Perfect Pound Cake - For Real

Not only are we experiencing a heat wave which is expected to last at least one full week, but we are also suffering drought conditions.  The vegetable garden will have to be watered.  My perennials are green, but the flowering has declined and faded from view.  I, myself, am wilted as my 'optimum for comfort' air temperature range is between 70 and 72 degrees.  I may be exaggerating a tad, but not much.  Once the temperature rises above 75, my energy level drops and I am, totally, useless.  I go into a resting, no activity mode.

At 6:30 AM (pre heat), I did a bit of garden clean-up, cut dill weed to dry (I make a mean dill rye bread), and washed two loads of laundry which I hung outside to dry (that should take about 15 minutes).  By 8:00 o'clock, I was dripping.  I came inside to read a book (currently Wuthering Heights - a classic, but difficult to understand the language of the day - c. 1800) while my body cooled down with only the aid of a ceiling fan.

Pound cake, which I made last night, was on my lunch menu.  I added a scoop of last year's home grown raspberries (frozen but thawed, of course) and a big, and I mean big, dollop of Cool Whip.  Oh...I cannot forget the tall glass of ice cold milk. Perfect!

yummy!

My pound cake recipe is a true pound cake using a pound of butter, a pound of confectioner's sugar, a pound of eggs, and a pound of flour.  What makes this cake especially tasty, I am sure, is the use of our farm, fresh eggs.  What better way to use the surplus eggs than in a cake.  And, color.  You know how I like color.  The cake is a delightful yellow due to the incredibly yellow yolks of our eggs.  I use my Grandmother's old kitchen scale to measure out the ingredients.  My Grandmother has been gone for year, but using her 'stuff' stirs up wonderful memories.  She was a good cook; so perhaps, I will acquire some of her expertise through osmosis by using her cooking utensils.  Wouldn't that be fantastic!

My pound cake is good, but it is never as good as what my Grandmother Tomany use to make - a single layer, white, square cake frosted with a thin coating of chocolate; embossed with crossed lines, dragging the tines of a fork, for decoration.  The frosting hardened within minutes.  The cake was ready to eat.  And, delicious! I do not think anyone in the family was able to replicate the unique flavor of Grandma's cake.  I believe her use of lard for the shortening was the secret.  I have not had the nerve to try using lard in my cakes, so I guess I will never know. In  any case, you had to be quick to get a piece of Grandma's cake before it was completely devoured by all the cousins.