I remember my father complimenting my grandmother on her baking when I was a child. My mother's mom could bake a wonderful cake before my time. He especially talked about her German Chocolate Cake. I never tasted this cake that I can remember. My memory recalls my grandmother being on a diet for much of my teenage years. She had diet ice cream in her freezer and fresh fruit on her counter. Now that I am in my 50's I know exactly why. Her baking days likely waned when she became a widow, and her children were grown.
But the one thing she continued to bake was her pound cake. A huge slice of her pound cake with a glass of cold skim milk was as much a part of her home as the Hall's Hardware measuring rulers, the patio plants, and the Afghans and throw pillows on her couch in the old garage area she closed in for her family to gather on holidays. Only when Sara Lee came along with a pound cake that closely matched hers that she began purchasing these instead. And into the deep freeze they would go until time to serve. One thing about childhood, living miles from town, everything can be frozen for later use even milk and bread. My mother says she always kept something in the deep freeze for Sunday visitors.
When I was in 4H she gave me her recipe for this pound cake, and I used it each year for my demonstrations. After my epic failure trying to make her homemade biscuits once, the pound cake was the safe place to go when showing how to prepare it on Achievement Day. I made the biscuit mix too wet and had to scrap it off the rolling pin and ended up with a huge glop of wet flour. So, it was her pound cake demonstration after that.
Like so many recipes in our family this was word of mouth and for years have wondered what she put in that pound cake. I could vaguely remember the things that stood out was sour cream and three sticks of butter. Sour Cream is used all the time now, but don't remember it much back in the 1970's and 80's.
Much like her homemade chicken and dumplings recipe she got from Ms. Yates, I thought it was lost for good. But just this past Sunday afternoon when cleaning out my office her sweet hello from heaven plopped right into my lap. I came across my last small box of her recipe clippings she had shoved together. I have many memories of her sitting behind the desk of her hardware store office thumbing through her paper and clipping out recipes. Like I said, I don't remember her ever baking them, but I guess old habits die hard.
This past Sunday while Clay worked on our tractor, I thumbed through this last plastic orange box and along with a multitude of desserts that called for gelatin, canned fruit, and Crisco, there it was. The measurements and directions from a section of an old newspaper called Kountry Kookin'.
Sour Cream Pound Cake
3 sticks of butter, 3 cups sugar, 6 eggs, 3 cups flour, ¼ tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp salt, 1 cup sour cream, and 2 tsps of vanilla extract.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat eggs, one at a time. Sift flour, soda and salt together. Add the dry ingredients to cake batter, alternating with the sour cream. Add vanilla extract and pour into a well-greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 315 degrees for 1 ½ hours. Serves 12 to 15 ( or a small group of eager grandchildren).
I'm so happy to get to pass this family memory on to readers. It makes for a great dessert and a much easier 4H Achievement Day Demonstration. Thanks Grandma!
