As a child, I loved fried chicken, hamburgers, and pizza, but not lunchroom food, vegetables, or food at somebody else’s house. When it came to Pound Cake, I could take it or leave and I usually left it. I later realized it was just because I had never had the creamiest, most delicious pound cake that had ever been baked.
On one particularly normal day, my world was changed. I was in my early 30s and pregnant with our last child. Mrs. Carolyn Wilbourn showed up at the pastorium just outside of Enterprise, Alabama on Highway 27 where my husband was the pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. She was smiling as she extended her arms and handed me a warm, freshly baked, creamy, cream cheese POUND CAKE! The Southern words rolled sweetly off her tongue as she said, “Honey, I brought y’all a Pound Cake fresh outta the oven. I hope y’all like it.” I assured her we would enjoy it as we chatted about the church and community happenings. As she left, I placed the cake on the counter without giving it a second thought.
Later that evening after supper, I remembered the cake and decided to cut a piece for Cavin and me. And that’s when my world was changed. That….. Pound…. Cake! It was melt-in-your-mouth goodness…. I couldn’t get enough of it. My pregnant self had the whole cake eaten in just two days only allowing Cavin two slices.
My love affair with Pound Cake was just getting started. I let Mrs. Carolyn know just how much we had enjoyed it. And that’s all it took to get the Cawthon household on the Pound Cake rotation. Every so often, Mrs. Carolyn would call to let us know she was on the way over with a fresh outta-the-oven Pound Cake delivery. It’s a good thing I was pregnant so I didn’t have to worry about all of those extra pounds. I was starting to understand why it was called “Pound” Cake!
After a couple of years of enjoying the best Pound Cakes in the world, Cavin did a terrible thing to me. He moved me away from Mrs. Carolyn Wilbourn…. all the way to Marietta, Georgia. What was I going to do? I wasn’t sure I could survive without my regular Pound Cake delivery. I knew I was going to have to learn how to make Pound Cakes myself if I was going to survive in suburbia.
I asked Mrs. Carolyn for her recipe, not sure if she would be willing to share something so precious with me… Mrs. Carolyn said she used the traditional Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe that could be found in any cookbook. I was elated…. Now I could make my own delicious Pound Cakes…. The only tip Mrs. Carolyn gave me was to put out my cold ingredients a few hours before making the cake to bring them to room temperature. That was easy enough… or so I thought.
I got out my trusted cookbook that my mother had given me when Cavin and I married…. The Brewton Civic League Cookbook. This cookbook was made up of tried and true recipes of Southern matriarchs from Brewton, Alabama – women who had poured their heart and soul into being the best Southern women they could possibly be and this meant cooking up some of the best dishes South of the Mason-Dixon line.
The Brewton Civic League Cookbook is definitely in a league of its own, and I could think of no better place to start in my endeavor to learn to make the very best Cream Cheese Pound Cake! I found the recipe I was looking for on page 69. I could read and follow instructions so I thought it would be no problem. Boy… was I ever wrong. My first Pound Cake was a disaster. It tasted nothing like Mrs. Carolyn’s world-renowned Pound Cake. What had I done wrong????
This began some rather in-depth research on how to make a creamy, delicious Pound Cake. My cakes started improving over time but were still nowhere near the high level of deliciousness that made Mrs. Carolyn’s creations stand out. I continued to bring the cold ingredients to room temperature, but I started using a tube pan instead of a bundt pan. This may seem like a minor change, but I’m here to assure you that it makes a big difference in the overall taste. With a bundt pan, the outer edges are more rigid and coarse. With a tube pan, the edges are crusty but flaky and the inside part has a creamier texture. Maybe I was making progress with my Pound Cake. Maybe… just maybe… there was hope!
One day, I googled “Southern Living Pound Cake” to find some tips from the Encyclopedia Brittanica of the Southern cooking world. I was determined to make a moist, creamy Pound Cake. I read something quite interesting that I began incorporating into my Pound Cake making process. I began putting water into an oven-safe dish while the cake is in the oven. As the oven heats up, steam is produced to create a moister cake. Something else I learned was to put the Pound Cake into a cold oven. These were two small things that I could do to push me toward my goal. I tried it and was pleased with the results. I was making progress, but it still wasn’t as good as Mrs. Carolyn’s legendary Cream Cheese Pound Cake.
I knew I was too far on this journey to turn back now. There had to be something more to push me over the top. I wanted people to talk about “Mrs. Charlotte’s Pound Cakes” in the same way that I talked about “Mrs. Carolyn’s Pound Cakes.”
A few Christmases ago, I got the most thoughtful gift from my sweet husband. It wasn’t an expensive piece of jewelry or a designer dress. It was the most beautiful Kitchen Aid Mixer I had ever laid eyes on. You see, I had been believing a lie from Satan himself. I believed I could make a delicious cake with a mere hand mixer. Don’t. you. ever. believe. it! If you don’t already own one… go out this minute and buy a Kitchen Aid Mixer. It’s a decision you won’t regret! We gave our 23-year-old daughter her very own mixer last year for Christmas so she never has to embarrass herself by making an under-par Pound Cake!
I was finally getting somewhere with my Pound Cakes! It had taken eighteen years, but I was well on my way to the promised land of delicious Pound Cakes! Someone mentioned that they use Swan’s Down Cake Flour. I bought my first box and never looked back. Someone else said they simply grease the pan with the wrappers from the three sticks of butter used in the cake and then sprinkle the pan with sugar. WOW… just WOW!!! What an amazing difference these two steps have made. The cakes come out clean every single time.
There are still a few more things I have learned through the years…. In addition to the six eggs in the cake, I now add an extra egg white to make the cake creamier. I also increased the vanilla flavoring from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon. You just can’t go wrong with something that smells as great as vanilla flavoring. I also cut down the cooking time to one hour and twenty minutes. When I bring the cake out of the oven, I leave it in the pan for ten to fifteen minutes before turning it onto a plate. This allows the cake to finish cooking outside of the oven, without drying out. Who wants a dried-out piece of Pound Cake? “Not I,” said the fly!
It has taken me twenty years, with a lot of flops and disappointments along the way. But I’m working on building a name for myself in the circles of those who love Pound Cake. I made a Pound Cake this week and it was creamy on the inside with the taste of warm butter and cream cheese mixed together. It was crusty on the outside with that delicious sugar-coating. It tasted great when it was warm and fresh out of the oven, but even better and creamier the next day. And on the third day, all that remained were crumbs on the cake plate.
I even overheard someone say…. “I just love Mrs. Charlotte’s Pound Cake”.
Sampling the South… You haven’t lived until you have eaten a melt-in-your-mouth Cream Cheese Pound Cake!