Pound Cake

Pound cake may be one of the most delicious cakes that I have ever eaten.  What does it taste like? Heaven?  You can practically hear the angels singing as that first buttery, sweetness hits your taste buds.  If the cake is warm, those angels may stop in the middle of their chorus to appreciate their own glory just as  you may stop in mid bite to appreciate the moistness and smoothness that is found in few other cakes. This cake in its flavor and texture somehow make me think of hospitality – a delightful and charming comfort that welcomes me to stay and eat for as long as I like.

Where does pound cake come from?  Contrary to my imagination it isn’t actually heaven.  In my reality, it comes from my mother-in-law’s kitchen, which is appropriate because she and her kitchen embody that sense of hospitality, that same delightful and charming comfort that her cake does.  Before the recipe made it to my mother-in-law’s kitchen, the cake was created and concocted somewhere in England during the 1700’s.  For more information about the history of the pound cake, take a look at Cooks Info.

But why does “pound” separate it from all of the other cakes out there?  And no, it has nothing to do with any pounds you might gain if you really do stay and eat as long as you like.  It actually has to do with the measurement of ingredients. The people of the 1700’s were not as lucky as we are today; many of them couldn’t read let alone write down a recipe and so “pound” cake referred to the pound of butter, the pound of flour, the pound of sugar, and the pound of eggs that went into the cake.  “Pound” cake was really a way to remember the recipe.  You can imagine that this recipe would create a very large cake that would feed a lot of people.  No wonder it tastes like hospitality.

It's also no wonder that I had never really enjoyed pound cake until recently.  Over the years the recipe has changed, yet the name has stayed the same.  Some have added ingredients like leavening agents, fruit, and even sour cream have been added.  The amounts have also been reduced so that we can have smaller cakes.  Even though a pound of each ingredient is no longer used, eggs and butter are still important ingredients that make the cake what it is.  I'm so glad that I'm no longer allergic to them! 

I will conclude with a conversation that my husband and I had over the last piece of pound cake that my mother-in-law so kindly brought to us:

Me:  Want to share the last piece of pound cake?

Husband: No, that’s your piece.  I ate mine last night.

Me: But I love you so much that I’m willing to share!

Husband: It’s up to you.  How about you eat what you want and I will eat the rest?

I gave him exactly one bite.  Although it was a big bite, I guess hospitality (generosity?) is not a side effect of eating the cake.  I think I should eat more of it to really find out.