Traditional Pound Cake

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• 1 pound butter (the best you can manage)
• 1 pound sugar (about 2 cups)
• 1 pound eggs (about 8 medium of 7 large)
• 1 pound all-purpose flour (about 3 1/4 cups)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional

Preparation

Step 1

Let the butter and the eggs come to room temperature.

Butter 2 loaf pans. I like the Pyrex or tempered glass version, because you get a lighter crust and you can see what’s going one. The wrappers that the butter softened in are a great tool for buttering the pans.

Put the butter into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium for one minute until it starts to look lighter. Weigh your sugar in a bowl and pour it slowly into the butter with the mixer running. Beat the butter and sugar together at medium for 6 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. The butter will become super light and fluffy and almost white.

Break the eggs into a small bowl and whisk lightly. Weight the flour in a small bowl (use the same one you used for the sugar). When the butter and sugar are beaten, turn the mixer to low and add the eggs and the flour alternately in 3 additions, beating well after each addition. Stop to scrape the bowl a few times. Add the vanilla or almond extract with the last addition of eggs if using.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Smooth the batter to fill the pan, but don’t worry about perfection. Place the pans on the middle rack of a cold oven, and turn it to 275 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the pans and turn the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake an additional 15 – 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out with a few clinging crumbs. If the tops of the cakes are getting too brown, loosely place a piece of tinfoil over the tops.

Cool the cakes on a wire rack in the pans for 15 minutes, then remove from the pans to the rack to finish cooling.