RE-cipe Sharing: Sherry's Pound Cake

NO ORDINARY CAKE: This pound cake is legendary.

Reba will give you her version below, but here is my version of this cake's story.

Reba's mother-in-law is an excellent cook and she gives this pound cake to our family every year at Christmas.  Even though we always have a ridiculous amount of dessert options during Christmas, people in my family fight over this cake and only this cake.  There is slice monitoring. I'm not kidding.  I have been telling stories about this cake for 16 years and people have sometimes asked me if it is possible that the cake is considered so good because it has become a family tradition at our house. They wonder if the nostalgic factor plays a part in the cake hype the way someone might feel their mother's Campbell's chicken noodle soup is somehow better than anyone else's even though they all come from the can. The answer is no. My husband has no nostalgic attachment to this cake and within a year of visiting my family's house, he also began anticipating the arrival of this pound cake at Christmas time with feverish glee. Frankly, I like this cake, but I am not nuts over it the way others in my family are. Once I asked my husband if this pound cake is really all that  much better than other pound cakes. My husband looked at me in the eye and with all seriousness said "Eldarose, if you cannot taste how much better this cake is than other cakes, then don't eat it. Leave more of it for the rest of us who can appreciate it." LOL! My brother is just as bad. We have to hide the cake from him or he will take it away so he can eat it on his own.  I am pretty sure when my husband and I argue, part of him thinks "if we don't make up, I won't get any more pound cake at Christmas." In other words, this cake has helped hold my marriage together so you can see why it is *SUCH* a big deal that Reba has decided to share it with you. When Reba's niece recently got married, she told me all she wanted from her grandmother was her pound cake recipe and she worried she wasn't going to get it. *THIS* recipe that you are being given here right now. I was floored when Reba said she had THE recipe and was going to post it. FLOORED. I've been waiting for this recipe for 16 years and you're getting it now, no wait. I strongly encourage you to make this cake and enjoy your good luck, but remember only serve it to someone if you are sure you want them to stick around.

WRITTEN BY ELDAROSE

REBA'S TAKE:

This is my mother-in-law's recipe for her pound cake that she gives every year to friends and neighbors. At my parents' house on Christmas Day, it is by far the favorite dessert. Sherry makes two for my parents so that there will be enough for everyone. One brother takes whatever is left over to his house. This year, I plan to make one for every brother and sister so there will be enough cakes for every one to take home. One year, my sister-in-law, Mary, made 44 loaf sized pound cakes to give. She poured half of each recipe in the loaf pans. They cooked faster than an hour. She said she constantly had to be checking them to see when they were cooked. Because she was making so many, she didn't take the time to let the oven cool between baking the loaves. That caused fluctuations as to bake time. If you are just baking one, you should have no problems.

3 cups of sugar

1/2 lb. (2 sticks) softened Falfurrias (it's a local brand) butter (salted)

6 extra large eggs

3 cups Swan's cake flour (sifted before measuring)

1 cup Hygeia (local brand) whipping cream

3 tsp. McCormick real vanilla

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix cream, sugar and butter well. Add eggs, one at a time. The more you beat the better. Add flour a little at a time, and a little cream until it is all blended. Add flavorings. Put batter in a well greased and floured bundt cake pan and put into a cold oven. Turn temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 1 hour until a light brown crust forms on top. Let cool. Dust with powdered sugar when cool.

WRITTEN BY REBA

Update 01/09/2012:   I have also just posted Sherry's Delicious Sandies cookie recipe HERE