Originally posted on June 1st, 2011

In 8th grade, our entire class took a 14-hour bus trip across Texas (yes, Texas is that big) to Big Bend National Park to camp out for the week.  The longest and hardest hike of the week was the “Blue Creek.”  We packed PB & Jelly sandwiches and a few snacks to carry us through the hike, but the last couple hours of the hike were especially brutal: the pretty sights were over, we were all hungry, and the hike consisted of switch-back after switch-back.   In order to pass time, we started brainstorming different foods I would sell if I owned a restaurant at the bottom of the mountain – I think the name was going to be “Blue Creek Café” or something equally as creative.  After awhile, the conversation evolved into us just naming all of our favorite foods.  Someone brought up pound cake.  Alex T. then said that the way you can determine whether a pound cake is good or not is if you smash your fork into it and the pound cake squishes through the fork.   Every time I have pound cake now, I have to do the test.  This recipe passes with flying colors.

This particular recipe comes from Nina who taught me how to cook.  I used to just sit in the kitchen and watch her make banana bread (I once ate a whole (mini) loaf in one sitting and then had to go take a long nap), chicken fried steak (my favorite), and all sorts of other things.  She rarely used a recipe – she just knew what to add.  Most of the time the ingredients were ‘heaping’ and she’d stop adding when it seemed right.  Of the hundreds of things she used to make, I only have a few recipes, and this is one of them.  Nina turned 89 yesterday – happy birthday!!

Citation: Nina Perkins

Nina’s Pound Cake

3 cups flour
3 sticks butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 T vanilla
1 cup sour cream
¼ teaspoon baking soda, mixed into the sour cream.

Grease a bunt pan well (I recommend using butter and flour to make sure the cake comes out smoothly).
Mix together all of the ingredients and pour into the pan.
Bake at 325 for 1 hour to 1 ¼ hours.

Serve by itself or with some strawberries.

The sour cream is what makes the cake so moist.