Granny’s Five-Flavor Pound Cake

The very fine crumb is what I notice most about this cake - perhaps that's from the cornstarch. Also that it is lighter than most pound cakes. I used five flavorings: vanilla and almond extracts (1 tsp each); dark rum, orange blossom water, and rosewater (1 Tbs each), yet I wasn't able to taste any flavorings, except a bit of vanilla. Fairly bland on its own, but makes a good base for strawberries and whipped cream.

I followed this recipe to the letter and the cake could not come out of the bundt pan. What a waste of butter, eggs, etc.

Has anyone tried making this into loaf pans instead of the big Bundt pan? I would like to try it that way.. but would love to hear from the community first.

To me, the almond extract was overpowering in smell and taste. Next time, I will not use. As someone else mentioned, the cake came out beautiful, nice and high. When I came back, it appeared to have fallen along with my expectations. I cooked the cake til the skewer came out clean. However, after taking it out of the pan and letting it cool, I sliced it, and it looked perfect, not as if it had fallen. So a little odd. But everyone seemed to love it with people asking for the recipe.

Not owning a 10-cup bundt pan, I used 2, 5-cup glass tube ones, and baked them for 55 minutes at 163 C, pretty close to the estimate for one large cake. They rose fine, a skewer came out clean, all seemed well, but somehow the center seemed underbaked when I cut through one, and they sank. I had followed the recipe fairly closely, tinkered a bit with the flavorings (can't find coconut extract here), but was overall disappointed.

I thought this cake was bland -- even for a pound cake. The "five flavors" were timid, at best. There are many better pound cake recipes.

My family loved the cake but I wished I had trusted my instincts and used a 12 cup Bundt pan instead of a 10 cup, as the recipe says to do.

I made this exactly as written and it is perfection!

Just a great cake!

I baked this today for Easter dessert. Forgot to add the baking powder until after I poured the batter into the pan, so I mixed it in by hand. I was worried the texture might be off as a result, but it was fine. The cake took 80 minutes to bake through in my electric oven. I used all five extracts. I'm surprised by the bad reviews. The cake came out great. Standard pound cake texture with an extra twist from the five flavors. I think it'll be even better tomorrow, after the flavors meld.

Used 4 tsp of Rum instead of Rum extract - was perfect.

This is a terrible recipe. The proportions are off, and it does not bake properly. Probably the baking powder and butter. Need to check the measurements. And the very low temperature.

Even desserts can be mostly or even all whole grain. When I need cake flour, I substitute 2/3 oat flour and 1/3 whole wheat pastry flour or 1/3 unbleached bread flour. Way too many recipes call for all purpose white flour when there are great whole grain substitution possibilities. I have been baking this way for over two decades and only very rarely does someone notice the whole grain flour. White all-purpose flour is part of the SAD diet, cheap and not good for you.

I made this as written and flavor was great, however texturally it was not light and fluffy it was kind of dense and hard. I think my oven may need to be adjusted so could be overcooked, but I wonder if the type of butter makes a difference? When creaming the butter and sugar it never got creamy exactly more like pebbly even though it was at room temp. I weighed dry ingredients instead of measuring them. Someday I’m going to figure this baking thing out!

At 60 minutes, I think it came out a little too dry for our tastes.