Friday, April 23, 2010

Perfect Pound Cake-get it while it's hot

Post Edit:
This recipe was temporarily housed here, but is now back in the secret files...

Last summer, the charges and I visited the Quiet Man's parents in upstate New York for a one night stop over, on the way home from Nantucket Island. A family friend, Kathy, popped by for a chat. She's the kind of friend that only knows how to say nice things and really listens when you talk, the kind of friend who brings you superlative poundcake when she knows you are about to start a cross country road trip. Kathy buys her poundcake from a woman in Rochester, New York, who has a top secret recipe that she used to finance something impressive, only I can't remember what it was, exactly. College education? Daughter's wedding? Foreclosure Rescue? That's the kind of poundcake this is. I'd never really mooned over poundcake before this one, so I initially delined a bite. But Kathy persisted because this poundcake wasn't just for tasting, this poundcake was for recipe code-cracking. After one bite, the game was afoot. We ate this poundcake in paper thin slices across Ohio, through the cornfields of Illinois. Every time I took a bite, I crumpled up my eyebrows and closed my eyes, questioning the secret make up. Buttermilk? Sour Cream? Lemon Jello? Why was this poundcake so doggone good? When we finally made it back to Utah, it was the first thing that I baked. I baked pound cakes all summer long. All of them were good, but none of them were right. I was feeling discouraged. (Chubby, too.) I set it aside for a season, almost admitting defeat. If you're going to have an Achillies Heal, it ought to be one as delicious as this pound cake. Last month, I began again in earnest. This time I cracked the case. I'm almost trembling to share it with you. Scan the ingredient list and you won't find anything unusual. Aren't most of your best recipes like that? It's not the odd ingredient that makes them special, but the perfect combination of your reliable first-string baking players. The outside of the poundcake is sweet and lemony, with a crisp exterior from the lemon glaze. The inside is moist and dense with a tight crumb and the unmistakable flavor of sweet, fresh butter. It isn't cloyingly sweet, thanks to the generous addition of tangy sour cream. I hope you'll find it to be just perfect. Print out this recipe, because it won't be sticking around here for long. It'll be off my blog by Monday morning, back into the secret files to be used in the future for my cookbook that I'm always writing, but never finishing. For now, it's yours for the baking. Enjoy!
PS Pass it on. Send your friends, relatives, dog sitters, and strangers on over!
Perfect Pound Cake
Notes: This is at its best a day after it is baked. I always cave in and eat a little warm, but since you probably have more will power than I do, try to wait.
Estimated Cost: $4.00 for one loaf
Bye, Bye recipe... You'll be back soon.
The boys are on a chess kick lately, so they ate theirs around this board, built by the Quiet Man.
Next Up:
National Cornbread Festival in South Pittsburg, Tennessee
and my Crunchtastic Chicken Chipotle Cornbread recipe

25 comments:

the thrifty ba said...

ooohhh-i love poundcake. sad thing-i never just gain one pound with it! i will try this soon!

Elizabeth said...

Perfect..... I have to make a lemon pound cake for my FIL's birthday party tomorrow. This is what I'll try! Thanks!

gigi said...

I have no will power over pound cake. I have a good recipe that I use most of the time but I am interested in trying this one with the lemon zest. My recipe also uses sour cream and I love Daisy better than most others. Have a great weekend and good luck at the cornbread cook off.

Vicki said...

Yay, I can't wait to try it!!
ps - the Quiet Man has some skills. That is a NICE board.

The JR said...

Got it. Glad to have caught it before it's gone.

Katie and Mark said...

Oh man-LOOKS so TASTY! I am going to try this.

I need to fix my printer. I am terrified it will go away forever before I have it fixed. My neighbor baked me some delicious Banana Bread the other day, and this would make a perfect thank you. :)

Jessica @ Barefoot by the Sea said...

That's calorie free, right?

Catherine said...

I don't profess to know very much about pound cake but my friends . . .

Actually, I have never made pound cake before but now I'm inspired to give it a try. Thanks for sharing. I'll have to make sure I print this before Sunday!

The Blonde Duck said...

I love pound cake.

Michal said...

i adore pound cake. i want to get up and make it right this minute even though it's my bedtime. oh, and i'm on a crazy diet that doesn't allow for pound cake. :) but i am definitely putting this in my files and trying it in june, when i'm allowed to have pound cake again.:)

Nickki said...

Sounds fantastic! Recipe has been written down, thank you for posting! :-)

Michelle said...

OK Prudy...THANKS so much for doing all the hard work!!!! I too have dreamt about us eating that as we tooled across the country with all the charges (minus one). So...here goes my try - since Andrew's co-worker just gave us 40 lbs. of lemons from her tree, it couldn't have come at a better time! Love you.

Chef Aimee said...

I love the photo but would totally not be able to concentrate if I was eating this cake and playing chess, though!

Kathy said...

Dear Prudy,
I was so surprise to see this posted! I am happy to hear you cracked the secret combination to this delicious lemon pound. I will try it for Mother's Day. I can't thank you enough for all your love you put forth into every recipe.

Kathy

Seth and Julie said...

I don't even like pound cake too much but when I realized it was 12:10 AM on Monday morning I felt a sudden urgency to log on and write down this recipe. I must have a secret file Prudy recipe in my arsenal. That is too cool to pass up!

Prudy said...

Kathy,
This one's for you! It took me a long time to get it right. I hope you like it!

TaylorBunch said...

Neither my husband or I had ever made a pound cake before. However, after he requested your recipe for a couple of days we tag-teamed it last night and put it together at 10pm. We have enjoyed it all day long with freshly picked strawberries and it is WONDERFUL! Thank you for the delicious recipe!

Prudy said...

Thanks, Jessica! I'm so grateful for your positive feedback. I'm always hoping that everything works well at all altitudes!

crabigail adams said...

Oh, NO! I MISSED IT!!!! When does the recipe book get published??

Shelley said...

Well, Prudy - I have been wanting to make your Perfect Pound Cake, and finally did this past weekend. I followed your directions to a T - at least I thought I did! It seemed like forever to get that butter/sugar mixture almost like whipped cream, even with my KitchenAid - hm, maybe my butter wasn't really room temp? Anyway, when I opened the open to take it out (I never peeked with the door open) it had sunk in the middle at least 2"! After all that effort....sigh. But, it WAS perfect-tasting - we never waiting until the next day - and I never had time to make the glaze because we were into it! Still absolutely delicious! Wonder if Mr. Kevin slammed the door when he came in from basketball and I didn't notice?

Tracy Hamilton said...

I'm SO sad that I disconvered this blog today; too late to get the poundcake recipe. BOOOOOOOOOOO!

I just LOVE this blog though!!

Tracy Hamilton said...

if anyone wants to send me that recipe, I'll be your forever freind!

Anonymous said...

In my opinion you have deceived, as child.

Sam and Carmin said...

Oooh, we loved this recipe. But in writing it down, I missed the baking soda amount. Can you tell me that much? I knew I should have printed it out--but I hand copied it into my journal. I think I put in the same amount as the baking powder the last time I made it, but I'd love to know what the real amt is! --Carmin

Anonymous said...

Yes, sounds it is tempting