Recipe: Butter Them Up Pound Cake and Great-Grandma Gaither's Pound Cake

BUTTER-'EM-UP POUND CAKE
Makes 1 (10-inch) cake

"Real butter gives this supermoist cake its old-fashioned goodness."

2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
6 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.* Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt or 10-inch tube pan

Cream butter; gradually add sugar and continue beating until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Blend in flavorings; set aside.

Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mix ture, beating until thoroughly combined. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Cut through batter with a knife.

Bake 65 to 70 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 min utes; remove from pan and cool com pletely.

Frost, glaze or dust with confec tioners' sugar as desired.

*Some nearly identical recipes using the same list of ingredients call for the oven being set to 325F, but the recipe with this title appearing in many newspapers 1980 used 350F. This recipe I believe was pulled and retitled from a Dairy Industry recipe pamphlet published in 1979 called "The wonderful world of butter."

If you do not have cake flour, try this variation:

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GREAT-GRANDMA GAITHER'S POUND CAKE
Makes 10 servings

2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
1 (1 pound) box powdered sugar
6 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan.

Beat butter until light and fluffy; add powdered sugar, mixing well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add almond extract, vanilla and flour; mix just enough to blend. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely.