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Pound Cake (III)
Mrs. Rogers.
One cup of butter, one of sugar, four eggs, beaten separately, one and one-half cups of sifted flour; mix butter and sugar to a cream, then put in yolks beaten light, then flour and whites last.
A pared-down pound cake with no leavening, no flavouring, and — as printed — no pan, temperature or time. The beaten whites are the entire lift, so the folding is where the cake is won or lost.
- Fold, don't stirThe whipped whites are the only leavening in the batter. Fold them in with a spatula in two or three additions until just combined; beating them in collapses the foam and gives a dense, greasy layer at the base.
- Oven and timeThe book assumes a cook who knows her stove. A moderate oven, 325-350F, is right for this batter; in a single 8x4-inch loaf pan expect 50-60 minutes, or 30-35 minutes in an 8-inch round. Test with a skewer at the centre.
- Cup of butterOne cup of butter is 8 oz, two standard sticks. Have it properly soft, around 65F, or it will not cream to the pale, aerated state the method depends on.
- Egg sizeEggs in this period often ran smaller than today's large ones. Four modern large eggs against only 1 1/2 cups of flour makes a wet batter; four medium eggs, or three large plus one yolk, may sit closer to the original balance.
- Creaming stage"Mix butter and sugar to a cream" means five minutes or more of beating until the mixture is visibly lighter in colour and volume. This is the second source of lift and cannot be rushed.
- FlavouringThe recipe as printed is plain. Many period pound cake recipes call for rose water, lemon zest, mace or brandy added at the creaming stage; without something of the kind the cake tastes largely of butter and egg.
- Not a true pound cakeThe classic formula is equal weights of butter, sugar, eggs and flour. Here the flour is short — 1 1/2 cups sifted is roughly 6 oz against about 8 oz each of butter and sugar — so the crumb comes out closer to a rich sponge than the tight, sliceable original.
- YieldAbout one loaf. It keeps well wrapped for a few days.
The Home Cook Book (Chicago, first published 1874, with further editions through the 1870s) was one of the earliest and most influential American charity cookbooks, compiled from recipes contributed by named local women and sold to benefit the Chicago Home for the Friendless — which is why this page carries Mrs. Rogers's name rather than an author's. Several pound cakes appear in the book, sent in by different contributors, and comparing them shows how far the formula had drifted from its origin: the name comes from the English practice, generally traced to the eighteenth century, of building the cake from a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs and flour, a proportion easy to remember in a kitchen without reliable scales. By the 1870s many American recipes were measuring by the teacup, lightening the flour, and leaning on separately beaten whites.