Home › The Principles of Cookery › Pound Cake
Pound Cake
Beat a pound of fresh butter to a cream. Beat into it a pound of fine sugar pounded and sifted, upon part of which, before it was pounded, the rind of two oranges or lemons has been rubbed, a pound of dried flour, a pinch of salt, eight eggs which have been thoroughly whisked, the whites and yolks separately, and a glass of wine, brandy, or rose-water. Beat the mixture for twenty minutes, and pour it into a tin which has been lined with buttered paper. Bake in a well-heated though not fierce oven, and if possible do not increase the heat until the cake is baked. Though the cake must be turned about that it may be equally browned, the oven door must not be opened oftener than is absolutely necessary; and if the cake gets too highly coloured before it is done enough, a piece of paper should be laid upon it. In order to ascertain whether it is sufficiently baked, put a skewer to the bottom of it, and if this comes out dry and clean the cake is done; if moist, return the tin at once to the oven. When the cake is done it should be turned out at once, and placed upon its side, or else on a sieve which has been turned upside down, until it is cold, and the paper should not be removed until the cake is to be used. This cake may be made either larger or smaller by increasing or decreasing the quantity of the ingredients in their due proportions. It may be made less rich by using a larger quantity of flour. A pound of picked and dried currants is frequently added to the other ingredients, and the flavour may be varied by the addition of candied peel, lemon or orange, blanched and chopped almonds, pistachio kernels, dried cherries, or plums. Time to bake, one hour and a half to two hours. Probable cost, 3s. 6d.
A true pound cake in the original sense: a pound each of butter, sugar, flour and eggs, with no chemical leavening at all. Everything depends on air beaten into the butter and the whisked eggs, so the mixing is the recipe.
- The hinge: all the lift is mechanicalThere is no baking powder or soda here, and none should be added; everything depends on air beaten into the butter and into the whites and yolks, which are whisked separately. Cream the butter and sugar until visibly pale and light. Note that the receipt itself calls for the whole mixture to be beaten for twenty minutes once the eggs are in, rather than a gentle folding at the end.
- Twenty minutes of beatingThat figure assumes a wooden spoon and a bowl. A stand mixer with the paddle will get there considerably faster; something like 8-10 minutes on medium for the butter and sugar is usually ample, scraping the bowl twice.
- "Dried flour"Flour was warmed by the fire to drive off damp before weighing. Modern packaged flour needs none of this — weigh 450 g of plain flour and sift it once.
- "A glass of wine"A wine glass in Victorian receipts is usually reckoned at roughly 2 fl oz (60 ml). Rose-water at that strength is assertive by current taste; 1-2 teaspoons of rose-water made up to 2 fl oz with wine or brandy is gentler.
- Oven heatThe book gives no temperature. "Well-heated though not fierce" points to a moderate oven, on the order of 300-325F (150-165C) for a cake this size and this rich, which is consistent with the stated hour and a half to two hours. The instruction not to raise the heat matters: a pound of butter set too fast at the edges while the centre is still liquid gives a sunken middle.
- Tin and liningButtered paper means the tin is fully lined, base and sides, with the paper standing above the rim. The batter is roughly 4 lb; use a deep 9-10 inch round tin, or divide between two 2 lb loaf tins and start checking at an hour.
- Testing and coolingA skewer pushed right to the bottom is the test — the base of a cake this deep sets last. Cooling on its side, or inverted on a sieve, keeps a heavy crumb from compressing under its own weight while still warm.
- Picked currants"Picked" means stems and grit removed, which bought dried currants no longer need. Toss any fruit in a spoonful of the weighed flour before folding it in, or the pound of currants will sit on the bottom.
- Yield and keepingAbout 4 lb of cake, cutting into 20-24 slices. Left wrapped in its baking paper, as directed, it keeps well for a week and improves after a day or two.
The name is literal: a pound each of butter, sugar and flour, with eight eggs, a formula that could be carried in the head and scaled by anyone who could count, which is why Cassell's closes by saying it may be made larger or smaller "in their due proportions." Recipes of this shape appear in English cookery books from the eighteenth century onward and have a close relative in the French quatre-quarts, four quarters. The proportions are a survival from before reliable chemical leavening: with eight eggs whisked in two bowls doing all the work, the method — long creaming, careful folding, a steady moderate oven, a door kept shut — is not fussiness but the whole mechanism. The listed variations with currants, candied peel, almonds and pistachios show how much one base batter could be asked to do, and the stated cost of 3s. 6d. marks it as a substantial outlay for a Victorian kitchen, a pound of butter being no small thing.