Make a Dump Cake

What’s a dump cake?  It’s a cake where all you have to do is dump the ingredients into a bowl, beat them as the recipe says, pour the batter into a pan and bake it.  The fact that a dump cake is simple to make doesn’t mean that it isn’t as good as a more fancy cake.  Pound cakes have been popular for hundreds of years.

When these cakes were first made, there weren’t any measuring cups and spoons.  Instead of measuring, cooks either guessed how much of the ingredients they needed to use or weighed them.  Pound cakes got their name from the fact that they were made with a pound each of the main ingredients – flour, sugar, butter and eggs.  Because the recipe here makes only one loaf cake instead of a bigger cake, the main ingredients weigh roughly one-half pound each.  For example, a dozen Large eggs weigh 1 1/2 pounds, so 8 Large eggs weigh a pound and 4 Large eggs weigh ____ pound (can you fill in the blank?). 

Silky-textured pound cakes are rich and moist all by themselves, so they aren’t usually frosted.  But pound cakes can be made with different flavorings.  To honor George Washington, the recipe here is flavored with cherries and some nuts to add crunch.  If you’d rather have blue specks in your golden yellow cake, use 1 cup of whole blueberries in place of the cherries and, for variety, use 1/4 cup chopped almonds in place of the pecans.  For a butter-pecan version, skip the cherries, use firmly packed brown sugar instead of granulated sugar and toss in 1/3 cup of chopped pecans instead of 1/4 cup.  For a lemony cake, leave out both the fruit and nuts and use 1 teaspoon of lemon extract in place of the almond extract.

Long ago, cooks used to pull a straw out of a clean broom to use when they tested their cakes to see if they were done.  Today, many bakers use a thinnish metal wire with a knob on top.  If you don’t have a cake tester, you can use a wooden pick.  Gently push the tester or pick into the middle of the cake and pull it out again.  If the tester comes out with liquidy batter on it, keep baking the cake.  If the tester comes out clean, take the cake out of the oven.

If you have any pound cake leftovers that become stale, you can revive them.  Cut the leftover pound cake slices into finger shapes and dip them in melted chocolate.  Or, dip whole slices of pound cake in beaten eggs.  Then, if you like, sprinkle the slices with shredded coconut.  Press gently with the back of a spoon to make the coconut stick.  Cook the dipped (or dipped and coconut-coated) cake slices just as you would cook French toast.

Hints

Use this pound cake as a springboard for discussing U.S. history.  In addition to being Bake for Family Fun Month, February marks the anniversary of George Washington’s birthday.  George Washington, called the Father of Our Country, was born February 22, 1732.  Do the math to figure out how long ago that was.  (Hint:  Subtract 1732 from this year.)  There are both facts and legends about Washington.  It’s a fact that he was a general and commander in chief of the colonial armies when the American colonies fought for independence from Britain.  Washington was also the first president of the United States of America.  There’s a story that, when he was young, George chopped down a cherry tree.  He admitted doing it because, he said, “I cannot tell a lie”.   Whether it’s true or just a legend, this story is why cherries are often used in special treats when George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are honored during Presidents Day each February.

The United States of America became an independent nation in 1776.  Twenty years later, in 1796, the first American cookbook was published in Connecticut, one of the original 13 colonies.  The full title of Amelia Simmon’s  book was American Cookery, on the Art of Drinking, Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables, and the best modes of making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves, and all kinds of Cakes.  Although Simmons probably meant meats, the old word viand just means food.  By pastes, she probably meant what we call pastries today and puffs were most likely cream puffs.  Yes, there was a pound cake recipe in Simmon’s book!

According to the cover, Simmon’s book included only cooking receipts, an old word that meant received rules for cookery.  Handwritten receipts were what we call recipes today.  In addition to recipes for everyday and special cooking, other early American cookbooks also included recipes for homemade medicines to treat illnesses and recipes for household mixtures, such as cleaning aids.  These household books help us to understand what foods were available for the colonists to eat, what they knew about nutrition, what kinds of diseases they tried to overcome and what their everyday lives were like.  Some of these books also tell us about the customs of the time and what the people living then thought was right and wrong in behavior.  Instead of commanding armies, Amelia Simmons and other cookbook authors made history in their own way – by caring for their families and preserving information about their lives.

Cherry Pecan Pound Cake 1 loaf cake or 8 servings
	•	1 cup butter, softened
	•	1 cup sugar
	•	4 eggs
	•	1 teaspoon vanilla
	•	1/2 teaspoon almond extract
	•	1/2 teaspoon salt
	•	1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
	•	1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
	•	1 jar (6 oz.) maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
	•	1/4 cup chopped pecans

In large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, vanilla, extract, salt and nutmeg.  Beat until thoroughly blended.  Reduce mixer speed to low.  Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, beating just until blended.  Stir in cherries and pecans.  Spread evenly in greased and floured 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan.

Bake in preheated 325° F oven until cake tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 60 to 70 minutes.  Cool on wire rack 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely.