Do you know why a pound cake is called a pound cake? It’s because it contains a pound of butter, a pound of eggs, a pound of sugar, and a pound of flour. Throughout the years, people have tried to add in things like baking powder, or cream cheese, or lessen the sugar… but I say, don’t mess with success. This pound cake is exactly as it was intended to be – a pound of each ingredient that turns out a deliciously sweet, moist, buttery cake.

Oh, and it all comes together in a single bowl. It’s a cinch.

A pound of flour, a pound of eggs, a pound of butter, and a pound of sugar is a pretty heavy grocery load for a cake but I can promise you it’s well worth it. And since this makes two loaves, it’s not all that overwhelming and in any case, it’s very easy to halve the recipe if you don’t need quite so much cake.

Like many classic recipes, the key is in taking simple ingredients and preparing them well and one major key here is to cream the butter and sugar sufficiently. You want to keep your mixer going until the mixture is very light and fluffy – it will take about eight minutes which seems like an eternity, but it’s the foundation of the cake, so stay patient.

The rest is pretty standard stuff. Add your eggs, gradually add in your flour, and then bake. The end result is every bit as rich as you would expect a pound of butter, sugar, and eggs to be. It’s as classic as cake gets!