Barbara's Sour Cream Pound Cake

This recipe is titled "Sour Cream Pound Cake," but the truth is that it may not match up what you think of as a pound cake. The ingredient ratios are different than a standard pound cake, or the iconic 1234 Cake (the most popular recipe on this blog). The texture of the finished cake is lighter, as well. Like a classic pound cake, though, it's good the first day it's baked, and is good the next day, too. It is a nice bite on its own, with the slight tang of sour cream, but is also a great base for your favorite fruit, fruit compote, or ice cream. Or, smear a slice with soft butter and run it under the broiler to toast, to eat plain or with a topping -- no complaints either way.

It's called "Barbara's Sour Cream Pound Cake" because it was my mother's recipe. I don't know the origin -- whether she got it out of a magazine or newspaper or product package or from a friend. I just know that at some point in my early childhood it showed up, and became a staple.

My mother must have made literally hundreds and hundreds of these cakes. It was dessert on a random weekday night; it was taken to PTA meetings and bake sales and potlucks; it was taken to my father's fire station to share with his shift; it was given to teachers and grieving families. My mother made lots of different kinds of cakes and baked goods, but this was a standby.

The ingredients were always on hand -- except sometimes the sour cream, we might have to run up to the Kwik Pick to get a carton. She could make it in her sleep, and by the time I got to be middle school age, I could make it, too. In fact, it was probably this cake more than any other that taught me the classic American home cake baking formula:  Creaming butter with sugar, adding the eggs one at a time, alternating dry and wet ingredients, adding the flavorings at the end.

Mama has been gone seven years now, and I had not made the cake myself in probably decades. This week, though, I took it to a gathering of friends who meet periodically to share cakes and other goodies. I usually take a new cake from my stash of untried recipes, but this time I wanted the sour cream pound cake's simplicity, and the sheer nostalgia of eating it and sharing it as Mama did so very many times.

I was nervous; as many times as I've made it, I don't bake often enough any more to be supremely confident that everything will go smoothly. My oven is a little wonky, and I am just absent-minded enough to do something goofy. Except for a little lopsidedness due to an unlevel oven, though, it came out perfectly. Mama would have been pleased.

Barbara's Sour Cream Pound Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour (White Lily, preferably)
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 sticks butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 cup good-quality sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond flavoring*

Sift together the flour and baking soda and set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream, mixing just until ingredients are incorporated – do not overmix. Stir in flavorings. Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan or standard bundt pan. Bake in a preheated 325º oven for 30 minutes. Reduce oven to 300º and continue baking until done, about 45 minutes. Cool cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

* You can use lemon flavoring instead of the almond if desired.

Serving Note: You could certainly add a glaze to this cake, or even drizzle some ganache over it. We never did, though.