Buttermilk Pound Cake - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter (room temp) or 1 1/2 cups margarine (room temp)
2 1/2 cups sugar
5 whole eggs (room temp)
1 cup buttermilk (room temp)
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon hot water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325.
Beat butter or margarine and add sugar in portions as you continue to beat. Beat until fluffy.
Add each egg, one at a time, beating well after each.
Add vanilla to buttermilk.
Begin adding flour and buttermilk alternately, beginning with flour and ending with flour.
Last, dissolve soda in hot water and mix well into cake batter.
Pour batter into a large tube pan that has been well-greased (shortening) and floured. The cake will stick if this step is missed.
Bake about 1 hour. My mother and mother-in-law said a test for doneness besides the golden brown color is that the cake begins to pull away from the sides slightly.
As a precaution, I usually run a table knife around the outer and inner edge before turning the cake out on the rack.