Do you need a dessert that’s easy to bake, always a crowd pleaser, and that can be made ahead of time? This is the cake you’ve been looking for!
This is my “go to” cake. It’s easy to make, freezes like a dream, and always gets rave reviews! We call it Five Flavor Pound Cake because you use five different extract flavors. I’ve experimented and you can substitute other flavors instead of the ones I have listed here based on your family’s preferences.
Five Flavor Pound Cake Recipe
- 2 sticks butter or margarine (I think it’s a little better with butter though)
- ½ cup shortening
- 3 cups sugar
- 5 eggs, well beaten
- 3 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon rum or brandy extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 1 teaspoon butter extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze:
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon rum or brandy extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 1 teaspoon butter extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To make the pound cake:
Cream butter, shortening and sugar together in mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs (which have already been beaten) and mix together. Mix flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and beat together till batter is smooth. Stir in extracts and mix well.
Put batter into greased tube pan and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes in oven preheated to 325 degrees.
Insert toothpick into cake to test that it is done. Be aware that this cake is VERY moist (all that extract does that to a cake!)
Allow cake to cool thoroughly in pan. When cake is cool, run knife blade around edges and the center post of tube pan to help separate cake from pan. Put a plate over the top of the tube pan and then quickly turn take pan upside down so that cake will fall onto plate (this is the reason you ran the knife around the edges – you want to be sure cake comes out in one piece!)
You’ll now want to run a knife under the cake so that the bottom of the tube pan slips off without tearing cake (this isn’t as hard as it sounds).
Now you’ll notice that your cake is upside down. No problem – simply place the bottom of the cake plate that you want to serve your cake on to the “top” of the cake and flip one more time. Wa La! Your cake is right side up and beautiful. (Trust me, all this flipping sounds like a pain, but it’s really easy and just takes a minute).
To make glaze:
Combine liquid ingredients for glaze into small pan and bring to boil on the stove. Add sugar and stir until melted. Pour over cake.
After cake is thoroughly cooled, use an icepick or skewer and poke hones throughout the top of the cake. Pour gaze directly into holes you’ve created and also use a basting brush to paint glaze on to sides of cake. Yes, put all of the gaze in to and on the cake. I told you this cake was moist!
This cake freezes like a dream. Just be sure it’s thoroughly cooled before wrapping it in foil for freezing. This is the cake I’ve kept in the freezer to take when someone had a baby, was ill or had a death in the family, or to church functions.
I will tell you a funny story about this cake just so you’re aware.
One time I took this cake to a church dinner. When going through the line, the woman in front of me cut into the cake and exclaimed, “Oh my, this cake isn’t done!”
Fortunately, I was right behind her and assured her that the cake was definitely done. But the fact that it has 10 teaspoons of extract an 1 cup of glaze poured into it makes this cake the most moist pound cake you’ve probably ever seen – or eaten. She took the slice of cake and later complimented me on how delicious it was and that it was indeed more moist than she’d ever expected.
Another time, when I was in college, I was at home for the Christmas holidays and was helping my mother do some baking. She was planning to make two of these cakes and had set out all of the ingredients.
We did as mothers and daughters tend to do when cooking and got to visiting. Unfortunately, I was talking more than I was paying attention to what I was doing.
When it came time to stir together the second cake, my mom asked where were the eggs. The rest of the ingredients were on the counter, but the eggs were not there. We finally figured out that I had used the eggs for both cakes in the first one.
I have to admit that the pound cake with ten eggs probably needed a better description at this point since “pound” didn’t really describe how heavy it was from all of the eggs (it was laughingly dubbed the Ten Pound Cake). But my brother, who loves pound cake better than any other dessert, absolutely loved it! Just proves that this recipe is versatile and hard to mess up – even when you’re not paying attention.
This is the cake that I always get requests from folks wanting the recipe. It’s easy and delicious. It’s also a cake that you can top with a can of cherry pie filing should you wish to do so. And as you can see, I’m not brand loyal about most things since I’m a frugal girl at heart.
On a side note, I have always made this cake in a tube pan, but I see no reason it couldn’t be baked in loaf pans, a bundt pan, or a 9×13 pan as long as you made adjustments for the cooking time.
This cake would be a great way to finish off your next Sunday dinner. You might consider serving Mexican Manicotti or Jack Daniels Grilled Salmon. The folks at your house will be drooling.
Let me know what you think of it. It’s a family favorite at my house.
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Related Posts:
Aunt Finnie’s Banana Nut Spice Cake
Super Easy Mandarin Orange Cake
Adding rum or brandy to the mix is a great way to add more flavor! Your cake looks delicious, Shelley!Thanks for sharing at Brag About It. Pinning.
It definitely would – and Vanilla Rum is my personal favorite!
Love pound cake Shelly. It is so versatile and you can serve it so many ways. I am going to pin this a give to my sister. She is an excellent baker and makes all the family celebration cakes. Thanks for sharing your recipe. Have a fantastic week and may God bless you and yours.
I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does! Thanks for the kind words and you have a wonderful week as well.
Thanks for the recipe! I try to bake a cake every Sunday and am always looking for fast, delicious recipes. I’ll have to give this one a try!
I hope you enjoy it, Christa. There is nothing like a cake made from scratch in my opinion.