Pound Cake

Cake

• 1 cup Butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups Granulated sugar
• 5 Eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups All-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 cup Sour cream — not traditional, but improves tenderness noticeably

Prep

1. Heat the oven to 165°C (330°F) and grease and flour a loaf or bundt pan.

Cake

1. Cream the butter and sugar on medium-high until pale and very fluffy. (Tip: Go longer than you would for a standard cake — with no chemical leavening at all here, this step is carrying all of the lift by itself.)
2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully incorporated before adding the next, then beat in the vanilla. (Tip: Take this slowly. Eggs added too fast can curdle the batter, and a curdled batter holds far less air than a smooth one — with nothing else to leaven this cake, that curdling directly costs you lift.)
3. Whisk the flour and salt together and fold in gently, along with the sour cream if using, just until no streaks of flour remain.

Bake

1. Scrape into the pan and bake until deeply golden and a skewer comes out clean. (Tip: This bakes slower and longer than most cakes in this book because of its density — check well before you expect it to be done, then keep going as needed.)

Cool

1. Cool in the pan 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.