Dating back to the 1700s, a pound cake is named because
it contained a pound each of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. It
therefore has a denser texture and a more buttery taste than the lighter
Victoria Sandwich cake created a century later. Since then smaller versions of
the cake have evolved but the ratio of the main ingredients has tended to remain
the same. Other variations include the addition of baking powder to lighten the
density and different flavours such as Lemon and Orange. I've made half the quantities of an original pound cake and it makes a good size cake
What you need
2250g/8oz butter
225g/8oz sugar
4 eggs
225g/8oz self-raising
flour
1
tsp baking powder
Zest & juice of
2 lemons
For the glaze
Icing
sugar
Lemon
juice to mix
How to bake …
Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Mark 4. Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest. Gradually
beat in the eggs. Mix in the flour and lemon juice to soften the mixture so it
drops off the spoon. Grease a 1kg/2lb loaf tin or 8"/20cms shaped cake tin. Bake for 45
minutes until firm on top. Prepare the glaze by mixing icing sugar and lemon
juice. Once the cake is out of the oven and cool, make a glaze by mixing icing sugar with lemon juice until runny. Then drizzle the glaze over the top of
the cake.
Meryl says : I love this version of Lemon Pound Cake
from a 1920s recipe when it was popular in all the best hotels and serve with fruit
and cream. Feedback so far is looking good so I’m sure I’ll be making this cake
in 2020 to celebrate its 100 years' anniversary!
