Can you post or link the recipes? When you say they rose the length of your index finger, you're saying they rose too much or too little?

Lemon Pound Cake

1 1/2 c. butter, softened, 3 c. sugar, 8 eggs, 3 c all purposes flour, 1 T. plus 1 1/2 t. lemon juice, 1 T. plus 1 1/2 t. lemon extract. cream butter; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour, mixing well. Stir in lemon juice and extract. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10" tube pan. Bake at 350degrees for 1 hr and 15 minutes

The thing that jumps out at me are the number of eggs and the lack of leveners.

Something in the recipe caught my eye (softened butter). I was thinking about the butter I placed in the bowl with the sugar, it may have not been softened enough. Should the butter have a glossy look when it is softened? If so, mine was not softened.

I checked several of the recipes in this particular book and they do not contain leveners. Think I'll go to trade recipe site and try and find a simple recipe.Should butter have a glossy when softened? I will appreciate your help about the appearance of butter when its softened. Thanks in advance for any suggestion you can give me.

Maybe your butter got too warm. I remember reading something by Shirley Corriher that said butter starts to melt above 68 degrees, and once it melts, even if you rechill it, you won't get the proper emulsion anymore.

I just use an instant-read thermometer if I'm not sure about the butter. If it's too warm, I get out more butter and use the first stick for something else. But I was curious about your question, and I found this in an article about baking cookies:

Q: How do you judge the correct temperature and texture in recipes that require "room temperature" butter  and how do you soften butter quickly.

A: For baking considerations, butter at room temperature should register between 65-68 degrees when an instant-read thermometer is inserted in the center of the stick. At this temperature, the butter is firm but leaves an indention when gently pressed.

In "Baking 911," author Sarah Phillips describes room-temperature butter as firm but bendable, with a shiny but not greasy surface.

When I read your first question, my thought was that you didn't cream the butter sufficiently. There's great info about how to do it right at Baking911.

Here is a link that might be useful: Baking911 on creaming

I have three recipes for lemon pound cake (probably all copied from this site) and they all contain leavening, one has 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, one has 1 teaspoon of baking powder and the third has 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. I think it's essential in a cake, and since your cake didn't rise, it's probably worth adding some.

Good luck.

It is very common for a pound cake to have lots of eggs and to not contain baking powder.

This recipe is very similar to the one you made but it also has a cup of heavy cream.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Here is the recipe y'all, everyone I have shared this with loves it. I know there are alot of recipes floating around out there, but this one is my and many others favorite.

Janelle McComb,who was Elvis's friend from the time he was a boy in Tupelo Mississippi used to bake two loaves of this cake every Christmas and bring them to Graceland. On a good day, Elvis could eat one all by himself. He shared the other with his entourage.

ELVIS PRESLEY'S FAVORITE POUND CAKE

3 cups sugar
1/2 pound of butter softened
7 eggs room temperature
3 cups cake flour, sifted twice
1 cup heavy cream (not whipped)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Thoroughly butter and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Cream together the sugar and butter. Add eggs one at a time, beating extremely well after each addition. Mix 1/2 half of the flour, then the whipping cream, then the other half of the flour. Beat 5 full minutes. Add vanilla. Pour batter into prepared pan. Set in cold oven and turn temp to 350 degrees. Bake 1 hour to 90 minutes, until a sharp knife inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool thoroughly. Wrapped well in foil, this cake keeps several days.

Just because something is "common" does not make it good, ant. The original pound cake got it's name because it contained a pound of each key ingredient. All of the recipes used that common theme. I am willing to be that if anyone followed a common recipe of 1 lb each flour, butter and eggs, that the result would turn out incredibly dry compared to cakes we are use to today....

Here is a nice pound cake from the joyofbaking. You can replace the vanilla with lemon juice or make a lemon glaze with 8 tablespoons powdered sugar, 5 tablespoons lemon juice, 3 tablespoons dark rum, a pinch of salt.

A good way to tell if your butter is soft enough is to see if you can bend it easily without it cracking or turning to mush. :)

Pound Cake
Stephanie Jaworski

1 3/4 cups (230 grams) cake flour, sifted

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup (226 grams) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Zest of a lemon or orange (optional)

Note: To make your own superfine sugar - place 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar in the bowl of your food processor. Process until very fine, about 30 seconds.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter or spray with a pan spray, a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter or spray the paper.

In a large bowl, sift together twice, the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy and smooth. Gradually add the sugar, beating continuously on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (this will take about 5 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. After about five minutes the batter should be light in color and fluffy in texture. Then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. You will notice that the batter will look curdled. Don't worry as the batter will come together again after you add the flour mixture. Add the vanilla and lemon zest, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature

Will keep several days well wrapped or it can be frozen for a month.

Makes one 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

Here is a link that might be useful: Joy of Baking

A traditional Pound Cake is made from equal parts, butter, eggs, sugar and flour. The eggs are the leavening agent. Over the years Pound Cake recipes have been adjusted to include baking powder.

Ann

Like I said I bet you wouldn't like the traditional recipe, much too dry. It wasn't until after the civil war that baking powder was widely available. I promise you, if Southern cooks had access to it before the war we would have included it in the original recipe!

You've all made some valuable points.

Rabbit, if you had beaten the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy (4 to 5 minutes), your pound cake should have risen properly.

Leaveners are helpful, but are not a crucial ingredient in pound cakes. What leaveners do, specifically, is help open the crumb, resulting in a lighter textured, and tender cake.

But, the crucial step in creating that melt-in-your-mouth feel in pound cakes, is achieved by the thorough creaming of the butter and the sugar. Btw, I prefer to use superfine sugar instead of regular, granulated sugar. Not mandatory, but it makes for a better cake.

Eggs would not be the leavening agent here. However, the beating of eggs until very light and doubled in volume, is a technique reserved for making Génoise, and other sponge type cakes, not for pound cakes.

I have several favorite pound cake recipes. One uses a pinch of baking soda, while the other does not. And they both rise beautifully.

Another tip, I use cake flour, not all-purpose flour in most of my cakes.

Good luck rabbit with your next baking jamboree.

Sol

I've been baking this pound cake for almost 50 years...

1 lb. butter
1 lb. confectioners sugar
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 C. flour

Have butter and eggs at room temp. Cream butter. Gradually add sugar beating until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and gradually beat in flour. Pour in well greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake 350 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 min. or until cake springs back at touch. Cool 10 min. and remove from pan...It rises beautifully and isn't dry. Delicious buttery flavor. I usually chop some pecans, spread a little batter in mold, add the pecans and then add the remaining batter for a little bit of nuts on top. When cooled, I sprinkle with conf. sugar. This is an easy no fail recipe. (at least it has never failed for me.

I can tell you that if anyone knows cakes, it's Sol, she'd never lead you wrong.

I do agree, the butter must be beaten well or the cake will not rise sufficiently without leavening. If it helps, I don't think butter is "glossy" after it's well beaten, I think it gets lighter in color and texture and kind of dull in appearance.

Whether you choose to use leavening or not depends on the recipe you like and how much beating you want to do. I love pound cake, so I don't make it very much, and my arteries thank me. (grin)

I like this one, with no leavening but with cream cheese:

OLD FASHIONED POUND CAKE

1 lb. butter, softened
1 brick cream cheese (the big, 8 oz one)
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 Tbsp. vanilla
3 cups cake flour

Beat butter and cream cheese together until well mixed. Gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each egg. Add vanilla. Blend in flour carefully. Put batter into a greased and floured 10 inch tube or bundt pan. Bake at 325 for 1 hour to 1 1/4 hours. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto plate or rack. Serve warm or cool.

Grandma always told me that beating the butter and cream cheese well was crucial to the success of the pound cake, so crucial that she told me to beat the stuff 10 minutes! Now remember, she beat hers by hand, I think Sol's 5 minutes are probably much more reasonable and I just beat it until it looks "right".

She did not use cake flour either, she sifted the flour four times before she used it. Now I know that cake flour can be replaced with regular flour, one cup of regular flour minus two tablespoons. Maybe all that sifting took care of the 2 tablespoon difference.

I also like it with almond extract in place of the vanilla or lemon extract and brushed with a lemon glaze.

Annie

I thank every one for taking time to help me and send me valuable information. I have never invited people for Christmas Dinner because I felt like my cakes would not be good. I'm going to attempt to use the recipes I've recieved from you good people. I've learned a lot today and will print this information for future use. I'll let you know how the cakes turned out. Thanks for the 911 website. Thanks so much.