Found out that pound cake got its name from a 1700s recipe with a pound of each ingredient

I was flipping through a vintage baking book I picked up at a library sale in Tulsa last weekend, and it had the original pound cake recipe from the 1700s. It literally called for a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs, and a pound of flour. That blew my mind because I always thought it was just a random name, not an actual measurement from back then. I can't imagine using a whole pound of butter in one cake today! My bank account would cry. Has anyone else run into old recipes that made you stop and think?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan_shah3811d ago

Right there with you, my wallet would be crying over a whole pound of butter too. Did you try making it or are you scared of the butter bill like me?

taylorshah11d ago

Actually, nobody seems to be talking about the fact that it's not just about the price of butter. The thing is, if you buy a whole pound of good butter, you're committing to making lots of things with it. And once you have the butter, you need eggs, maybe some nice vanilla, good flour. Before you know it, that "cheap" pound of butter turned into a fifty dollar baking spree. I've been burned by that trick more times than I care to count. The butter itself is just the entry fee.