POUND CAKES: Originally this dense-textured, rich yellow loaf  cake, originating in England, was made with one pound each of flour, butter, sugar and eggs, plus a flavoring like vanilla or lemon. A myriad of variations has evolved throughout the centuries. 

For the typical American Pound cake, the proportions of those four essential ingredients vary with additions such as leavening (baking powder or baking soda). The cake's ingredients are frequently augmented or replaced by sour cream, egg yolks, cream and a variety of flavorings from coconut, nuts, raisins and dried fruit.  If you don't want to make a Pound cake from scratch, it can be made from a mix or you can find ready-made cakes among the frozen foods in your supermarket.

But, whether you serve it plain or fancy, a Pound cake is so versatile. It can be served as a simple, unadorned dessert with a bowl of fresh fruit. Another way is my favorite: serving pound cake lightly toasted with a scoop of ice cream on the side. You can also brush with jam and top with orange peel or drizzle glaze or fudge sauce over when serving. Plus, for decorating, a Pound cake makes a perfect cake to cover with Fondant, because it is sturdy and will not crush under its weight and keeps moist for a longer period of time because of its high fat content. But, a strudy butter cake works well, too.

AMERICAN BUTTER CAKE: The Butter cake, also known as a Shortened cake or Creamed cake, is an American classic.  It's the first cake that I learned to bake with.

In America, it is thought that the butter cake evolved  from the original pound cake recipe as there are a lot of similarities, but the butter cake is lighter in texture. The American butter cake contains 6 to 12 percent solid butter (not including the liquid and milk solids in the butter) or other shortening, 18 to 36 percent liquid (usually milk or water), 27 percent flour or a combination of flour and cocoa, 27 to 40 percent sugar, 5 to 10 percent egg, and a small amount of flavoring, and leavening such as baking powder and/or baking soda. (Proportions from Rose Levy Beranbaum)

The butter cake has become the standard cake that we cover with frosting and serve at birthdays, weddings, and graduations.  I am sure, if questioned, we can readily name our favorite butter cake,  such as  Yellow, White or Chocolate cake, or lemon, orange, strawberry and marble or chocolate and vanilla swirled together. There are limitless butter cake flavor combinations! Butter / pound cakes are good keepers and mail well, too.

I feel that a "good" butter cake should be flavorful, yet not overly sweet, tender and somewhat dense in texture, but moist and certainly not dry. It should be able to stand on its own or be filled and frosted and/or be able to be decorated to the hilt. It should become one of your "every occasion" cakes and a big part of your family's culinary events.

USES FOR BUTTER / POUND CAKES: Butter cake batters can be baked in prepared round or square pans, sheet pans or cupcake tins.  They can be iced, glazed or dusted with powdered sugar. Generally, butter / pound cakes are baked in the middle rack of a well-preheated 350 degree F, also known as a moderate oven. Here are some familiar types:

CUPCAKES: Miniature butter cakes. 

BUNDT CAKES are typically made from Butter and Pound cake recipes because they are sturdy, necessary when baking them in intricately decorated pans.

PETITS FOURS are small, square-cut, frosted and decorated piece of pound cake or sponge cake. They can be made with any flavor cake, though white and chocolate are the most common.

WEDDING CAKES are a perfect cake to make from a butter or pound cake and can be decorated. The cake layers can be stacked several layers high.Butter cakes are often  and are a popular choice for Wedding Cakes.

NOVELTY CAKES can be carved or shaped from butter or pound cakes or baked in special cake pans.

SHEET CAKES 

LAYER CAKES: They can be made into layer cakes with inventive fillings between the layers, such as lemon, raspberry, buttercream icing or nut fillings.

MIXES:  Butter and pound cakes can easily be made from packaged mixes.

HEALTHY BAKING: Butter cakes can be reduced in fat. Read more about it.

Q: WHY IS HOT WATER USED IN SOME CHOCOLATE CAKES?
A: The use of hot water is utilized in chocolate cakes in two ways. Sometimes you will see the cocoa powder dissolved in warm water before it's added to the recipe. This helps dissolve it better for more cocoa flavor.

Then, there are recipes where the leavener is added to the hot water at the end of the recipe. That is done just for color. Baking soda is added not only to a recipe for leavening, but will also enhance color. When added to water, it expenses the leavener, but changes the pH of the recipe, enhancing/darkening the color of the cocoa powder in the recipe. If there is baking powder in the recipe, as well, that's what in fact, leavens the recipe, plus any left-over baking soda not expensed.

THE CHEMISTRY BEHIND MAKING BUTTER AND POUND CAKES: Both American Butter cakes and Pound cakes follow the same techniques.

Butter and Pound cakes can be made using different mixing methods.

Butter provides aeration for the chemical leaveners by using the CREAMING METHOD. It is the original method for butter cakes, which make the lightest cakes. This involves creaming room temperature stick butter or shortening (about 65 - 68 degrees F) and crystalline sugar together where tiny bubbles are incorporated into the fat. Then, eggs are beaten in one by one.  This is followed by alternately adding the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) and the liquid ingredients (milk or cream), ending with the dry ones. The added eggs provide for more air and help form an emulsion (fat and liquids that blend) so the air bubbles are held in the batter and do not escape into the air and are evenly distributed throughout the batter. The bubbles enlarge during baking, with the help of carbon dioxide from the chemical leaveners. (Chemical leaveners cannot create air bubbles; they merely enlarge the air bubbles that already exist in the batter.) The result is a light, finely textured, tender and moist cake. 

Choose the highest quality ingredients, measure with accuracy and follow the recipe directions to the letter. 

Room temperature ingredients work best, but are not necessary because with today's stand mixers, the ingredients will warm quickly, so you can use them right from the refrigerator.  (Review Cake Making Tips).

As you move through the mixing and baking steps, use a kitchen timer to help you keep track of the mixing times written in the recipe. With Butter cakes, if you don't mix ingredients with the time specified, there is a good chance your recipe won't work or your cake won't rise, it will crack, fall apart, be dry and flavorless, etc.  

STEP #1: Read through the recipe. If you have to substitute ingredients, read about how. Position the oven shelves and preheat the oven according to the recipe. Prepare the baking pans. If you have to substitute pan sizes, find out how.

Most American-style butter cakes are prepared using the CREAMING METHOD. See a detailed explanation with photos on How to Cream.

For a brief explanation - creaming is done in three steps: beat room temperature solid fat (slightly colder at 65 degrees F) until softened and then cream together with crystalline sugar added in a steady stream. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

The first step in making a butter or pound cake is creaming which incorporates air bubbles in the batter, makes the butter double in volume and become creamy in texture.  You'll recognize it when the recipe directs you to beat the room temperature butter or shortening with the crystalline sugar, until light and fluffy. 

As the jagged sugar crystals cut into the plastic fat, tiny pockets are formed and fill with air as the mixer blades pull more butter over the top of the hole to close it. It's to these air pockets that carbon dioxide gravitates as it's released from the baking powder or soda in the hot oven. If there aren't enough air cells to begin with, the cake won't rise. (It also happens if the leaveners have expired.) When the fat is too cold or warm, it can't hold the air bubbles effectively -- when cold, the air bubbles aren't created; when too warm, they escape.

STEP #2: Mixer on low - Then, the eggs are usually added, which adds more volume and allows the mixture to hold even more air. It is very important that you add the eggs one by one, beating thoroughly after each addition, about 20 seconds each. Or, if time permits, lightly beaten eggs are added by the tablespoonful. In some recipes, the yolks are added at first, the beaten whites are folded in at the end. 

Egg yolks are emulsifiers and serve to stabilize the mixture because of the fat and lecithin contained in them (whites do not contain fat). They contribute to the fine texture of baked goods because they blend the water and fat together (emulsify) in a recipe for a creamier, smoother texture.

STEP #3: Mixer on low - A portion of the flour and dry ingredients are alternately added with a portion of the liquid ones, starting and stopping with the flour and dry ingredients. With the mixer on low, beat well after each addition. Use the flour specified in the recipe; most call for cake or all-purpose flour. Some flour substitutions can be made. Measure flour carefully; too much or too little flour is one of the most common causes of baking failures. 

Do not overmix the batter when all the flour has been added. This develops too much gluten, resulting in cake that's a tough, flavorless and dry. Alternately adding a portion of the dry ingredients with a portion of the liquid ingredients until both are blended.

Mixer on low - Then, when both the flour and milk mixtures have been added, beat the batter for 30 to 60 seconds until smooth. The resulting batter should be homogenous, thick and somewhat fluffy.

Stop the mixer and remove the bowl. With a large rubber spatula, give the batter ONE or TWO quick folds to incorporate any stray flour or milk left at the sides and bottom of the bowl. Then, STOP!

STEP #4: Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared baking pans.  Bake the cake layers in the middle of the middle rack in a well-preheated oven at a lower temperature than the recipes says, such as 350 degrees F. Use an Oven Thermometer to keep your oven right on temperature. 

The cake is done when it shrinks the the sides of the pan and when pressed lightly in the center, springs back and is lightly browned. Take the cake from the oven.

A butter cake is typically unmolded from a cake pan and thoroughly cooled on a wire cake rack before you cut, frost or store it. These cakes can also be decorated.