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’.
You can do lots of different things with this. You can serve it like I did this time with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and warm mixed berries or use it for the base of a fantastic strawberry shortcake. 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.
Never Fail Pound Cake - a classic, old southern recipe for pound cake with the tang of buttermilk. Click To Tweet
Preheat the oven to 350. Butter or grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. This is my old, old tube pan. I don’t remember where this pan came from, but I have some kind of attachment to it. I also have an aversion to bundt pans. I 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 butter and sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Like this:
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. And, no, I don’t know why this picture has such a yellow tint to it. Odd. Photoshop wouldn’t fix it, either. And I’m sure it couldn’t possibly be the amateur photographer.
Dissolve soda in buttermilk. Combine flour and salt. Add buttermilk and flour to creamed mixture alternately beginning and ending with flour mixture. 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?
Mix well after each addition. And if you could possibly manage to make as big a mess with the flour as I did, it would boost my self-esteem considerably. I’m just sayin’.
Stir in vanilla flavoring. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour 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. Those cracks on the top are completely typical of pound cakes. That’s what I tell myself, don’t you?
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.
Enjoy!
Yields 20
A classic, old South pound cake recipe with the tang of buttermilk.
20 minPrep Time
1 hrCook Time
1 hr, 20 Total Time
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Ingredients
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups frozen, mixed berries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp. cornstarch
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Dissolve soda in buttermilk. Combine 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 a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour 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.
- 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
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