Pound cake

There's one package in the BC backlog that intrigues me. It catches my eye every time I open the larder cupboard and ritually glance up (possibly to check they're still there). It's smaller than the others, and the package photo doesn't involve frosting. It's a loaf shape, but it's just plain. No marbling, no chips, no fruit. Plain. And in a smaller package. Pound cake. What is pound cake? There's not a scrap of a clue on the box. It's intrigued me for weeks.

So, with the carrot cake eaten (thanks here to Becky, who helped out on Monday*), this morning I overcame my prejudice against non-flavoured foodstuffs (cf 'vanilla' ice cream, madeira cake, shortbread) and I made it.

The dogmatic precision of Betty Crocker instructions is scary. Baking is too precise for my brother, who likes to cook but does not bake, because you can't ad lib with baking [paraphrase], and Betty Crocker's exhortations that I beat on a low speed 30 seconds [sic] scares me into counting.

She makes me an obedient little apprentice. There were sincere warnings on the package that if my loaf tin were smaller than 9"x5" I should use two loaf pans, or batter will overflow [sic]. So with a 9"x4.5" tin, I exercised due caution and made 3 cup-cakes.

30 seconds on low, followed by 3 minutes on medium turned it from yellow to pale, pale cream, and made it really, really thick. 48 minutes at 170C (fan) - an (whisper it) approximation based on the 350F instructed.

And you know, it turned out fine. More yellow than I expected, more dense than I expected - though kind of light with it - and pretty tasty for a plain cake.

I'm still not sure what pound cake is.



"So...?" I asked Terry. "Umm.... It's quite hard isn't it?"

Wikipedia says it's a decadent cake, made with a pound of flour, sugar, butter - yikes - and is a staple of the South. On my second cupcake in two days (this truly is a dieter's - not a decadent - cake), I nailed it: it tastes, looks and has the texture of those sponge cakes and sponge fingers that my mum reserved solely for trifle. Decadent.

* "So is this real carrot?" Heh heh heh.