Louisa Shafia

Grandmother’s Pound Cake from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook

This is a recipe that my babysitter Florence Dugan, who was my spiritual grandmother, used to make for me. My mom recently found the recipe written on an index card in Florence’s handwriting. She made a copy and sent it to me. I started looking up pound cake recipes to compare to hers, and discovered that her recipe came from Fannie Farmer.

It’s pure love in the form of sugar. Growing up, my house was not a safe place. There was fighting and violence that was often directed towards me. But Florence, or Mrs. Dugan as I called her, was my safe haven. She came to work for my family when I was a baby, and we had a special bond. She loved me unconditionally, treating me like a princess, and in turn she was my favorite person. As a former chef in a corporate cafeteria, she was a skilled cook and a gifted baker, and she got as much joy making me elaborate sandwiches and decadent sweets as I got from eating them. One of her specialties was this pound cake, light and fluffy and yellow. It was simple and perfect with a cold glass of milk. I’m so grateful I have this and a few other recipes of hers. The older I get the more strongly I feel how much she did to guide me through a treacherous time, and how much her habits rubbed off on me. Making her recipes brings her closer to me.