Never Fail Pound Cake - a classic old southern recipe for pound cake with the tang of buttermilk.
I've used this Never Fail Pound Cake recipe for as long as I can remember. The original recipe came from the Colquitt, Georgia, First Baptist Church cookbook. With all due respect to the ladies of the First Baptist Church, I made a few changes to the original.
And to tell the truth I think this recipe makes the best pound cake I've ever had. It's moist. It's buttery and the buttermilk gives it an extra pleasant sumthin'-sumthin'.
The old recipes for pound cake, originating in the early 1700s in northern Europe, called for one pound each of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs and no leavening at all. Can you imagine how dense that cake was?! A pound of eggs is about 8 to 9 large eggs, and a pound of butter is four of our current day sticks. Wow.
Thankfully, bakers lightened the recipe over time but still kept the delicious flavor that everyone loves.
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How to Make Never Fail Pound Cake
Preheat the Oven and Prep the Pan
Preheat the oven to 350. Butter or grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan.
The photo below is my old, old tube pan. I don't remember where this pan came from, but I have some kind of strange attachment to it.
I also have an aversion to bundt pans. Just can't stand them. I don't know why. My old tube pan has more dents in it than my daughter's first car but I have not found a replacement for it so I just keep using it.
Cream the Butter and Sugar
Add the room temperature butter and the sugar into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat for several minutes until the mixture looks light and fluffy.
Add the Eggs
Add the room temperature eggs, one at a time, beating well after the addition of each egg. I crack all my eggs into a small bowl and pour from the bowl into the mixer.
The butter, sugar, and egg mixture should be fairly smooth in texture and uniform in color.
Add Wet and Dry Ingredients Alternately
In a small bowl or measuring cup, dissolve the soda into the buttermilk. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt.
One really important note: make sure your baking soda is fresh. Its reaction with the buttermilk is what makes this cake rise, so you don't want to use the soda from that two-year old box that's been in the back of your refrigerator. Ok? You'll know your soda is fresh if the volume of buttermilk increases pretty quickly from just 1 cup to about 1 ½ cups.
Now add the buttermilk-soda and flour to the creamed mixture alternately beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix well after each addition.
The way I add the ingredients is one-third of the flour, one-half of the buttermilk, another third of the flour and the other half of the buttermilk, and finally the remaining flour. It doesn't have to be exactly thirds and halves, just a rough estimate is good enough.
After the final addition of flour, mix until the ingredients are well combined but don't over do it. Do be sure to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl to get everything incorporated. It's okay if you spill flour all over your mixer, too :-)
Stir in the vanilla flavoring.
Pour Batter into the Pan
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake the Cake
Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes or until a tester inserted halfway between the center and outside edge comes out clean.
Cool the Cake
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely on a rack.
By the way, those cracks on the top are completely typical of pound cakes. They form because with a dense batter the exterior cooks first, rises and causes a crack in the center. I actually think they're kind of pretty myself.
Make the Compote
If you'd like to serve your pound cake with a warm berry compote, you'll simply place the berries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Bring it just to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes until thickened.
A little scoop of vanilla ice cream never hurt anything either!
Serving Ideas
You can do lots of different things with my Never Fail Pound Cake. You can serve it with the compote as I've shown, use it for the base of a fantastic strawberry shortcake, or make my 1960s Flashback Baked Alaska.
Or, you can do like BeeBop and I do sometimes and slice and toast it (yes, with a little butter) for breakfast. What? You never heard of pound cake toast? You really should try it.
Cake Storage
For the short term, and let's be honest this cake never makes it past three days in our house, store the cake at room temperature in an airtight cake keeper. If you do need to freeze the cake, wrap it very closely in plastic wrap first and then in a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to three months.
Troubleshooting Tips
The type of flour you use in this recipe does matter. You want to use plain all-purpose flour and not cake flour. Cake flour is too delicate to support the dense batter of a pound cake.
And then there's the question of whether or not to sift your flour. You certainly can if you want to, but most modern flours don't really need it. They're manufactured to be ready to use right out of the package.
Cake too brown? That means you probably cooked it a little too long or your oven was too hot. You should regularly check your oven with a thermometer to make sure it's cooking at the correct temperature. Start checking the cake at the 50-minute baking point and be ready to remove it from the oven when it's done.
Cake too dry? Well, that's happened to all of us at one time or another, hasn't it? But don't despair, all is not lost! To perk up your too dry cake, moisten a paper towel and place it on a plate with a slice of cake on top. Microwave for 10 seconds and serve immediately. Or, alternately, place the entire cake in a plastic bag with a couple of slices of white bread. After a few hours the cake will have absorbed the moisture from bread. And, if all else fails, just top with plenty of ice cream or whipped cream.
More Cake Recipes on Never Enough Thyme:
- Candied Holiday Fruitcake
- Lemon Pudding Cake with Cherry Coulis
- Glazed Pumpkin Pound Cake
- Caramel Layer Cake
Pound Cake Recipes from Other Bloggers:
- Million Dollar Pound Cake from Cookies and Cups
- Orange Poppy Seed Pound Cake from Cookie + Kate
- Cream Cheese Pound Cake from Rasa Malaysia
- Marmalade Pound Cake from Simply Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Never Fail Pound Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs room temperature
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
For the Warm Berry Compote
- 2 cups frozen mixed berries
- ¼ cup sugar
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan.
- Cream butter and sugar, beating until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a small bowl or measurig cup, dissolve soda in buttermilk. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt.
- Add buttermilk and flour to creamed mixture alternately beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix well after each addition. Stir in vanilla flavoring.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a rack.
For the Warm Berry Compote:
- Place all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring just to a boil over medium to medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes until thickened.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your health care provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
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Lana Stuart is the cook and occasional traveler here at Never Enough Thyme. Lana has been cooking since she was tall enough to reach the stove and started this blog in 2009 to share her delicious home cooking recipes. You'll find about 700 recipes here so there's sure to be something your family will like!
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Miss P
Just put this in the oven.... it's always a winner. I'll let you know how today's version comes out. BTW - I generally use about 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract, and about 1 t. almond extract. Like the extra zing.
Miss P
Miss P
Update - fabulous!! Moist and flavorful. I better take part of it to somebody tomorrow. Really. Too much temptation for that to be in the house!
Miss P
Lana Stuart
Glad it turned out well for you!
Donna
I am not fond of bundt pans either--too hard to wash up for one thing! I also have a very old dented tube pan. It belonged to my grandmother and it is my go-to pan. I am 63, so this is an OLD pan.