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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 2 oranges or lemons has been rubbed, a pound of dried flour, a pinch of salt, 8 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 colored 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 it comes out dry and clean the cake is done; if moist, it must be returned 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 the quantity of the ingredients in their due proportions; and 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 flavor 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.
A true pound cake in the old sense: a pound each of butter, sugar, flour, and eight eggs, leavened by nothing but air beaten into the fat and the whipped whites. The success or failure of it is decided during the creaming, not in the oven.
- Beat longer than seems reasonableWith no chemical leavening, all the lift comes from air. The twenty minutes of hand beating translates to roughly 8-10 minutes of creaming butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium, plus a further few minutes after the eggs, until the batter is pale and visibly increased in bulk.
- Dried flourFlour was spread in a warm place or before the fire to drive off damp before weighing, since sacked flour absorbed moisture from cellar air. Modern bagged flour needs nothing; weigh 450 g of plain flour and sift it.
- Pounded and sifted sugarThis is caster or superfine sugar. Rub the orange or lemon rind into a portion of it with your fingers and let it stand while you weigh everything else, so the oils bleed into the crystals.
- A glass of wine or brandyA wine glass of the period is about 2 fl oz, or a scant quarter cup. Rose-water at that volume is assertive; if using it, half the quantity is safer to modern palates.
- Oven temperatureThe book gives no temperature; "well-heated, though not fierce" suggests a moderate oven, and something in the region of 325F/165C is a reasonable modern guess for a cake of this mass. The instruction to hold the heat steady and keep the door shut still applies: a four-pound batter needs a long, even bake, and the paper laid over the top is a proper trick when the crust colours before the centre sets.
- Tin and liningA 10-inch tube pan or two 9x5-inch loaf tins, lined with buttered parchment in place of the buttered paper called for. Do not fill more than two-thirds; this batter rises more than its lack of leavening suggests.
- Testing and timingThe skewer test is unchanged and reliable here. Expect 1 1/2 hours for loaves and closer to two for a single large tin, and start checking at 75 minutes.
- Cooling on its sideStanding the hot cake on its side, or inverting it on a sieve, keeps the base from steaming into a damp seam. Leave the paper on for storage; the cake keeps a week and improves after a day.
- YieldAbout four pounds of cake, 20 to 24 slices. The recipe itself notes that a pound of picked and dried currants is frequently added.