The Pound Cake

Ugh. Pound cake. We’ve had a love-hate relationship for the last couple years. One of Joe’s all time favorite baked goods is pound cake. Specifically his great grandma’s recipe. When we were engaged, I got the recipe from Joe’s mom. I even made it with her once to make sure I could serve this tasty treat to my husband for the years to come. You know that saying, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”? Sometimes, I feel the truth of that statement with utmost certainty. I know Joe would still love me if I couldn’t or didn’t make pound cake...but it’s that important people.

So it turned out great in my mother in-law’s kitchen. Right after Joe and I got married, we moved from the Midwest to Utah. We lived in that beautiful state for a year and a half. A year and a half of no pound cake for poor Joe. The first time I attempted it at 4,500ft elevation, the cake sank like a ship. It was uuuuuggly. I was embarrassed to show it to Joe. So then I did some investigating and found how to alter recipes for higher elevation. The cake looked beautiful!...but it didn’t taste like Great Grandma’s pound cake :’( So Joe and I accepted the fact that we would not be indulging in The pound cake whilst we lived in Utah.

(Mountains!! This is at the summit of Mount Timpanogos)

But then- glorious day!- we moved to Michigan! No more mountains (sad) but lower elevation and proper conditions for The pound cake. So of course, one of the first weeks in our new apartment I made The pound cake. Turned out well, but was just a hair over baked. My new oven seems to do that. So next round in the ring I lowered the temperature on my oven. FINALLY. The pound cake came out just right. I can rest, knowing that The pound cake will be in our home and at our family gatherings for the years to come. So here is the beloved family recipe for pound cake. Enjoy it for breakfast, for a snack, or with a little ice cream for dessert. Because ice cream makes most desserts better, right? Right.

A note on self rising flour: It’s important in this recipe. It’s flour with baking powder and salt already in the mix. Kingarthur.com tells me that it’s a staple in many southern recipes. Makes sense to me because Great Grandma was from the south. There are recipes out there for home made self rising flour if you don’t want to buy it special for this recipe. But seriously guys, I wouldn’t risk any deviations from The recipe. Joe would probably notice something was different. Scoff if you may, but that’s how it is. If you do try it, let me know how it turned out!

I also want to mention that this is when I thought of the title for the blog. I took a picture of The pound cake to post on Instagram and created the hashtag #heidibakesforjoe to start some documentation of my baking quests. Therefore, I thought this was an appropriate first post :)

yummy :D

Great Grandma Bartlett’s Pound Cake

The goods:

6 eggs

2 cups of self-rising flour

2 cups granulated sugar

½ cup oil (I use canola)

2 tablespoons vanilla

And that’s it

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a bundt pan (I skip the flouring part and just grease it generously with cooking spray). Mix all ingredients together. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 min or until toothpick comes out clean.