A HARTE APPETITE: POUND CAKE BEST FOR STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Summer has finally arrived, both calendarwise and weatherwise. And to me the embodiment of summer is strawberry shortcake. Good berries, of course, are the star of this dessert, but if you want to raise the dish to gourmet status don't neglect the cake on which the berries nestle. To give the dessert real elegance, forego store bought sponge cake or even homemade shortcake in favor of pound cake.

Rose Levy Beranbaum, in The Cake Bible (a book worth reading religiously), calls pound cake the "mother" of cakes because all other butter cakes are descendants of it. Originally made with a pound each of flour, butter, sugar and eggs (Would it be called kilogram cake had it been invented in a country on the metric system?), it is not too sweet, making it the perfect foil for fresh fruit.

Though all pound cakes have a deep buttery taste, there are many flavor variations ranging from lemon poppy seed to chocolate. (One of my favorites uses lemon verbena, a citrus-flavored herb my wife grows during the summer.)

But you won't find a better recipe than the one sent in by Kitty Rueseler of Cape Girardeau. Having made it recently I can tell you it may be the best pound cake I've ever tasted. (Maybe one reason is that it contains cream cheese, a unique ingredient for pound cake and one I'm partial to.)

The recipe belongs to Kitty's mother, Bertha McGowan of Augusta, Ga., who has had plenty of practice making it over the years. (She'll be 94 next April.) Kitty writes, "It would be impossible to know how many times she has made this cake for a sick friend, a funeral dinner, Christmas gifts to her neighbors, church suppers, her family or for any occasion that might come along." Mrs. McGowan has even been known to place a wrapped slice of the cake in the mailbox as a surprise for her mail carrier. (There's one postal worker who should feel a lot less stressed!)

So if you're looking for an ethereal dessert for the summer months, try serving Mrs. McGowan's pound cake with strawberries or other fresh fruit (though it's great all by itself too).

MAMA BERTHA'S POUND CAKE

As with any pound cake, be certain to mix the batter thoroughly, but be careful of overbeating, which can toughen the cake. Use a large pan; this makes plenty of batter. I used a cast aluminum unlined Bundt pan that produces the prettiest crust. Mini Bundt pans would make for impressive individual servings.

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter

1 stick margarine

8 ounce package cream cheese

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups flour

Directions:

Cream together butter, margarine and cream cheese. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Mix baking powder and flour and add to mixture one cup at a time. Beat thoroughly. Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes before removing from pan.

CHOCOLATE CHIP WALNUT POUND CAKE

It's gilding the lily, but consider this variation on Mrs. McGowan's recipe. Pour half the batter into prepared pan and sprinkle with 1 cup each chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour remaining batter over, spread evenly and sprinkle with another cup each of chocolate chips and walnuts. Bake as usual.

LOW FAT TRIPLE GINGER POUND CAKE

The typical list of ingredients for pound cake suggests that it is aptly named. It doesn't take many slices to put on extra pounds. Though a low-fat pound cake can never equal that of Mrs. McGowan's, I have found the following recipe from Cooking Light Magazine to be tasty. As in all low-fat baking, cake flour is essential here to avoid a rubbery texture.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons softened margarine

2/3 cup sugar

3 egg whites

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 carton (8 ounce) lemon nonfat yogurt

1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

1 tablespoon peeled, minced fresh ginger

2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Spray 8-by-4-by-3-inch loaf pan with Pam and dust with flour. Cream margarine and sugar, add egg whites and beat at medium mixer speed 4 minutes or until well blended. Combine flour, soda, salt and ground ginger and add to margarine mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Makes 16 servings at 4.5 fat grams each, which means you can eat two slices and still consume less than 10 grams of fat.

It's not too late to send in your favorite recipe for barbecue sauce or marinade. Send it (or any recipe for that matter) to The Harte Appetite, c/o Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO., 63702-0699. And if you're looking for a recipe for something in particular, send your request to the same address and we'll do our best to locate the one you're after.

~Tom Harte is a professor at Southeast Missouri State University and writes a food column for the Southeast Missourian.