Pound cake is a heartier thicker based cake, which makes them very versatile when you’re baking and decorating. I’ve been on the lookout for a good pound cake recipe. In my search I found out “pound cake” got its name because early recipes called for bakers to add a pound of flour, a pound of butter, and a pound of sugar then bake. I don’t need that much pound cake!
I’ve been making some stand up cakes lately which require a sturdier cake than the basic vanilla, or box mix cake. Most of them call for pound cake so they’re strong enough to stand up on their own. I priced pound cake mixes in the store, and they were around $2.50 each! Since most of the cake molds I’ve been looking at take at least 5 cups of batter, I would need 2 mixes. That’s $5 in pound cake, yikes! I decided I could definitely find a pound cake recipe to use instead for way less money!
I hunted around and finally settled on this pound cake recipe, adapted from Mama’s Pound Cake by Paula Deen
Basic Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks butter
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 3 cups sugar
- 5 eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- small pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and shortening in a large mixing bowl.
3. Combine the dry ingredients in a second mixing bowl.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk and mixing until well combined.
5. Pour the mixture into a tube pan, your favorite stand up cake mold, or 2 round 9″ pans depending on what you plan to use your pound cake for. I like to use no stick cooking spray with flour in it to keep the batter from sticking no matter what shape of pan I use.
6. bake for 40 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the cake pan and amount of batter used, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
This is a great recipe to use when you need a sturdier cake, like a lamb cake I’m working on finishing up, or like this one:
I’ll be back to share how my lamb cake turns out later this week! Hopefully!