Betty's Pound Cake

My dear, sweet Adriane came to visit me one weekend and brought this delicious pound cake as a hostess gift; it was definitely the BEST pound cake I had ever had! Of course, I immediately had to have this recipe, so she emailed it to me as soon as she made it home. I have included her comments in the recipe below so that you can get the feeling of what a fun person she was all of the time, even when copying recipes. B.B.P.C. (Before Betty's Pound Cake) I thought that you had to put fruit or sauce on pound cake to make it edible, but this cake doesn't need any kind of acoutrement- it is heavnenly all by itself! (But since it was the height of strawberry season when she came to visit, we covered it with strawberries and whipped cream and that made it even more delish!) But there are also some other options for the pound cake at the bottom of the recipe.

Adriane told me that she had absolutely no idea who Betty was, but was pretty sure that the recipe was written in her grandmother's handwriting, so this recipe has made it through at least three generations of Bell women and has now been imparted to other ladies who love to bake/eat. This recipe is meant to be shared with friends, so in true Adriane style, please enjoy a slice (or 5) with people you care about!

Betty's Pound Cake

Ingredients:
3 sticks of butter (only real butter will do)
3 cups white sugar
3 cups plain flour (in parentheses it says Red Band brand, lol... Publix will probably do it)
6 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Directions:
Cream softened butter and sugar together. Add 1 egg at a time, beating well. Mix evap milk and vanilla, set aside. Sift flour and set aside. Gradually add flour, alternating with milk mixture, beating well as you alternate.

Butter and flour pan(s) really well. Pour batter in pan(s). Place pan(s) on a cookie sheet (sometimes if you don't eat enough of the batter before you put it in the pans, it overflows as it cooks ;-) j/k). Place in a cold oven (not preheated) set a 275 for 1 hour. After 1 hour, turn oven up to 300 for 30 more minutes. Remove from oven and let cool about 50% before you try to take it out of the pan. Finish cooling on a rack.

If you use a loaf pan, it makes 2 loaves. If you use a tube pan (the same kind you use to make angel food cake), it makes 1 cake.


I love it with almond icing:

1 stick of softened butter
1 box of confectioners sugar, sifted
Almond flavoring to taste (or vanilla)
Evaporated milk or cream or half-and-half if needed

Cream the butter and sugar and add flavoring. If it is too thick, add milk until you get the right consistency. (This is enough icing to frost the entire tube pan cake... might be overkill if you halve the recipe. Or you can just eat the extra as you see fit. ;-) Seeing a theme?)

My cousin pokes holes in it and brushes it with amaretto. Good, but not as good as the icing.

As you know, it is maybe best with strawberries and whipped cream!