Granny’s Five-Flavor Pound Cake Recipe (2024)

I make a LOT of cakes and over the years I've adjusted the method to keep things simple. Yes to sifting the flour/cornstarch mix, yes to beating the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, but at that stage you can then add everything else and just beat the mixture for 3 minutes to get everything well combined and aerated. Adding one egg at a time etc risks curdling the batter which an all-at-once mix will not do. Saves time and the result is perfect.

As a general rule, for recipes requiring 1 teaspoon of rum extract, use 3 tablespoons of rum.

I made it yesterday. The only change was I switched the rum extract for an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract (no rum in my house and mint and anise did not sound like they would add yumminess). The cake came out great. Excellent rounded flavor, a rich taste. I would definitely recommend it.

I love how you can pitch in the extracts in your spice cabinet into this cake. A great dessert recipe to use up those specialty ingredients you’ve used once before in a now forgotten great-sounding-at-the-time recipe from the NYTimes.

I enjoyed making this cake. I was very curious to taste the final result with all five flavors. As in the description said, the cake is soft, fluffy and delicious. It tasted like vacation, so I understand why was Christmas cake for the Chef’s family. The only thing for me is the coconut flavor, is very strong. Next time I will use just 1/2 tsp and 1 tsp for the rest.

If one does have cake flour what is the correct weight to use? Same as all-purpose?

I have the same Q, as I actually have cake flour on hand.

“It will smell really, really good.” You’re not kidding! My home smelled really, really good for the rest of the day. And then we got to eat it (once it was cooled down). It was amazing, to say the least. I had some cake flour on hand (1 cup regular flour = 1-1/8 cup cake flour) and I had the most beautifully textured cake, smooth and the smallest crumb. Thank you NYT, Carla Hall and Genevieve Ko for sharing such a great recipe.

I just researched cake flour weight vs all purpose, and the weight is the same (128 grams), however if measuring the cake flour is 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of flour vs the 1 cup of all purpose flour.

Something I found out recently: be careful substituting different types of flours if you are WEIGHING. Cake flour weighs less than all purpose flour. So if you weigh out the same weight of cake flour to AP flour, you are going to get a greater VOLUME of flour. This could affect the final product.

I would use brandy instead. 3 T to a quarter cup or so.

Looked it up. Use 2 more tbsp of cake flour per cup of ap flour (and cornstarch together) required for the recipe.

Delicious, easy cake. Tender crumb. Served it with fresh strawberries and it was a huge hit. Made it in a Bundt pan that was a bit smaller than recommended, which I won’t do again, but this is a dessert that will go into my regular rotation.

What's your thought on adding more than 1t. each of the extracts? I made this cake yesterday - my first time making a cake from scratch! The texture was fabulous and the cake was moist. But...i couldn't taste any of the extract flavors. It tasted like "cake", no specific flavor. Is that what it's supposed to taste like?

We had this tonight, it was lovely! Didn’t have coconut extract so left it out and swapped 3T of rum for rum extract. We were also low on sour cream so had to use half Greek yogurt. Dusted it with powdered sugar before serving and it was a hit! Will probably make again and try out different extract combos!

This is a terrible recipe. The proportions are off, and it does not bake properly. Probably the baking powder and butter. Need to check the measurements. And the very low temperature.

Even desserts can be mostly or even all whole grain. When I need cake flour, I substitute 2/3 oat flour and 1/3 whole wheat pastry flour or 1/3 unbleached bread flour. Way too many recipes call for all purpose white flour when there are great whole grain substitution possibilities. I have been baking this way for over two decades and only very rarely does someone notice the whole grain flour. White all-purpose flour is part of the SAD diet, cheap and not good for you.

I made this as written and flavor was great, however texturally it was not light and fluffy it was kind of dense and hard. I think my oven may need to be adjusted so could be overcooked, but I wonder if the type of butter makes a difference? When creaming the butter and sugar it never got creamy exactly more like pebbly even though it was at room temp. I weighed dry ingredients instead of measuring them. Someday I’m going to figure this baking thing out!

At 60 minutes, I think it came out a little too dry for our tastes.

Made this today as written, except omitted the coconut extract as I didn’t have it, and added an extra teaspoon of vanilla. This is a lovely cake and I’ll absolutely make it again. The texture is soft, the crust of the cake is slightly crunchy probably because my oven is off so I had to cook it an extra 20 minutes—it’s a delightful cake!

Can some one explain. If the recipe notes AP flour, why is it noted for cornstartch, in parenthesis, to add addional 1/4c if using AP flour? 3/4c cornstartch with AP flour seems like a lot.

Made this last night and followed the recipe exactly. It smelled beautiful but after it cooled and I cut into it I noticed the centre part around the bundt ring did not seem cooked properly. It wasn't runny or oozing, but it was not a cake texture, definitely seemed undercooked. But the rest of the cake was fine and rose - had I left it in the oven longer I fear it would have overbaked on the top. What did I do wrong?

Usually I hate being that person but as I was making this I 1. Ran out of ingredients and 2. Didn’t have things I thought I did (do a pantry check BEFORE you bake). So, despite substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream and having to use brown sugar instead of cane, and only using vanilla and lemon extracts - this was quite good! Fantastic crumb and very moist.

long lasting aftertaste from all the flavor extracts

Guess I am the odd person out. I didn’t like this cake. Five teaspoons of extract is a lot . My wife thought it tasted like anise, which she hates. I just found the flavoring to be heavy and unappealing, dominated by coconut. The cake per se was fine. I reduced sugar by 50 g, i will have a piece tomorrow, but most likely will write it off as definitely not to my taste.

This cake came out with a beautiful, golden, shiny crust. It was moist, just sweet enough, just a great texture. The coconut overwhelms too much, and I did not taste any other flavor really except vanilla. Next time I think I will just leave it out and increase the rum by one tsp.

I made this as written (for the most part). Subbed Bob's Red Mill gluten-free 1-1 baking flour to make it gluten-free. Had all extracts except coconut, so subbed hazelnut extract for that. Baked 70 minutes. Cake came out perfect. I just had for breakfast. Smells great, nice crumb, feels like a pound cake, and is delicious. If you are concerned about calories and sugar content then don't make this recipe! This is definite make again recipe.

I want to make this but the FDA states 25 grams sugar per day for women and this recipe calls for 48! How do I reconcile this if I’m counting calories?

Delicious. I made this with a hand mixer following the simplified order from other commenters: cream butter and sugar well, then beat in all the eggs, then add sour cream and extracts and combine, then beat in the sifted dry ingredients to avoid over mixing. Great flavor with a beautiful poundcake crumb that's substantial but not overly dense, it maintains some fluffiness. Worth the trip to the grocery store to pick up all the extracts. Wish I had more people around to share it with!

Made using the directed technique (AP flour; adding the eggs and extracts one by one) and did not have a problem with curdling. I didn't have all the extracts on hand so used vanilla and almond extract as directed, substituted actual rum for the rum extract, used orange zest instead of lemon extract, and ignored the coconut entirely. Still came out very lovely and unmolded from the bundt pan perfectly. It's a very easy and forgiving cake.