Perfect Your Pound Cake by Creaming Your Butter Well

Pound cake is a staple dessert in America, especially in the South. One would be hard pressed to find a place where someone didn't have a carefully preserved pound cake recipe copied out onto a note card or clipped from a magazine to be faithfully shared with friends and neighbors. Pound cake gets the name from the ratios of the recipe. A traditional American pound cake would specify one pound each of flour, butter, eggs and sugar. British pound cakes are similar, though usually have dried fruits such as currants, raisins or cherries as well.

One of the key tricks to creating a proper pound cake is creaming the butter and sugar. Softened butter is mashed together with sugar until the mixture is light, and fluffy. Creaming allows super small air bubbles to be incorporated into the batter. These bubbles are caused by the sugar crystals carving into the fat of the butter. These small air pockets allow air and steam to disperse through the cake as it bakes, resulting in a more even rise.

It is best to use room temperature butter to facilitate the creaming process. Add ingredients slowly to the butter mix, in small amounts so the batter is not overwhelmed or made lumpy. Creaming butter should take approximately 6 to 8 minutes. Thoroughly creamed butter has a slightly grainy texture and looks like heavy frosting. It will be light in color and hold it's shape in the bowl. If the butter begins to melt or separate, throw the mixing bowl in the freezer for a couple minutes to halt this process.