I am sure that at some point or the other in our lives, we would have tasted this simple yet yummy cake. It gets the name pound cake from the traditional and original recipe which called for one pound each of all ingredients - flour, sugar, eggs and butter. I remember my mom too making it in this manner where she used to weigh all the ingredients and take equal quantities, even the eggs! Her weighing the eggs used to put my young mind into eternal confusion but that never stopped me from stirring the batter and licking it off the bowl in the end 😀
The recipe has evolved and changed over time but I tried it the traditional way. Since I normally cook for one, I used 100gm of all the ingredients and then adjusted it a bit here and there to my taste.
Vanilla Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
Flour - 100gm
Butter - 100 gm (at room temperature)
Eggs - 100 gm (approx 2 medium sized eggs)
Sugar - 100 gm (I ended up using around ½ a cup and a bit more, since it seemed like a lot after powdering)
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Salt - one pinch (optional)
How to make Pound Cake:
1. Beat the eggs till soft. This might take upto 2 mins on a hand blender. I don't own an electric hand blender so I used the good old mixie to get the eggs whipped up.
2. Next, lightly beat the butter and sugar together till nicely blended. Add the beaten eggs to this. Ideally, the butter and sugar should be at room temperature, otherwise you will find that it curdles. Panic not! It happened to me but everything is fine when the flour is folded in.
3. Once the egg-butter-sugar mixture is well blended, add the vanilla and salt and mix gently.
4. Gently fold the flour in. I used a wide wooden spatula for this. The idea is to not loose the fluffiness of the beaten eggs. The batter will seem slightly thicker than the normal cake batter. Again, panic not! 🙂
5. Transfer to a greased tray and bake in a pre-heated oven for 30-35 mins at 350 degrees. The top should turn a lovely golden brown, a toothpick inserted into the centre should come out clean and your neighbours should get the lovely aroma! At that point, your cake is done.
I normally don't like frosting on homemade cakes so I had mine with a generous helping of Nutella 😀
For all those who asked, yes, Nutella is very much available in India, thank God! And for those who said they haven't tried it yet, you absolutely should!! Its divine (provided you like the flavour of hazelnuts).
Oc
i can c a nutella in the pic...jes luv it..except that it causes weight increase 😉
Ramya Kiran
Hi, cake looks delicious. just wanted to know what pan size did u use for this quantity of ingredients?
Nags
I used a regular loaf pan, I think 21 x 11 x 6 cm
Sophie
This sounds so good and not too complicated to make! I love the Nutella on top! Perfect 'frosting' :).
Anonymous
Cake is lovely! I used a one pound variation, added two teaspoons of baking powder. Delightful!
K from Jamaica
Anonymous
Don't you add BAKING POWDER for this one?
Nags
Yes, normal mixer since I didn't own an electric mixer when I made this 🙂
Anonymous
Hey awesome cake... did u use normal mixer for the mixing process? cool....
crispus
Hey Nags, thanks a bunch for clearing my doubt. me gonna try this out 2day...im craving pound cake..im in my 7th month and still craving cakes...:)
geez..i almost 4got i had a blog and that someone wud read it.
thanks. hav a fab day and keep posting..luv reading u write ups to the recipe a lot!
Nags
hello crispus, yes it is 350 degrees 🙂 i have updated the post, hope you try this out!