Tony Claxton's Recipes
'Real' Pound Cake		    

This recipe is from "The White House Cookbook" of 1916. It is very important when making a pound cake with no chemical leavening to cream the butter and then the butter and sugar until very, very light and fluffy. This incorporates air into the mixture to help raise the cake. The original recipe called for 1/4C brandy and 2t rose water. Since I normally don't have these ingredients around, I substituted 2t brandy extract and milk to make 1/4C for the brandy and 2t vanilla for the rose water. The original recipe also called for 12 eggs (1 lb). If you use large eggs, they average 2oz each, so that's only 8 eggs. Maybe their eggs were smaller in 1916, I don't know. If you use fresh nutmeg then use 1/8 t.

                                   

Ingredients
1 lb (4 sticks) - Unsalted Butter (slightly softened)
1 lb - (2 1/8 C) - Sugar
1 lb (8) - Eggs (separated)
2t - Brandy Extract
1/4 C - 2 t - Milk
2 t - Vanilla
1/4 t - Nutmeg
1/2 t - Salt
1 lb (3 1/2 C) - All Purpose Flour (sifted 3 times)


Instructions
  • Preheat oven to 325°F
  • Butter two 6-cup loaf pans and line with parchment paper
  • Cream the butter until very light and fluffy (about 10 minutes)
  • Add the sugar and cream very well
  • Add egg yolks two at a time, mixing well between each addition, to make a very fluffy mixture
  • Add brandy extract, milk, vanilla, nutmeg and salt and mix until incorporated
  • Add the flour in 3 batches mixing just until combined and scraping the bowl between batches
  • Whip the egg whites until stiff but not dry
  • Fold into batter, mixing until no streaks of white remain
  • Pour the batter into prepared pans and smooth tops
  • Bake until golden brown and split on top and a tester comes out clean (70 to 90 minutes)
  • Cool in the pans on a rack for 30 minutes and then remove from pans and let finish cooling on a rack


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