A Collection of Pound Cakes

MEMOIR A Collection of Pound Cakes___________ Sidney Saylor Farr I am pleased to share my favorite pound cake recipes during this season of fruits and berries. Pound cakes are delicious served with strawberries, peaches, and other fruit and berries now in season. Pound cakes have been my favorite dessert since I was a teenager. I began collecting recipes a long time ago. OneAfrican-American faculty woman told me her family had baked at least 25 pound cakes for Christmas every year as gifts to their extended family. I asked her if she could share the recipes, and she said the problem was in gettingher relatives to put them in writing because they, for the most part, made pound cakes from memory. I continued to collect pound cake recipes wherever I came across them: newspapers, magazines, old cookbooks, and from friends and relatives. Some are simple recipes while others are very complex. It is next to impossible to credit all the clippings and handwritten recipes as so often at the time the most important thing was getting the recipe. I also collected cookbooks. It was a special delight to find copies of old cookbooks as well as new ones published by small organizations and churches. Some of these cookbooks contained recipes remembered and copied from much older cookbooks; sometimes they gave credit, sometimes not. It makes me very happy when I find old pound cake recipes as well as the newer versions, as modern cooks adapt and adjust recipes to suit their own tastes. Brandy Pound Cake 2 cups unsalted butter21A cups sugar 4 cups flourA dash of nutmeg 10 eggs, separated1A cup brandy Cream unsalted butter with flour. Beat egg yolks until lemoncolored then add to flour-butter mix. Beat the egg whites until stiff with sugar and nutmeg. Stir brandy into butter-sugar-yolks mixture until well absorbed and add egg whites gently. Bake in tins greased with butter in 290-315 degree oven for 75 to 90 minutes. Note: This cake has been around since the 1880s 58 Chocolate Pecan Pound Cake (A rich, velvety cake) 3A cup butterV2 teaspoon baking powder 3A cup shorteningVi cup cocoa 2Vi cups sugar3A cup buttermilk 7 large eggs2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 cups all-purpose flourIV2 cups chopped pecans Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 10-inch tube pan. Cream together the butter, shortening, and sugar until mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Reserve 2 tablespoons of flour for coating the pecans. Combine the remaining flour, baking powder, and cocoa, and add to creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in vanilla. Fold in flour-coated pecans. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 20 or 30 minutes or until tester comes out dry. Cool cake on rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Allow it to cool completely before glazing. 59 Million Dollar Pound Cake 3 cups sugar 1 pound butter, softened 6 eggs, room temperature 4 cups all-purpose flour 3A cup milk 1 teaspoon almond extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Combine sugar and butter; cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add flour to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in flavorings. Pour batter into well-greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until cake tests done. 60 Peach Pound Cake 1% cups cooking oil3 cups self-rising flour 2 cups sugar3 cups peaches, diced (fresh or canned) 3 eggs1 cup chopped nuts 2 teaspoons vanilla1 CUP coconut Topping 1 three-ounce package cream cheese 6 tablespoons peach juice puree (1 peach in blender) IV2 cups confectioners sugar Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in order given (except topping ingredients). Pour into lightly greased and floured Bundt pan and bake for one hour. Remove from oven and leave in pan 10 minutes. Turn out and cool completely. To mix topping, cream the cheese, add peach juice puree and sugar until blended. Spoon over top of cake. 61...