Name: Pound Cake
Yield: Serves 6–8 (makes 1 x 15 cm/6 inch cake)
Ingredients: finely grated zest of 1 lemon; 2 tsp orange flower water, or a few drops of extract; 225 g/8 oz/1 cup caster sugar; salt; 3 tbsp caraway seeds (optional); ¼ tsp ground nutmeg; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 100 g/3½ oz/¾ cup currants (optional); 4 eggs, lightly beaten; 225 g/8 oz/1¾ cups flour, plus extra for the tin; 225 g/8 oz/1 cup butter, plus extra for the tin

Preparation info

Serves
6–8
(makes 1 x 15 cm 6 inch cake)

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

How to Cook The Victorian Way with Mrs Crocombe

By Annie Gray and Andrew Hann

Published 2020

About

The standard set of scales in the Victorian era had a platform or bowl on two sides of a balance. This meant that the cook could use weights, but also that she or he could measure ingredients in proportion to one another. Pound cake evolved as exactly that: one Imperial pound of each of the basic ingredients. If you want to be as exact as early cooks, weigh the eggs in their shells and measure out the same weight in butter, flour and sugar, then add the flavourings and frui