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The soft pillow-like texture of a delicious moist pound cake - smothered in icing or glaze and paired with an afternoon tea. A fine accompaniment to fruit and the perfect end to a meal.

But how many times have you tried to make a cake, only to find it flat, heavy, dry, or just flat-out boring. I am not here to give you several recipes for pound cakes, I am going to educate you on just what you can do with the pound cake recipe you already have, and what you can do to improve it. I will share with you, the secrets of making the perfect pound cake.

Tip #1 - JUST WHAT DOES "CREAMING" MEAN, ANYWAY?

This is where it all begins. The stage of the cake where it says to "cream together" the sugar and the butter. "Cream" has got to be one of the most misleading cooking terms - it is vague, far-fetched, and can throw your entire recipe off balance if you don't do it right.

Creaming the mixture does a couple of things. One, it softens the fats, usually butter or shortening. But, two, the most important thing that creaming does is that it aerates the mixture. Aerating is what makes your cake rise, along with the help of baking soda. You see, the sugar in the mixture acts as sort of an "abrasive", and cuts into the fats producing many small pockets of air in the mix.

The best way to "cream" a mixture starts with the temperature of the fat. Usually this fat is butter. The best temperature for butter would be "room temperature", which can range slightly from month to month, depending on what season it is. 70*F is the ideal temperature for fats.

To cream the mixture, most people make the mistake of completely beating the mixture to death with wire whisks. The best way to incorporate air is to use the paddle attachment of your mixer, as it gets more "slapped" around, than beaten. This is you want.

Add the butter to your mixing bowl. Cream it for a couple minutes before you add the sugar. You want the fat to cover the bowl. After a couple of minutes, add your sugar while still mixing. Add it slowly, not all at once. Keep creaming the mixture until you can no longer see the sugar granules and the mixture increases in volume. It should be lighter in color, and you should still be able to feel the granules when you squeeze a bit of the mixture with your fingers.

Tip #2 - ADDING OF THE EGGS

Make sure that your eggs are well chilled, and break them into a seperate bowl before adding to your creamed mixture. Give them a little bit of a whisk first and THAN add them slowly to your bowl while

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