7UP Pound Cake — Something Sweet for the People Who Show Up

Second week at the food bank. Monday and Thursday. Same routine. Eduardo dropped me at 9 AM. Picked me up at 2 PM. Amelia was in her tiny office handling logistics. I was in the kitchen doing the work.

Monday I made arroz con gandules. For one hundred and thirty-five people. I had pre-portioned the sofrito from home — I brought two frozen trays of my own sofrito from my house freezer, because the food bank did not have sofrito, and would not have sofrito, unless I made the sofrito, and I did not have time to make sofrito at the food bank Monday morning. The rice came from a donated twenty-pound sack. The gandules came from seven cans of Goya pigeon peas that had been sitting in the pantry. I cooked the whole thing in the twenty-gallon stockpot that had been used mostly for pasta water until I arrived.

The rice was perfect. The tally at the pass was a hundred and twenty-eight portions. The kitchen broke even with a small surplus. Two of the regulars — a woman named Esther, who is seventy-one and has been coming to the food bank lunch for four years, and a man named Terrence, who is fifty-four and is a veteran — both came up after service and told me that was the best lunch they had ever had at the food bank. Esther said, "Honey, I have had some food here. This was the first time I ate like I was somewhere nice." I did not know how to respond. I said, "I am glad. I am here every Monday and Thursday." She said, "I will see you Thursday." She did.

Thursday I made a simple pernil, scaled. Five small pork shoulders (which I had requested from the food bank's donor list on Monday — they came through). Slow-roasted in the two working industrial ovens. Served with a scoop of rice and a ladle of habichuelas I had made on the stovetop. The smell in the kitchen at 11 AM was a smell the food bank had never had. By service time, fifty-two people were already in line. That was normal. By 12:30 the line was still thirty people deep. That was not normal. Amelia came out of her office. She said, "Carmen, what is happening?" I said, "Word got around that there is pernil." We fed a hundred and forty-seven people that day, up from the usual 120. We ran out at 1:05. The pot was clean. Esther and Terrence both got a plate.

Eduardo picked me up at 2 PM. I sat in the car for a minute. I had been on my feet for five hours. My back was tight. My hands smelled like sofrito. I was happy. Eduardo said, "How was it?" I said, "Eduardo, I have to come back Monday." He said, "You were already coming back Monday." I said, "I mean I have to keep coming back. I need this." He said, "I know." We drove home. Wepa.

After a week like that — the sofrito I carried in frozen trays, Esther telling me she finally ate like she was somewhere nice, the pernil line going thirty people deep at 12:30 — I came home and I needed to bake something small and just for the pleasure of it. No stockpot, no industrial oven, no tally at the pass. This 7UP Pound Cake is what I made Friday evening, standing in my own kitchen, with Eduardo in the next room. It is my mother’s recipe, or close enough to it. It is the kind of cake you bring somewhere when you want people to feel like you thought about them. Next Monday, I am bringing it to the food bank.

7UP Pound Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes | Servings: 14

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup 7UP soda (do not use diet)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• For the glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 tablespoons 7UP soda
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan or tube pan thoroughly, making sure to coat every crevice. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 3 to 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugar gradually and continue beating for another 3 minutes until the mixture is pale and creamy.
3. Add the eggs. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions. The batter should look smooth and cohesive.
4. Add flavorings. Mix in the vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest on low speed until just combined.
5. Alternate flour and 7UP. With the mixer on low, add the sifted flour in three additions, alternating with the 7UP in two additions (flour — 7UP — flour — 7UP — flour). Begin and end with flour. Do not overmix; stop as soon as the last addition is just incorporated. Stir in the salt.
6. Bake. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake at 325°F for 70 to 80 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is deep golden. If the top browns too quickly, tent loosely with foil after 50 minutes.
7. Cool in pan. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then invert carefully onto the rack and allow to cool completely, at least 45 minutes, before glazing.
8. Make the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons 7UP, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice until smooth and pourable. If too thick, add 7UP a teaspoon at a time. If too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.
9. Glaze and serve. Drizzle the glaze over the completely cooled cake. Let it set for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 490 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 70g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 115mg