Old Fashion Pound Cake Recipe

In Memory of Lois Petrowski 1915-2013

"Pound cake has always taken pride of place on the Southern dessert table. This was my mother's go-to recipe for a perfect pound cake. Long after she lost her ability to work in the kitchen, she still retained the taste for this cake. The recipe came from a North Carolina newspaper, circa 1950." — Nancy Quist, Founder of Fancy Flours

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound butter
• 3 cups granulated sugar, sifted
• 6 whole eggs
• 3 cups flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 pint commercial sour cream
• 2 Tbsp rum extract – We recommend our Pure Rum Extract

Instructions:** Use with our Heritage Bundt Cake Pan

1. Cream the butter and sugar together; add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. Sift together the flour and baking soda and add to the batter alternately with the sour cream.
3. Stir in the rum extract.
4. Prepare your pan by greasing it generously. Bake the cake at 350° F for 1.5 hours, putting the cake on the middle rack in the oven.

MRS. SHELBY SAYS that she doesn't open the door of her oven during the baking period. Now you have to have a reliable oven to be able to do that — I feel sure that mine is so untrustworthy that it would never bake that well. Perhaps a lower temperature might be safer if you feel, as I do, that the cake would bake too fast and be overdone in that length of time.

Experienced cooks will quickly see that this cake is similar to a pound cake but with a uniquely delicious flavor all its own. The rum extract is not obvious at all, so don't hesitate to use the full two tablespoons. Also, be sure to sift your sugar before measuring, just as Mrs. Shelby does.

Most of us prefer a pound cake without icing, and I believe you will like this cake plain, too. I don't see how any icing could add one bit of goodness to it — it is perfection just the way it is.