This recipe is in a favorite local cookbook published in 1963. I have no idea where the author got the recipe but there's a note that it was a 1st prize winner in the NJ State Grange Baking Contest. I have been making this cake since getting the book in the 60's(along with other family members) and it's a winner.

Pound Cake

1 cup Crisco shortening
1-lb. box confectioners 10X sugar, sifted
4 eggs, beaten
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

Sift flour and salt together and set aside. Beat the sugar and shortening together (beat a long time to really cream the mixture – it builds volume). Add eggs and let mixer run until all is creamy and smooth with a pale yellow color. Add flour/salt, alternately with the milk, to creamed mixture (begin and end with flour). Blend in extracts and baking powder (strange I know that it doesn’t say to sift this with flour but that’s how the old recipe reads). Bake in a lightly greased and floured tube pan for 1 hour and 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool at least 45 minutes, loosen the edges and around the center tube with a knife and transfer to a cake plate. I glaze a lot of cakes but this one is best plain – dust with confectioner’s sugar just before serving if you want to pretty it up.

Notes: Original recipe calls for 1 tsp. of vanilla extract only. We like the almond flavoring so I use both. It’s delicious with just vanilla. At some point (maybe when you add the baking powder) the batter may look just slightly curdled – that’s normal. Beat the sugar/shortening/egg mixture all you want but once you start alternating the flour and milk, do it quickly, just to blend – don’t over-mix at this point. Lastly, you have to “eyeball” the cake for doneness. In my oven it’s about an hour and 10 minutes. You don’t want to over-bake it or it will be dry. Be forewarned that this is a dense cake that rises well but will shrink in the pan as it cools – that’s normal too.

Plan ahead: This is better if made one day before eating.