March is recognized for many things: its winds, St. Patrick’s Day, Daylight Saving Time and the first day of spring. But did you know that on March 4 we also observed National Pound Cake Day?

The pound cake is believed to have derived from Northern Europe dating from the early 1700s, and is possibly a British creation. The name comes from the fact that the original pound cake formula contained one pound each: butter, flour, sugar and eggs. No leavening was used other than the air whipped into the batter. This all began at the time when many people could not read so the simplicity made it an easy recipe to remember, 1-1-1-1.  

Amelia Simmons listed two pound cake recipes in “American Cookery,” the first cookbook authored by an American and published in the United States. These recipes varied somewhat from the 1-1-1-1 but listed 10 eggs as the equivalent of one pound of eggs (other recipes and even today’s recipes use 12 eggs as a pound). By the 1800s pound...