Sour Cream Pound Cake

This recipe has been in our family since 1971. We were then in Chicago, living in the student housing of the University of Chicago. Yaron was a few months old, and we belonged to a babysitting co-op in the building – (a brilliant “invention” – when you joined the babysitting co-op, you got a list of all members, plus a certain amount of play money – there was a set “price” for each hour of babysitting – all with play money; in order to use this babysitting co-op you had to offer your babysitting services so as not to run out of play money). And so, one evening I was babysitting for the kids of a lovely couple from Puerto Rico (the Romero family, if I remember correctly). When their kids fell asleep, I was browsing through the magazines which were on the coffee table. I found this recipe, and it quickly became one of our favorites.

It has always been Noam’s favorite, and whenever he comes home to visit us in Jerusalem, he has this cake waiting for him.

And I was very touched to hear several years ago, that my niece Debbie Kadish Rivkin adopted this cake as one of her favorites.

So, I happily dedicate this recipe to Debbie and to Noam!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (240 grams – or 1/2 lb.) butter, softened for a few hours outside of the refrigerator
• 2 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (soda Le-shtiya in Israel)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• Optional: sweetened cocoa powder (“Shokolit” – or, in the U.S. something like “Nesquick”)

Preparation:

1. In mixer, cream the butter and sugar, till light and fluffy.
2. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
3. Sift flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl.
4. Add flour mixture alternatively with sour cream, to the butter/sugar mixture in mixer bowl, beating after each addition.
5. Add lemon juice and vanilla extract. Beat only till incorporated.
6. At this point, if you want to turn this pound cake into a lightly marbled “marble cake”, you can remove 2-3 cups of the mixture to another bowl, to which you can add about 2 Tablespoons of the optional sweetened cocoa powder.
7. Grease tube pan, and pour in the batter. If you are making marble cake, put in the white mixture alternatively with the chocolate mixture. If desired, you can lightly swirl the mixtures with the tip of knife; do not “overswirl”. Another method is to first pour in the white mixture, and then over that pour in the chocolate mixture. If you are making plain white pound cake, just pour in all the batter.
8. Bake in preheated medium (180 C or 350 F) oven for about 90 minutes, till ready. The top should be nicely browned with a crack along the center.
9. Cook completely before serving.