Southern Living staffers taste and review the Barefoot Contessa’s most Southern recipes.
Will Dickey
In the South,pound cake recipesare prized possessions.
Everyone has a favorite version, and many people arent always willing to share the details with others.
Credit:Will Dickey
And thats just for starters.
We all know that Ina Garten isnt a Southerner, but she can bake with the best of them.
(Although we may disagree about how much sugar she puts inher cornbread.)
Credit:Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Her Perfect Pound Cake seems like something youd find in any good bakery in the South.
(Vanilla extractAND vanilla bean seeds?
Ina, we love you, but come on.)
Credit:Lisa Cericola
Her recipes famously produce great results, but canher pound cakestand up to the scrutiny ofSouthern Livingeditors?
Heres what we really think.
I love the simplicity of it: flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Serve with tea in the afternoon or for dessert with some fresh berries and a dollop of creme fraiche.
This rich and buttery cake has earned high praise from readers for decades.
The ingredients are what you would expect: butter, sugar, eggs, all-purpose flour, and milk.
One reader commented: Ive been making this pound cake for years.
Another person wrote: This recipe isworth a MILLION DOLLARS!!!
I goofed up and it still came out beautifully and moist.
That said, there are still a few fancy flourishes.
(It wouldnt be a Barefoot Contessa recipe without them!)
As the cake bakes, the sugar helps create a crackly crust.
Another key difference is that her recipe calls for heavy cream, while ours calls for milk.
And she specifies sifting the cake flour THREE (yes, she uses all caps) times.
I like that it’s not overly sweet or buttery and the hint of citrus is nice.
As I picked it up, I thought, Oh no, its really firm.
It will be dry.
Its moist and has an excellent flavor.
This is a great cake if you want to grill it and top with warm fruit.
It will hold its shape well.
Its more firm than I imagine pound cake to be, and a bit denser.
But it wasnt dry, so I was okay with it.
Not too sweet and has a good, but not overpowering, butter flavor.
The sugar gave the exterior of the cake a nice crackly texture, especially along the edges.
It was a bit dense, but very flavorful.
It didnt just taste like butter and sugar, like a lot of pound cakes do.
The vanilla didnt really come through as much.
I dont think the extra sifting made a difference at allthe texture is still on the dense side.
Heavy and firm but still moist.
Its sweet without being overly so.
Would need some ice cream or something with it to help with density.
Very firm and dense.
May be good for holding up to toppings but not my favorite by itself.
Final Thoughts
Is it truly perfect?
But its a darn good pound cake.
(If you add a topping or two…)
