You cannot beat the butter to the consistency of ordinary cream, but to a state more resembling Devonshire clotted cream.

Of course, when it is like this it is much more easily mixed with the other ingredients.

In making a pound cake we should first of all beat the butter to a cream and then add flour, sugar, and eggs gradually.

When the whole is thoroughly well mixed together, we must bake it in a tin, or mould, or hoop.

We need say nothing about tins or moulds, but will confine ourselves to giving directions how to bake a cake in a hoop, for, as a rule, ordinary English cooks do not understand how to use them.
One great advantage of using a hoop is that when the cake is baked there is no fear of breaking it in turning it out.