posted by Southern 07-14-98 7:33 PM
This moist and velvety pound cake is a pain to make -- triple sifting! -- but heavenly to eat, especially if you
have enough self-control to let it ripen for three or four days. (Just completely cool the cake, cover, and leave it alone.) The flavor will become much more mellow, richer, subtly sweeter. And the cake won't start drying out until you actually cut it.
SOUTHERN'S SOUR CREAM POUND CAKE
3 scant cups sugar
1 cup butter
6 eggs, separated
3 cups flour
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 °F. (But see "Note" below.) Grease and flour a 10" Bundt pan. Sift flour and soda together three times, then set aside. Cream butter and sugar together with vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Add egg yolks, beating well after each. Alternately add flour and sour cream (first a little of one, then a little
of the other) until totally combined, then set aside. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt to egg whites, beat until peaked, and fold gently into batter. Pour batter into pan.
Bake for 1 hour (or until toothpick comes out clean).
SOURCE MATERIAL: "Favorite Recipes of Alabama Vocational Home Economics Teachers," 2nd Edition
NOTE: In Alabama, a good cook is expected to have a great recipe for pound cake. Inside, it should be moist and tender, while the flat part of the crust is a little crunchy. It's a nice contrast in textures, but I've watched grown women go berserk trying to get that crust right. Me, too, for a long time. Then I found an old cookbook with a technique that works, which is:
Start the cake in a cold oven. That's right -- make the batter, pour it into the pan, put the pan in the oven, and *then* turn on the oven. It adds about 20 minutes to the baking time, but it's worth every second!