The name “Pound Cake” is derived from the fact that the original pound cake recipe called for 1 lb each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. When many people couldn’t read, the simple 1:1:1:1 proportions (and pneumonic friendly name) made it simple to remember the recipe.

I’ve definitely eaten more than my fair share of pound cakes and even tried my hand at making some, with varied results. They’re really versatile – perfect toasted for a sweet snack, top with sweet strawberries for a quick dessert, or have a plain slice paired with a good cup o’ joe for breakfast. Most pound cake recipes out there use the same very basic ingredients, but what I’ve found is that the secret to a perfect, finely textured, crumbly-yet-moist, lightly crusted, deliciously decadent pound cake is all in the technique.

So here you have it, our step-by-step recipe – the secret to The Wooden Table’s pound cake.

The Wooden Table Pound Cake

1 cup unsalted butter 1 teaspoon salt (room temperature)
3 cups granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 large eggs + 1 yolk (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup heavy cream (room temperature)
Zest of 1 lemon

1. For straight sides, a golden brown crust and nice slices, use a 9×5 light colored tube pan. Prepare it by rubbing with softened butter and dusting it completely with flour.
2. Sift the flour at least 3 times before measuring
3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt together so they’re incorporated in a separate bowl.
4. Cream the butter on medium high speed adding a 1/4 cup of sugar at a time. Keep creaming until the batter is light, fluffy and close to being white. (insert picture)
5. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl until the whites are incorporated. On medium speed add them to the batter in a continuous stream approximately one egg at a time pausing to incorporate before adding the next egg. Finally, add the lone yolk.
6. Add a third of the flour (1 cup) and mix on low until incorporated. Scrape down the sides, add half of the the cream (1/2 cup) and continue to beat on low. Alternate adding flour and cream into the mixing bowl, being sure to end on flour.
7. Want that little bit of zing? Now is the time to fold in the lemon zest and vanilla.
8. Pour batter into the tube pan
9. Place on the middle rack of a cold oven (not preheated!). Set oven to 325 degrees and bake.
10. Check doneness at 50 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the cake, if it comes out clean remove, if not, continue baking (it may take up to 80 minutes)
11. Once done, remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes (cake side up), then, leaving the cake in the pan, cool inverted (cake side down) on a cooling rack.
12. Wait until completely cooled, use a sharp knife to slice and ENJOY!

Questions? Leave us a comment. We love to talk about food.

At The Wooden Table we used this exact recipe smeared with a bit of our homemade papaya/lemon jam with some coconut whipped cream to create the papaya torte for our poisson! dinner and then again for our bacon butter cream petit fours that we sent our diners home with after Heavy on the Hog.