Classic American Pound Cake

Method

1. 1

   Heat the oven

   Heat the oven to 170°C conventional or 150°C fan, with a rack in the centre.

2. 2

   Prepare the tin

   Grease a 900 g loaf tin and line it with baking paper.

3. 3

   Cream the butter and sugar

   Beat the butter and sugar until very pale and fluffy, scraping the bowl once so no dense patches of butter remain.

4. 4

   Add the eggs

   Beat in the eggs one at a time, letting each disappear before adding the next; if the mixture looks curdled, mix in a spoonful of the measured flour.

5. 5

   Fold in the dry ingredients

   Sift the remaining flour and salt over the mixture, add the vanilla, then fold gently just until no dry flour remains.

6. 6

   Fill the tin

   Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and level the top.

7. 7

   Bake the cake

   Bake at 170°C conventional or 150°C fan for 60 to 70 minutes, until deeply golden and a skewer in the centre comes out clean; cover loosely with foil if it browns early.

8. 8

   Cool in the tin

   Leave the cake in the tin at room temperature for 15 minutes, until it feels firm enough to handle.

9. 9

   Cool on a rack

   Lift the cake onto a wire rack and leave it at room temperature until completely cool, about 1 hour.

Tips

• The creamed butter and sugar should look much lighter in colour and fluffy, not just combined.
• Let the cake cool fully before slicing for neater pieces.

Swaps

• Use vanilla bean paste in place of the vanilla extract.
• Use salted butter and leave out the fine salt.

Storing

Keep covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.