Eliza Leslie’s Indian Pound Cake

Pound cake made with cornmeal and spices—a “new American cuisine” creation? Think again. This is adapted only slightly from an 1837 recipe from Eliza Leslie, itself an early adaptation of an English cake incorporating the cornmeal native to the Americas. The addition of a small amount of baking powder, not available then, keeps the texture from becoming too close and dense.

Subtly spiced, this cake is l