Divine Light Pound Cake Recipe

See how this one recipe can yield a variety of wonderful experiences. Try the basic pound-cake recipe enjoyed all by itself, toasted or a la mode, or crowned with the sybaritic Bananas Foster sauce, or savored with the fresh taste of lemon. This enticing pound-cake recipe was developed and edited by my amazing sister, Joy Zacharia, R.D., as Assistant Food Editor at Southern Living magazine.

Joy baked the pound-cake with lemon twist for Thanksgiving and for certain, that desert gave us a lot for which to be thankful! It was so fresh and light yet somehow rich and tangy. First we helped ourselves to the biggest piece of pound-cake that decency would allow. Toward the end, we shared little slivers, reluctant to stop, but so wanting to have it all. And with this recipe, you can.

Happy Holiday Baking!

Guru C

From Southern Living magazine

1 cup butter, softened

2 1/2 cups sugar

6 large eggs, separated

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 (8-ounce) container sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 cup sugar

Buttered Rum Glaze

Bananas Foster Sauce

Vanilla ice cream

Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty mixer until creamy. Add 2 1/2 cups sugar, beating 4 to 5 minutes or until fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears.

Combine flour and baking soda; add to butter mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in flavorings.

Beat egg whites until foamy; gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan.

Bake at 325° for 1 1/2 hours or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan, and place on a serving plate. While warm, prick cake surface at 1-inch intervals with a wooden pick; pour warm Buttered Rum Glaze over cake. Let stand 4 hours or overnight before serving. Serve with Bananas Foster Sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Lemon Pound Cake: Add 2 tablespoons grated lemon rind to batter. Proceed with cake recipe as directed. Omit Buttered Rum Glaze; do not serve with sauce."

At the precocious age of 9, I used to round up my sister, Lisa, who was 7, after school to begin the journey home. We lived in Caguas, Puerto Rico, at that idlyllic time, and location and logistics merged to make taking two buses, the two of us, the most frequent transportation alternative.

Our first stop: The south east corner of la Plaza, or town square, where an eighteenth century cathedral precides over the serene park bordered with topiary ficus trees and students sharing stories on stone benches, the beautiful, Swiss-inspired flower bed clock marking time in unison with the bells ringing from the church bell tower on the quarter hour.

Lisa and I, in our blue and white school uniforms, groaning bookbags slung over our little round shoulders, would jump off the bus and make our way into a busy restaurant and coffee shop called "The Roosevelt Inn" where we often went for dinner with our parents, and spin ourselves up to the counter. There, we would ask for two glasses of ice water and a piece of toasted pound cake a la mode to share.

I can still taste the buttery heaven that we'd savor in tiny bites always saving the last crusty pieces to dip into the melted ice cream. We timed our afternoon snack to the minute, so as to pay and run out the door and catch our second bus (the fare was a nickle in those days) and arrive on the side of the road where our beautiful Mom, baby carriage in tow with Joy inside, would be waiting to walk us the rest of the way.

The poundcake recipes featured above were developed by my little sister Joy, more than 25 years later, as assistant food editor at Southern Living Magazine. Joy says, "When you bring a homemade poundcake to someone's home, you'll have a friend for life." My youngest sister, Michelle, quite agrees.