Expert tips, troubleshooting advice, and serving ideas for baking my Never Fail Pound Cake, a classic Southern dessert.
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour
Total Time 1 hourhour20 minutesminutes
Servings 20servings
Ingredients
For the Cake:
1cupbutterroom temperature
2cupssugar
4eggsroom temperature
½teaspoonbaking soda
1cupbuttermilk
3cupsall-purpose flour
⅛teaspoonsalt
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
For the Warm Berry Compote
2cupsfrozen mixed berries
¼cupsugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1teaspooncornstarch
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 (optional) 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
Make sure the baking soda is fresh. Its reaction with the buttermilk is what makes this cake rise.
Storage - For the short term, 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.
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.