ˈpound-cake
[f. pound n.1 + cake n.]
A rich cake so called as originally containing a pound (or equal weight) of each of the principal ingredients, flour, butter, sugar, fruit, etc.
| 1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery xv. 138 Pound Cake. Take a Pound of Butter..twelve Eggs..a Pound of Flour..a Pound of Sugar [etc.]. 1807 M. E. Rundell New Syst. Domestic Cookery 217 (heading) A good pound cake. 1841 Thackeray Men & Coats Wks. 1900 XIII. 601 It will have a great odour of bohea and pound-cake. 1876 F. E. Trollope Charming Fellow II. ix. 138 [He] begged to recommend the pound-cake, from his own personal experience. c 1900 Beeton's Every-day Cook. Bk. 396 Pound Cake.—Ingredients of large cake: 1 lb. of butter, 11/4 lb. of flour, 1 lb. of pounded loaf sugar, 1 lb. of currants, 9 eggs, 2 oz. of candied peel [etc.]. 1942 B. Robertson Red Hills & Cotton iii. 69 We liked..cornbread with chitterlings, ambrosia, stuffed eggs, pound cake. 1951 T. Capote Grass Harp (1952) i. 12 Dolly, who lived off sweet foods, was always baking a pound cake. 1977 Time 24 Jan. 5/2 Pound cake will remain just that, no matter how many grams the ingredients weigh. |