My Perfect Pound Cake Recipe | We Call It “Van Halen” Pound Cake

Patsy’s Famous Pound Cake Recipe, Re-imagined by Me

I told you guys I would be reporting on the making/baking/de-panning/eating of Miss Patsy’s famous pound cake recipe, sent to me by friend and reader Cindy.

I have been sworn to secrecy about the exact recipe, so I can’t print that, but I can print my modifications.

And where does Van Halen come in? I was invited to Mary Lou’s house for New Years Day. She told me to bring something sweet. I told her, via facebook, that I would bring this pound cake.

She posted, “Is that like Van Halen pound cake?” I was confused, and I had to ask her what that meant. She told me that Van Halen has a song called Pound Cake. I don’t think it’s about a baked good, but that’s neither here nor there.

So, for my purposes, my few tweaks to Miss Patsy’s famous pound cake will be known from this point onward as Van Halen pound cake.

Pound Cakes Are Made with The Creaming Method

I’m sure you’d recognize the method, even if you don’t call it by name.

It’s the one that starts out, “Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.”

Here’s a video I made to show you how to do the creaming method. I hope you find it useful.

 

The Original Pound Cake Recipe

First, a bit about pound cake.

The original recipe is a perfect balance of structural elements and tenderizing elements.

• 1 pound each of flour and eggs for Team Structure
• 1 pound each of sugar and butter for Team Tender.

A perfectly balanced but fairly dense and fairly flavorless cake.

It toasts nicely, I’ll give it that. Think of the original pound cake as a barely sweet tea cake or a kind of quick bread.

The recipe has been tweaked over the years and now modern pound cake recipes generally include extra sugar, some flavorings, a little extra liquid and some leavening.

Here’s the ingredient roll call for Van Halen Pound Cake:

• cake flour
• salt
• baking powder
• sugar
• butter
• eggs
• vanilla
• lemon extract
• almond extract
• lemon zest
• whole milk
• half and half

The amounts of the 4 main elements are:

• 13 oz cake flour (1 pound minus 3 ounces)
• 5 eggs (about 10 oz, or 1 pound minus 6 ounces)
• 20 oz sugar (1 pound plus 4 ounces)
• 12 oz butter (1 pound minus 4 ounces)

The resulting cake, even without the flavorings and leaveners, is lighter (less flour, less egg), a touch less rich (less egg and less butter), and sweeter (more sugar) than the original.

The Creaming Method, Step by Step

And now, written for you in first person, here are all the steps I took to make this cake:

1. I measured all of my ingredients and let them sit until everything was no cooler than about 68F.
2. I whisked the flour and baking powder together really well.
3. I creamed the butter and shortening together for about a minute.
4. I added the flavorings and the salt to the butter and shortening and creamed for another minute. (Fat carries flavor really well, so adding them at this point makes sense).
5. In went the sugar, and I creamed everything on medium until the shortening was lighter in color and fluffy–about 3-4 more minutes. Much bowl scraping occurred too, to ensure even creaming.
6. In went 1 egg at a time. I beat on medium for about 30 seconds with each addition, scraping the bowl every time. (NOTE: I have since modified this method to beating the 5 eggs together and drizzling them in slowly. I think it makes a more stable batter.)
7. I dumped in about half the flour/baking powder and beat until combined.
8. In went half the dairy. I beat until just combined.
9. Then, I put in 1/2 of the remaining flour/baking powder and mixed on low until combined.
10. I drizzled in the last half of the milk, then added the rest of the flour and the zest. (If you add the zest earlier, it will just get all snarled around your paddle attachment like seaweed around a boat motor, and none of it will end up in the cake).
11. I turned the speed up for literally just 2-3 seconds to make sure everything was well combined.
12. I preheated the oven to 350 degrees, F, and baked the cake in the lower third of the oven for a total of about 1 hour and 10 minutes. I knew he was done when he was just starting to pull away from the sides of the pan and when I toothpick I stuck in the center came out clean.
13. I let him cool in the pan for about an hour, then I turned him out onto a rack to finish cooling. Fortunately my Cake Release did me proud and the cake sprang forth from the pan like the Little Gingerbread Man from the oven.

How to Prepare a Bundt Pan for Baking

How to prepare the pan:  I used a Bundt pan, and I knew that Cindy has had issues with the cake sticking. I really like a Wilton product for this.

It’s their Cake Release. It’s not the spray kind; it comes in a bottle with a flip-top lid, like the old Bactine bottles, if you remember.

• Squirt some Cake Release into the bottom of your pan
• Use a pastry brush to brush it evenly all over the interior of the pan.

I am truly convinced that the Cake Release is the Best Product Ever for making a cake come bounding out of a pan, and using a pastry brush really helps to get it in all the nooks and crannies in a Bundt pan.

If you don’t have any of this magical product, other options include:

• pan sprays with oil and flour in them
• fat and then flour
• fat and then sugar
• homemade cake lube

Glazing the Pound Cake

I rarely measure when I make a glaze, and you don’t have to either!

I used some powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, the wee-est splash of my favorite Sonoma Syrup Co Special Blend Pure Vanilla Bean Extract “Crush” Madagascar Bourbon and Tahitian Vanilla with Vanilla Bean Seeds (that’s what the label says. I just call it vanilla) and a little half and half.

I tend to make a thicker glaze so it shows up thick and white on the cake. Other people like thinner glaze. There is no one right way.

Start by adding a small amount of liquid at a time, and whisk well in between. Stop when it gets to the consistency you like.

Then, once the cake cools, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle.

In case you were wondering, it’s called “Crush” because it has crushed up vanilla beans in it so there are wee vanilla specks. It is, hands down, the best vanilla I’ve ever had.

This is a great recipe, folks. It’s buttery, and the mixture of the extracts lends a subtle and can’t-put-your-finger-on-it quality to the cake. I heard a lot of, “What exactly am I tasting?” The folks at the party loved it, and I give full credit to Miss Patsy for the original recipe and to Cindy for sharing it with me. Thanks, Cindy!

If you have any questions about this or any other recipe or post on the site, there are a few ways to get in touch.

You can leave a comment on the post, and I’ll be back in touch within 24 hours.

If your question is more pressing, don’t hesitate to email me, and I should be back in touch within 4 hours (unless I’m asleep) or often much more quickly than that.

This is the kitchen scale that I recommend for home cooks and bakers. Using a scale will help you be more accurate and consistent in your measurements.

It is lightweight, easy to store, accurate, and very easy to use.

This is the one I have, and I love it.

I hope you’ve learned something from this post or that you’ve decided to make the recipe.

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Thank you so much for being here and for helping others find my recipes by sharing on your social platforms!

And now it’s time to make the very best pound cake you will ever have. Not that I’m biased.

And there you have it, the original “Van Halen” pound cake recipe, the pound cake recipe from which all my other pound cakes come.

Thanks for spending some time with me today. Take care, and have a lovely day.