Wow! I've been away from the computer a while and so I thought I'd check in on BYC to see what's new... I never thought this pound cake recipe that I posted would be soooo popular!
Miss Prissy, I've used 2 tsps of lemon extract instead of the vanilla and almond flavorings too. And then I top the cake with fresh blueberries and homemade vanilla ice cream. It is yummy! Orange works well too. And I love those extra touches you added!
If I'm using pullet (instead of hen) eggs, I use more eggs because they are smaller. In cookbook theory, 5 whole eggs should equal 1 cup, 2 cups equal 1 pound. If you are using smaller eggs, you could measure your eggs to see how they match up. I have large breed hens, so would measure bantam eggs to use them in this recipe.
My tube pan is an old Ovenex brand (metal) pan that belonged to my mother. I think she bought it in the 40's. It is all one piece, the bottom doesn't come out. You can sometimes get them really inexpensively at a thrift store. Our local Goodwill store had one for sale a couple months back for $3. I personally do not like silicone bakeware and just recently donated $200 worth of it to a local charity sale.
Henrietta23, the pictures people have posted show a tube pan. It is also sometimes called an angel food cake pan (another good recipe that uses eggs!). If you are using a large loaf pan, you may get 3 or 4 cakes out of this recipe. Never fill the pan more than 1/2 full of batter. I regularly split this batter between a 9" springform and a 9" round cake pan. For a loaf pan bake, I would start checking the cake for doneness (cake tester inserted in center to make sure cake batter isn't wet) starting at 45 minutes and keep checking every 10 to 15 minutes after that.
If you aren't familiar with baking pans, here is a good site that shows the different pans and what they look like. Martha Stewart has a springform pan in her KMart collection for a reasonable price.
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=215662
You can substitute butter-flavored Crisco for the butter in a pinch. My personal preference is to use unsalted butter, as it is what is called for in the recipe. In my opinion, it is also healthier for a person that anything man can put in a can.
As has already been mentioned, it is really important to grease and flour the pan before use. Make sure you shake off the surplus flour from the pan before adding the batter. ALSO you must remove the cake immediately after it comes out of the oven. Sliding a knife around the edges of the cake helps.
sundance, your cake could be too dry because it was baked too long. Try baking it for less time and see if that doesn't help. Put an oven thermometer into your oven to check that it is heating to the correct temperature. To salvage a dry cake, serve with more ice cream or whipped cream.
wegotchickens, I haven't ever made the BYC pound cake recipe, so I don't know why you had so many problems. With any recipe, it is best to follow the directions specifically the first time you make it. If it says to sift the dry ingredients, I have found the end results are better when they are sifted. Ingredients are usually added to a recipe in a specific sequence and beaten for a set amount of time. In my pound cake recipe, you add the sifted flour and beat for about 1 minute. If you beat longer for that, you will be able to tell the difference in the cake.
We just picked 14 quarts of strawberries this week-end, so I made this cake on Friday so it would be all set for strawberries and whipped cream when we got home.... yummy!
