I have been baking the pound cake below over fifty years. The recipe originally came from a next-door neighbor in Midland, Texas. It’s so simple I don’t even look at the recipe any more—it’s branded in my brain. It is also amenable to multiple variations as listed below the main recipe. Mine usually looks just like the photo below with a slightly crackled top.

 

Mrs. Ray’s Pound Cake

 

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter

2 tsp of vanilla or other flavoring

6 eggs

2 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

Glaze (optional):

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp softened butter

Enough milk to make the glaze thin and runny.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a Bundt or angel food cake pan.

In a bowl, cream the sugar and softened butter at high speed until light and fluffy.

Add the 2 tsp of vanilla and beat in.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat thoroughly at high speed for three minutes. There is no leavening in this cake, so it rises from the air incorporated when you cream the butter and sugar and when you beat in the eggs.

Add the salt and the flour. Beat until well blended.

Spoon (batter will be thick) into the Bundt pan. Tap lightly several times on the counter to get out any air bubbles.

Bake approximately 45 minutes until a cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and cake has pulled away from sides of pan slightly.

Cool completely.

If desired, drizzle with the glaze.

 

Variations:

Marble Pound Cake: Substitute 1-3/4 cup flour. Divide cake batter in half. Add 1/8 cup flour to one half and 1/8 cup cocoa to the other half. I frequently add chopped pecans to the chocolate half as well. Alternate spoonfuls of the chocolate and the plain cake then run a knife though the batter to marble it.

Almond Joy Cake: Heavily butter the sides of the Bundt pan and pat slice almonds into the butter. Add 1 cup of coconut and 1 cup of miniature chocolate chips to the batter. Spoon batter into Bundt pan, being care not to dislodge almonds.

Lemon Pound Cake: Add 2 tsp lemon extract or lemon oil to batter along with the zest of one lemon.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake: Add 2 tsp lemon extract or lemon oil to batter along with the zest of one lemon. After the flour is well-blended, add 2 tbsp poppyseeds.

Orange Cranberry: Add 2 tsp orange extract or orange oil to batter along with the zest of half an orange and 1 cup of dried cranberries.