food-us operandi: the fabled pound cake.
As you might have noticed, the pound is no longer quite a pound. With advances in baking and cooling technology, the need for such gargantuan cakes has diminished. Nowadays, it’s really more of a ‘half-pound’ cake. But, of course, we wouldn’t say no to one such weighty creation.
Pound cakes are an easy task for even the most green chefs among us! Its mild flavor will please even the pickiest of eaters, making it a perfect fit for even the most laid-back occasions. My family is known to even indulge in pound cake and coffee for a lazy Christmas breakfast.
In addition to its long-staying moistness, pound cake brings another advantage to the table: Its structure is highly adaptable. If you’re hankerig a change, add lemon zest, chocolate chips, or even some fruit to mix things up! You might find yourself treating your pound cake like a favorite jacket, bringing it out time and again, each time with a new set of accessories.
Looking to treat your host to other sweet treats? Then try our other recipes, like our chocolate apple cake roll, Danish pastry cake with vanilla pudding and mixed berries, or our no-bake chocolate strawberries & cream cake.
POUND CAKE
- Prep time: 15 mins
- Cook time: 1 hr
- Total time: 1 hr 15 mins
- Servings: 12 slices
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
- 1¼ cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1 to 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- ¼ cup milk
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line your bundt pan with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually sift the dry ingredients into the butter and egg mixture. Add the milk and mix until the batter is smooth and well combined.
- Pour the batter into the bundt pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool for around 10 minutes, then carefully invert it onto a wire rack or the like. Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar before serving.