Talk:Pound cake

Fruit cake

Questioning the relation of a US pound cake to a British Fruit Cake. An American pound cake does not ordinarily contain fruit. The cake described in the article as an American Pound is a Fruit Cake. American pound cake, especially a Southern American pound cake is quite simply, flour, butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract with some changes for taste such as milk, sour cream, other flavorings such as lemon, rum or chocolate.

Interestingly enough, the original recipe listed in the first version in history is closer to what most Americans consider Pound Cake. Perhaps this article should be titled British Pound Cake and a new article should be started titled American Pound Cake since the two are really different. We would just never put fruit in a pound cake... makes it something totally different.

A British Madeira Cake does not contain any fruit, just some lemon zest.

I agree that this entry should be changed because it says that Americans call the Madeira cake a pound cake when, as previously stated, it would be called a fruit cake. Some research to see where the author got this informaiton is necessary to make changes. SailorAlphaCentauri 20:00, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Madeira cake reference is definitely wrong if this type of cake contains fruit. I've removed it (labelled it as a minor edit in error).Mutt Lunker 23:35, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

This discussion of the nomenclature of fruit cakes, madeira cakes, and other variations is not relevant to this level of a taxonomy of cakes. These are all simply variations on a pound cake, which originated as a pound each of the four main ingredients. The quantities used in modern, improved (or simply altered) versions of the pound cake do not bear on the definitional accuracy of the original. I have edited the intro to the article to more closely reflect this and to de-emphasize these differences. Nearly any cake could properly be called a pound cake in a modern pastry kitchen. barzelay 03:17, 4 June 2009.

Australian Madeira Cake usually contains some sultanas. Don't know if this helps. 203.214.153.90 (talk) 06:45, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Pan type

Would one consider the type of pan used to bake a Pound cake, a Bundt?

If we are talking about American pound cake, that would not necessarily be the case. Almost all of the pound cakes I've ever made, or purchased, were made in bread pans. SailorAlphaCentauri 16:47, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

The type of pan used does not matter. Pound cakes originated before the existence of bundt pans, and were likely first made in something resembling a massive jellyroll pan. Modern pound cakes run the gamut from bundt-shaped, to sheet cakes, to short biscuit-like cakes, to tall, round layer cakes. The pan is simply irrelevant, though it might be worth noting if a particular pan is required for a particular variation, if the article persists in keeping sections for various countries (all of which are currently inaccurate, incomplete, and subjectively written, as well as being unnecessary). barzelay 3:10, 4 June 2009.

Subjective

This article needs to be cleaned up and sourced. There are subjective comments like "not ... to American tastes" that need to be removed, and evidence of Americans calling the Madeira cake a pound cake is also needed. SailorAlphaCentauri 16:51, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Yes, this article is heavily, heavily US-biased. There's a section about "Southern" pound cake (lots of places have a South), followed by addendums about other countries with the same importantance. Tomalak Geret'kal (talk) 19:02, 23 February 2011 (UTC)

Pound each

The present text says that this is American (and so not British), and implies that it is Southern (not Northern). I doubt both restrictions; any recipe so simple is apt to be very old indeed. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 16:26, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree. In fact, I think this article has been unnecessarily divided into various national and regional styles that are all essentially the same thing with minor variations. I would recommend consolidating the article, while still giving mention of the different variations. --Jcbutler (talk) 18:05, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

I agree with Jcbutler. The different sections might be useful as simply a list of different regional styles, but if they are meant truly to represent the pound cake variations found in each nation, then they are appallingly incomplete. If they are meant only to be representative, then they should not be set out as if the variations are definitional changes per region. These sections should simply be eliminated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Barzelay (talk • contribs) 10:20, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Important for contrast

What's the more common ratio for flour, eggs, butter, and sugar, if not 1:1:1:1, in a typical cake? Like, a sponge cake? I think that would be a good addition to the article.

_{Now watch how quickly this gets removed.}

A Victoria sponge/basic fairy cake recipe would also use 1:1:1:1. Which is interesting, because I got the impression that American pound cake was denser than Victoria sponge: more like Madeira cake. 86.139.233.67 (talk) 15:33, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

An American pound cake (or a German "Eischwerkuchen") is denser because the eggs are merely beaten and added to the butter-sugar mixture. The traditional recipe also called for no leavening at all. A sponge cake, however, requires eggs to be separated, the whites beaten to soft peak, then folded into the rest of the batter. The air trapped in the egg whites is what gives a "sponge" its name. A testament to the age of the original American pound cake recipe is that it still measures by weight, not volume. Janko (talk) 15:37, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

This is American and British cake we're talkin bout here!!! Metric advocates, this ain't a .454 kilo cake. Thank you :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Harvey994 (talk • contribs) 02:15, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Well, as the article states, the French name of this cake does not contain any unit : quatre-quarts just means "four quarters" (I'm French). Aesma (talk) 00:46, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

I changed the German "Sandkuchen" to "Eischwerkuchen", because the "Sandkuchen" is a cake in which part of the flour is substituted by starch, thus giving a "sandy" consistence to the cake. I also used the website of a cooking magazine as a reference. Please do not use "Marions Kochbuch" as a reference for German recipes, the recipes are not well researched. They only want to make money with their site (and their photos). --Ute-s (talk) 17:50, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Key Information Missing

The article states that the pound cake is made with a 1:1:1:1 ratio of flour, eggs, butter and sugar, which is correct.

What is missing is the key fact that it is made using the creaming method (beating the butter and sugar together), and that no leavening agent (e.g. baking powder) is used.

Christmas fruit cakes are traditionally pound cakes with fruit and nuts added to the batter.