Heirloom Recipe: Gram’s Poundcake
In honor of my Gram’s earthly birthday today, I’m delighted to share with you an old family recipe. The secret is out! I hope my grandmother wouldn’t mind, but I have a feeling she’s smiling down on me from Heaven for carrying on her tradition. I have made it several times in different forms, including bundt style which I show below. Sometimes I simply sift powdered sugar over it; other times I will make it with a lemon glaze. But every time I make it for my family, it always recalls memories of my Gram. I hope you’ll join me for a bit of history and nostalgia as I offer the story behind her pound cake.
I grew up spending summers visiting my grandparents’ house in the Appalachian mountains. They lived in a 19th century farmhouse with loads of character. In the dining room, my grandfather built shelves all along the room just near the ceiling to hold my grandmother’s wide collection of impression and milk glass.
They also had an expansive garden where they planted everything under the sun. I have fond memories of snapping mounds of green beans on the front porch. The entire wall of their bedroom was lined with built in cupboards that held mason jars of all their garden’s bounty.
An old claw foot tub sat in the backyard where my cousins and I would cool off on a hot summer day after Gram filled it with cool water. And believe it or not, the house did not yet have indoor bathrooms, so we used the outhouse when we had to go, and in the evenings we climbed up into the kitchen sink for our bath time. I still remember the song Gram sang to us as we climbed up the step stool to the sink. We bathed in the gentle breeze of the open window, fluttering curtains, and the sound of cricket song.
This may seem like a diversion, but I wanted to give you some history behind this pound cake. It is more than just a recipe, it holds precious memories and love. There was never a time when we visited or they visited us that Gram did not keep us stocked in pound cake.
I stuck to the original recipe but used this Nordic Ware Fleur de Lis Bundt Cake Pan, because I love the beauty and elegance of a Bundt cake. I’m happy to report it worked just fine, and it still had the flavor and texture of Gram’s cake, as well as all the love. I of course also love the bit of French flair in the design.
Keep in mind, though, this is an old school recipe, so it contains some ingredients (margarine for example) that you may want to substitute out, as I do with butter in place of margarine. I have also adapted it to a gluten free version for my husband who is celiac. If you try adapting the recipe to your own dietary needs, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
By the way, you won’t find explicit instructions here, folks. These are word for word my Gram’s directions. Without further ado, here is the recipe in its truest form lovingly written on a postcard by my mother. I searched for an original in my grandmother’s handwriting, but I could not find one with the full instructions.
