Excellent!! This is the 4th pound cake I've tried from this site and I've finally found a keeper. It's exactly what a pound cake should be in flavor and texture: dense, moist and rich. I did increase the vanilla to 1.5 tablespoons, used the mace (it gives a nice sublte aroma, but taste wise, you can't tell it's there), and when I don't have sour cream, I've subsituted it with plain yogurt (both the lowfat or whole milk works) and decrease the temp to 325. Like other posters, mine baked perfectly at 1 hour 10 min. too. This cake holds up very well, and as long as you keep it covered, it's stays moist for a good 3 days. Good old fashion ingredients that gives you a classic pound cake. TIP - whip the heck out of the butter/sugar (until very pale and fluffy) and whip even more when combining the eggs. But once you add the flour, fold it in BY HAND ONLY or else you'll get a tough cake. Also, if your cake is browning too quickly half way through, just lightly cover it with foil. This will be my master pound cake recip.
To say this is a "moist" pound cake is a misnomer. It is a "butter saturated" pound cake. To discuss using lemon versus mace, no mace, more vanilla, less sugar, more sugar, adding baking powder, etc., isn't even important. None of it matters unless you reduce the butter in this recipe to 1-1/2 cups. Only then can variations be relevant. Even tho' as an experienced baker I knew better when I saw 2 cups of butter in this recipe (when most others would call for half that) I foolishly went ahead with this as written anyway, mistakenly assuming 100+ glowing reviews couldn't be wrong. Live and learn--they were wrong. Before making this, please do check out other pound cake recipes and compare the ratio of butter to flour--you will find this is an extraordinary amount of butter for the amount of flour which will NOT result in the dense, moist, fine crumb so prized in a good pound cake.
I already have a good pound cake recipe but wanted to try this one because of the sour cream addition - wanted a nice variation. I used the existing reviews as guides and my recipe as a point of comparison.
I used the modifications others made, namely: added 1/4 tsp of baking powder; reduced sugar to 2&1/4 cups; increase vanilla to 1&1/2 tsp; reduced oven temp to 325 and baked for 1hr & 20 min.
The resulting cake is moister but a little denser than my standard recipe. Regarding the mace - it was a mixed bag. I did not care for the flavor; others liked it. If I'd make this again, I'd skip the mace and add the grated rind of 1 lemon (I do the same in my standard recipe).
Regarding quatities and reducing sugar: it's called a "pound cake" because it's supposed to contain a pound of butter (4 sticks/2 cups), sugar (2 cups) and flour (approx. 3 cups). Most standard recipes use these proportions. I used 2&1/4 cups of sugar because of the sour cream; next time, I'd use just 2 cups. I can imagine that 3 cups is way too sweet.
For those who had problems, I'll echo what others have said: cream the sugar and butter very well (at least 5 minutes) and beat for 1 min. after the addition of each egg. For the flour, use a machine to quickly fold it in and then finish by hand OR fold it in all by hand. Don't overwork the flour!!
I gave this recipe 4 stars because of the need for modifications. With the mods, the cake is very good, although I prefer lemon instead of the mace.
I've been looking for a moist heavy poundcake and this is it. I did make two small changes. I omitted the mace. I wanted a rich buttery stand alone cake that would marry with berries. Removing the mace gave me what I wanted. I also added a 1/4 tsp of baking powder. The result is a silky cake that's heavy but has some air in it. Just perfection.
This cake is the bomb,this is my second time making this cake,I didn't have any mace so i just add 2 Tsp of vanilla extract and 1 Tsp Of lemon extract and a half of Tsp of almond extract.,And i did blend the butter and sugar for about 6-7 minutes.I love this cake it's my favorite sour cream cake.Thanks a million grandma.
I was very pleased with this recipe. It gave me a cake that had a good texture and taste. I did make two technical adjustments and one based on personal preference. I added the 1/4 tsp. baking powder mentioned by other reviewers and I added 3 Tbsp vanilla because mine is weak (if you have stronger extracts this would probably be too much. I like a more pronounced vanilla flavor). After reading how quickly this cake browned at 350 I decided to try starting it in a cold oven. I set it to 325 after the pan was in place and did not open the door for 60 minutes. It rose well and browned golden not dark with a nice crust taking a total of 70 minutes. The recipe didn't specify type of butter so I used 2 sticks salted and 2 sticks unsalted; the full 3 cups of sugar; and 1/4 teaspoon mace. I use Baker's Joy Spray in my pan and it popped out easily and intact. After it was cool I brushed it with a glaze made of softened cream cheese unsalted butter half and half glazing sugar and vanilla and lemon extracts. This does make a large amount of thick batter so make sure you have a true 12 cup Bundt pan use a larger Angel-food type pan or plan on making a second smaller cake that will have to come out of the oven sooner. I will definitely make this recipe again.
Great recipe! Great cake! It was dense as pound cake should be, but not heavy at all. This was my first attempt at making a pound cake and it came out perfect! I used three sticks of butter, egg substitute, fat free sour cream, omitted the mace, used the zest and juice of one lemon, 1 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract, and 1/4 tsp. of almond extract. I followed the advice of other viewers and beat the sugar and butter for seven minutes. I mixed for one minute after the addition of each egg. I folded in the flour mixture and sour cream and I was very careful not to over work the batter, so that the cake would not be tough. This is a definite keeper! Thanks for sharing.
Wow...what a moist and flavorful cake. I've been searching for a sour cream bundt cake recipe like my mom used to make and this is it. I made the following modifications after reading the reviews: Omitted the mace added 1/4 teaspoon baking powder and increased vanilla to 2 teaspoons. Baked at 325 degrees on middle rack in my oven. Cake was done after 1 hr and 10 minutes. This is delicious plain or drizzled with vanilla glaze. I plan to use this for strawberry shortcakes in the spring and for trifle.
I had a lot of eggs and wanted to bake a cake to get rid of them. This one (with 6 eggs) turned out great. Very moist very tasty. Tips: use a little more than a pinch of ground mace (up to 1/4 teaspoon) and watch the cake closely for the final 15 minutes (I almost left it in the oven too long...next time I'll bake it at 325 degrees). This one is a keeper!
