Perfect Pound Cake

A perfect pound cake served with fresh strawberries!

As I was sorting and organizing all of the stuff I am packing for our move to New York, I came across a stack of old Fine Cooking magazines.  My heart skipped a few beats as I quickly checked out the issues and found the one from May 2001.  The pages are well worn and each recipe holds strong memories for me.  I had been dating Josh for 2 months and was on cloud 9–I love to cook and eat when I’m super happy.  So, in the past couple of weeks I have been reading and rereading this issue and making some of the recipes again.  It also was the source of inspiration for the catch-up cake I owed to my #52Cakes commitment for week 20.

This issue of Fine Cooking contains an entire article devoted to Pound Cakes and the secret to making them moist and fine-grained!  There are tips and scientific explanations and big, beautiful pictures.  Carolyn Weil, who wrote the article, says that adding an additional dairy ingredient and some leavening makes a

“slightly moister, lighter textured cake that still has the fine-crumbed ‘sliceability’ and mellow butter flavor of the traditional version.”

She gives very detailed instructions for the ingredients (room-temperature eggs) and mixing process so that you can get the perfect cake.  You can check out the recipe for the Sour Cream Pound Cake that I made by clicking here.

A well buttered and floured bundt pan turned out this beautiful Sour Cream Pound Cake.

I followed the recipe and instructions almost exactly.  I didn’t have any coconut extract so I just used the vanilla and almond.  It turned out amazing!  I think it would be just as delicious if you only used vanilla extract but I would probably increase it to 3 or 4 tsp of good quality vanilla extract.