Classic cakes from our childhood just hit different. The traditional pound cake is named due to its easy formula of equal parts butter, sugar, eggs and flour – typically a pound of each, in the old language. It’s simple to create and the perfect partner to your favourite cuppa whether you’re a tea drinker or a coffee fan.
Looking for more classic cake recipes?
Ingredients
Method
Pound cake (quatre quart)
1.Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced). Grease deep 20cm (8-inch) roundcake pan, line base with baking paper.
2.Beat butter, sugar and extract in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Transfer mixture to large bowl, fold in sifted flours, in two batches. Spread mixture into pan.
3.Bake cake about 1 hour. Stand cake in pan 5 minutes, turn, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool. If you like, dust cake with a little sifted icing (confectioners’) sugar.
Lemon
4.Make basic pound cake, stirring 3 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind and 2 tablespoons lemon juice into the batter mixture. Bake as directed. For lemon glaze, sift 1½ cups (240g) icing sugar into a medium bowl; stir in 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Drizzle cake with icing.
Orange poppy seed
5.Make basic pound cake, stirring ¼ cup poppy seeds, 3 teaspoons finely grated orange rind and 2 tablespoons orange juice into the batter mixture. Bake as directed. For orange icing, sift 1½ cups (240g) icing sugar into a medium bowl; stir in 2 tablespoons orange juice. Drizzle cake with icing.
Sultana
6.Make basic pound cake, stiring 1 cup (160g) sultanas into the batter mixture. Bake as directed. Just before serving, dust with sifted icing sugar and serve with cinnamon butter.
Store pound cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days. It can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Note
