Simple Pound Cake Recipe with Cost Per Serving

Living frugally means making food from scratch.  Here is a simple pound cake recipe that can be enhanced with lots of toppings.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cups canola oil
1 tsp. each: vanilla extract, almond extract and lemon flavoring
5 large eggs
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and pour into greased and floured bread pan.  Be sure to use a rubber spatula to pull all the batter into the pan. Bake at 350°F for about 50 to 60 minutes.

Cost per Serving
16 ounces of almond extract can be purchased for $18.99 on a popular website.  There are about 6 teaspoons per ounce.  This means that the price per one teaspoon of almond extract is about 20 cents.  32 ounces of imitation vanilla extract cost about $8.90 on the same website. The cost per teaspoon of vanilla extract is about 5 cents. Lemon extract prices at about $1 per ounce.  So, a teaspoon of lemon extract is about 17 cents. Sugar costs about $2.50 for 4 pounds and there are about 2 cups of sugar per pound.  So, two cups of sugar will cost about $1.25.  The store brand of flour costs $1.87 for 5 pounds.  We'll round up to $2.  Since there are 3 1/3 cups per pound, this recipe calls for 24 cents worth of flour at this price.  Canola oil costs about $2.58 for 48 ounces.  So, a half cup of oil costs about 22 cents.  A dozen eggs costs about $1.20.  So, five eggs cost about 50 cents.  The total price of this pound cake totals $2.63.  With about ten servings, the cost per serving is 26 cents.

Pound cake is an old fashioned and simple dessert staple that can be enhanced with fresh berries, chocolate, ice cream, or even jams and jellies. By itself, it is very economical.