In baking, nothing beats a Pound Cake in terms of simplicity. The name is self-explanatory at best but for those who may have been kept out of the loop, its simplicity stems from its recipe consisting of all four essential ingredients -- flour, eggs, sugar and butter -- each weighing a quarter. However, this simplicity has its drawbacks as it tends to produce a dessert that has a somehwat underwhelming texture.

To put it bluntly, a traditional formula tends to yield a less moist and sweet pound cake compared to other cake types. Eventually, this led to the formula undergoing some revisions over the years. Thanks to these changes, the current formula substitutes milk for some of the butter and/or increases the amount of sugar in the batter, leading to a far more moist and sweet tasting pound cake.

The following recipe features a batter under the current status quo for pound cakes and is guaranteed to yield a very moist and sweet pound cake accompanied with a very simple syrup. The cake and syrup are flavored with lemon juice to give this one a tarty kick to the taste buds but can easily be substituted with other flavors to one's liking.

Cake and syrup recipe

Cake ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Syrup ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 2 tsp lemon zest for garnishing

Cake directions:

  1. Butter and flour dust 2 loaf pans (9x5"), hitting out excess flour. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
  3. Beat together the butter and sugar in a separate mixing bowl using an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Lastly, beat in the flour in portions until fully incorporated to complete the batter.
  4. Divide the batter evenly among the loaf pans. Place the pans in the center of the oven and bake for an hour or until the surfaces turns golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  5. Remove the pans from the oven and cool on a cake rack for 30 minutes before inverting them to completely cool.

Syrup directions:

  1. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring the mixture constantly.
  2. Once the sugar fully dissolves and the mixture starts bubbling, turn off the heat to cool and cover the saucepan with a lid.
  3. Once the sugar syrup cools, whisk in the juice to complete the syrup.
  4. Use immediately or seal and refrigerate. When serving, brush the syrup across the surfaces of the pound cakes and garnish with the zest.

Serves 6-8