Minnie Lee Croley's Southern Sour Cream Pound Cake is an easy to make from scratch, delicious, old-fashioned moist pound cake with a thick, crunchy crust.
6egg yolksuse 12 yolks for a better cake, I used 12 yolks when making this cake and the Croley's recommend using the full 12.
6egg whites
3cupsall-purpose flour
1cupsour cream
¼teaspoonbaking soda
¼teaspoonsalt
1teaspoonvanilla extract
Instructions
(Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F and grease a (large, 10 x 5 inch) angel food cake pan or bundt pan well with Crisco. You can also use non-stick baking spray which contains flour, or grease the pan with butter. If you are using butter or Crisco, sprinkle in a few spoonfuls of flour or granulated sugar over the greased pan and tap the pan to distribute evenly. Pour out any excess flour or sugar.)
Cream the butter and sugar. (In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer until fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.)
Add six egg yolks (For a more flavorful and moist cake add 12 egg yolks. With the mixer running, add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.) (Be sure to save six of the egg whites.)
(With the mixer running, add the flour, baking soda and salt a little at a time until it is all incorporated. Add the sour cream, and mix until it is well combined in the batter. The batter will be stiff)
(Use an electric mixer to stiffly beat six (6) (not 12) egg whites until they form stiff peaks.) Gently fold the egg whites into the batter by hand. (A rubber spatula works well for this)
(Pour the batter into the cake pan and smooth out if necessary.)
Bake approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. (After about an hour and twenty minutes, use a metal or wooden skewer, toothpick, or paring knife and insert it in the middle of the cake to see if it is done. If the batter or wet crumbs cling to the tester, continue baking and check every 5 minutes.)
(When the tester comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Then carefully invert the cake onto the rack, gently lift off the pan and let the cake cool for an additional hour before serving.)
Notes
Angel food and bundt cake pans come in lots of different sizes ranging from 6.5 to 11 inches in diameter with 3 to 5-inch high sides. I used a large 18 cup, angel food cake pan, 10 inches in diameter with 5-inch high sides for this recipe, and that is what I recommend.If you do go smaller, make sure that the batter doesn't come up any farther than one, and one-half inches from the top edge or, you run the risk of it overflowing in your oven. Also, keep in mind that if you use a different size pan, the amount of time the cake will take to bake and the texture can also be affected. I have added a few more instructions than Mrs. Croley had in her original recipe. Back when she was cooking, home recipes and even cookbooks contained very few detailed directions. Fast forward to today, and I know some of you might have limited baking experience. But I don't want that to deter you from trying out this old-fashioned but easy recipe. My additions are in parentheses.