Eight Pounds of Cake

I love pound cake. I whipped up a batch yesterday. The winter version has a lemon glaze drizzled over it. If you want to get all fancy-schmancy, you can make a raspberry glaze as well and make it ridiculously delicious and pretty. The summer version is topped with whipped cream and strawberries. Did I mention that I love pound cake? When I asked my mother for her recipe, she responded with the following, neatly typed onto my birthday card that year:

Pound Cake

1 pound flour
1 pound sugar
1 pound butter
1 pound milk
1 pound salt
1 pound baking powder
1 pound lemon juice
1 pound eggs without shells

Throw in a bowl. Mix thoroughly. Place in a pan and bake at 300 for a couple of days. Enjoy.

Do not try this at home. My mom did have an excellent sense of humor. She also shared the actual recipe. Which I have shared below. Do try this one at home.

Pound Cake

2/3 cup butter
1-1/4 cups sugar

Cream together thoroughly, then add...

1 Tablespoon lemon juice, fresh squeezed, please
1/2 cup milk

Stir together and add...

2-1/4 cups unbleached flour
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Mix til all the dry ingredients are, well, no longer dry

3 eggs

Add eggs one at a time while mixer is running, beat one full minute after the first two, and two minutes after the third.

Divide batter evenly between four small loaf pans. Bake for one hour at 300.


Lemon Glaze

1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon milk
1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together till smooth.


Raspberry Glaze

Okay, so I get lazy here. I take about a quarter cup of Smucker's seedless raspberry jam and whisk in a little water until it's about the same consistency as the lemon glaze. Never fails. Also beats the crap out of starting with fresh raspberries and trying to remove all those pesky little seeds. Which are decorative and all but clog up the teensy nozzle of the drizzling device. Do garnish with fresh raspberries and mint leaves to make up for using the jam as a shortcut. If you're feeling really wild, do what I did once. I thinned the jam with a little champagne. It was lovely.