Easy Traditional Pound Cake

One of my favorite recipes is Traditional Pound Cake.  It's my go to recipe as I always have the ingredients on hand and the base recipe can be modified to your personal tastes.

This recipe, similar to that of one my mother in law's dear friend, Mrs. Liza Ashley, except she uses milk in hers but no milk in mine.  Mrs. Ashley worked at the Arkansas Governor's Mansion for over 30 years.  Her sweet potato pie and pound cake desserts were often featured desserts and when we moved to Arkansas she welcomed us with a homemade pound cake.

I remember my great grandmother baking cakes from scratch and Mrs. Ashley's cakes reminded me of those delicious cakes my great grandma made.  You could smell the rich vanilla, watch you fork glide through the moist cake and taste the buttery goodness in each bite.  Each slice was just the perfect touch of sweetness.

Some pound cakes have a pound of a few ingredients and then a few extra things but a traditional pound cake is basically a pound of flour, sugar, butter and eggs.  What makes it special is how you choose to make it yours.

Ingredients matter.
4 basic ingredients. Each is a traditional pantry staple so I use all purpose flour, white granulated sugar, REAL butter and eggs.  The only variant for my Easy Traditional Pound Cake recipe is the extract.

Want a vanilla pound cake?  Add a couple teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Want a lemon pound cake? Add some lemon zest fresh squeezed lemon juice to the batter.
Want an almond flavored pound cake?  Add a couple teaspoons of almond flavoring.
You get the idea.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of butter - softened to room temperature
• 1 lb. of flour - about 3 1/2 cups 
• 1 lb. of sugar - about 3 cups
• 1 lb. of eggs - about 9 eggs
• 2 tsps. of your favorite extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Oil and lightly flour baking pan (bundt or loaf pan)
3. Add all ingredients into bowl and mix well 
4. Pour into baking pan and bake in oven for 1 hr if using a loaf pan or 1 hr 15 minutes if using a bundt pan. Test for doneness
5. Let cool completely
6. Loosen slightly with a knife before turning over onto a dish
7. Serve alone or with fresh fruit

When testing for doneness some use a toothpick but this is pretty dense cake so I use a bamboo skewer or a chopstick.

Do you have a favorite go to dessert recipe?