Homemade Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake With Black Travel History and Free Printable

"From the 1890s until 1965, Jim Crow segregation laws legitimized the isolation of public spaces, schools, transportation, restrooms, and restaurants exclusively for white people...For the Black traveler, accessing food along journeys was nearly impossible. In response, Black women would arm Black travelers with 'shoebox lunches.' At times faceless and unsung, these women - family members, church attendees, or businesswomen - would find ways, both legal and illegal (as hawkers) to cook delicious meals with limited resources, making a way out of no way."

- Bryant Terry

Welcome to our kitchen! Today's baking experience is about the shoebox lunch and a delicious homemade cinnamon roll pound cake.

Join us and learn more about cooking with kids.

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Black Food Cookbook

This homemade cinnamon roll pound cake recipe by Jocelyn Delk Adams comes from the Spirituality chapter of Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora by Bryant Terry.

In Black Food, Jocelyn states:

"When my mama was growing up in Winona, Mississippi, she long awaited the day when she would be old enough to take the Winona train all the way to Chicago to visit her favorite auntie. When she came of age in high school, her parents, my Big Mama and Big Daddy, finally gave their approval. In preparation for her travels, Big Mama would make my mama a special lunch sack of fresh fried chicken and pound cake. These lunches would make those long trips feel more like home."

- Jocelyn Delk Adams

This cinnamon roll pound cake is inspired by her family's recipe and we enjoyed it so much, we made you a free kid-friendly recipe that you can try at home with your family. It's waiting for you down at the bottom.

You can find more delicious recipes by Jocelyn Delk Adams over at Grandbaby Cakes or shop the Grandbaby Cakes collection at Williams Sonoma.

If you enjoy this pound cake recipe, you'll want to check out Jocelyn's glazed salmon and this jollof rice by Chef JJ Johnson, also from Black Food.

I should also mention that all recipes from Black Food can be enjoyed with an accompanying playlist. Search Bryant Terry's Black Food playlist on Spotify or grab the cookbook for more information.

Bryant Terry, curator and editor of Black Food, served as the chef-in-residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) from 2015-2022.

Bryant is now the founder/editor-in-chief of 4 Color Books, an imprint of Ten Speed Press and Penguin Random House. Flavor + Us, by Rahanna Bisseret Martinez, is a recent publication. Try Rahanna's homemade salsa recipe.

Learn more about Bryant Terry.

You can also stop by our shop to see more Family & Kids' Cooking Resources.

Free Cooking Course for Families

Discover recipes for every continent! Sign up to receive free cooking lessons for the whole family. Learn from some of the most talented chefs around the world, including Jocelyn Delk Adams, and participate in the quality practical life experiences Montessori education is known for.

Why is it Called Pound Cake?

This is related to how much of the four main ingredients were needed in order to make the cake.

As described in Smithsonian Magazine:

"According to the original recipe, four pounds is how much an original pound cake required. That’s one for each ingredient: flour, eggs, butter and sugar...American Cookery, written by Amelia Simmons and published in Hartford, Connecticut in 1795, offered this recipe for the dessert: 'One pound sugar, one pound butter, one pound flour, one pound or ten eggs, rose water one gill, spices to your taste; watch it well, it will bake in a slow oven in 15 minutes.'"

- Smithsonian Magazine

Who is Victor Hugo Green and What is the Green Book?

If you're interested in Black travel history, Victor Hugo Green is someone you should become familiar with.

Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book by Tonya Bolden and Eric Velasquez is the perfect picture book for learning about this Black mail carrier and the Negro Motorist Green Book he created to support anyone who finds themselves a Black traveler during the oppression of the Jim Crow Era.

The illustrations do an excellent job of depicting the Black American experience during times of segregation and sundown towns.

Kids can explore Going Places and learn more about the shoebox lunch prior to making this delicious cinnamon roll cake.

How Long Will Homemade Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake Last?

We kept our pound cake covered and in the fridge while periodically snacking on it. The pound cake lasted for three days before we ate every last crumb. We think it tastes just as incredible after a day or two as it does when you first bake it.

Let it come to room temperature before serving.

Homemade Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake

There are three components to this delightful pound cake: the cake, the cinnamon swirl, and the icing. However, don't let that discourage you from taking on this project. It's a natural progression moving from one component to the next.

Katalina and Noah appeared quite comfortable managing each task, with assistance as needed. As a matter of fact, the icing can be made at your leisure as the pound cake bakes and cools.

If you enjoy this dessert, you should try picarones, iced animal crackers, southern benne seed biscuits, thumbprint cookies, bread pudding, and blueberry cake.

Ingredients & Tools

• flour - we prefer to bake with all-purpose einkorn. It's easy to work with, tastes excellent, and is a healthy option.
• butter - unsalted butter is preferred for this delicious pound cake.
• eggs - we use large farm fresh eggs at room temperature.
• stevia - the stevia & erythritol blends we've used taste a bit sweeter than sugar. If you're using stevia too, go light on the icing until you've tasted it with the pound cake. Less is more. You can also use sugar.
• sour cream - we like Tillamook cultured sour cream for a moist cinnamon pound cake.
• swerve brown - for the delicious cinnamon swirl. You can also use light brown sugar.
• cinnamon - we're all about using what we have on hand, but if you get the chance to try this peni miris cinnamon, let us know. We'd love to try it next.
• vanilla extract - a must-have for the cake, the cinnamon swirl, and the icing.
• cream cheese - a must-have for cinnamon roll pound cake icing.

Pound Cake is traditionally baked in a Bundt pan. However, we don't have a 12-cup Bundt pan and found that this 2.6 quart square baking dish just fit all of the batter. Any baking dish of comparable size or slightly larger should work well.

1. Butter the Baking Dish

Wash your hands with soap and water. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and butter the baking dish. This dish is naturally non-stick but we buttered it anyway with a basting brush and butter from a butter bell.

Our kids like any excuse to use the basting brush and it ensures that our slices of pound cake come out smoothly as we serve. It also makes for easier cleanup afterward.

You can also flour the inside of your pan when you're done applying the butter.

2. Add Butter to A Mixing Bowl

Turn the mixer on high for 1 minute and beat the butter using the whisk attachment.

3. Measure the Stevia for the Cinnamon Roll Cake

4. Cream the Butter and Stevia Mixture

Slowly add the stevia or your sweetener of choice to the mixing bowl and mix for 5 minutes or until fluffy.

5. Crack the Eggs into the Mixing Bowl

Add each of the eggs to the mixing bowl. You will want to mix thoroughly between each egg. During this process, feel free to stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom as needed.

Wash your hands when finished.

6. Sift the Flour

Use a flour sifter to sift the flour before weighing the amount needed for the recipe.

7. Slowly Incorporate the Flour

Turn the mixer down to low and slowly add the flour to the mixing bowl.

8. Add Salt and Baking Soda

Measure the salt and baking soda with a measuring spoon and add them to the other ingredients in the mixing bowl.

We also changed our mixer attachment to the flat beater attachment.

9. Add the Sour Cream, Oil, and Vanilla

Have you explored estimations in math? We used this opportunity to estimate how much sour cream to add based on the amount of sour cream in the Tillamook sour cream container.

The oil and vanilla can be measured with a measuring spoon.

10. Scrape the Bowl and Attachment

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as well as the attachment to make sure everything is mixed. Set aside when finished.

Your batter should be mixed well but not over-mixed and look similar to this.

11. Combine Ingredients for the Cinnamon Swirl in a Clean Bowl

Turn the stove on low heat. Measure the butter for the cinnamon swirl place it in a pan. Heat the butter until melted and turn off the stove.

Measure the swerve brown or light brown sugar using a scale and add it to a clean bowl. Add the flour, cinnamon, and vanilla extract using a measuring spoon.

12. Mix the Cinnamon Swirl Ingredients

Add the melted butter to the bowl and combine all the ingredients with a silicone spatula or whisk.

You should have 1 mixing bowl with your pound cake batter, 1 bowl with your cinnamon swirl, and 1 baking dish or Bundt pan.

13. Add ⅓ Batter and ½ Cinnamon Swirl to the Baking Dish

Add ⅓ of the batter to the baking dish or Bundt pan and smooth with the silicone spatula. Pour ½ of the cinnamon swirl over the batter and use a knife or skewer to swirl the cinnamon mixture around the batter.

Want to review or introduce fractions? This Mirus Toys Fraction Manipulation Board includes a variety of fraction pieces and is an excellent set of materials for exploring fractions and concepts related to fractions, such as time, degrees, and percentages.

This improper and mixed fraction conversion activity is another useful extension for questions such as how much total butter this recipe uses. However, it's not required for using the kid-friendly printable recipe down below.

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Once everyone is comfortable with fractions, they can move on to the next step or you can assist as needed during this step.

14. Repeat Step 13 & Place the Remaining Batter on Top

Add another third of the batter to the dish or pan, followed by the remainder of the cinnamon swirl. Use the knife or skewer to swirl the cinnamon mixture through the batter.

Finally, place the remaining batter on top and smooth with the spatula. Place it in the oven.

If using a Bundt pan, bake for 85-95 minutes on the upper middle rack of the oven. The cinnamon roll pound cake is done when a toothpick or knife fork inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean for the most part.

If you're using a baking dish like ours, you may need an additional 15 minutes or so of baking time.

While the pound cake is baking and cooling, this is an excellent time to explore the Black Food cookbook further.

15. Add the Icing Ingredients to a Clean Mixing Bowl

Place the clean whisk attachment back on the mixer. Add the cream cheese and butter to the clean mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on medium-high and beat for 2 minutes.

Turn the mixer down to low. Measure the swerve confectioners or confectioners' sugar using a scale and slowly add it to the mixing bowl.

Turn the mixer on medium-high and add the milk using a measuring cup. Next, add the vanilla using a measuring spoon. When the icing is smooth and easy to pour, you can turn off the mixer.

Your icing should look similar to this when finished.

16. Remove the Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake From the Oven

Turn off the oven and let the cake cool. Drizzle the icing on top and enjoy!

Conclusion for Homemade Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake

We hope you've enjoyed learning about Black travel history, Victor Hugo Green, and the shoebox lunch while discovering a delicious new pound cake recipe for you to try at home or on the road.

Free Homemade Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake Recipe for Pre-Readers and Up

Grab your free printable recipe cards above. Kids can gather ingredients using the ingredient list, gather their equipment with the tools list, and prepare the dessert using the step-by-step recipe cards, with assistance as needed.

The cards are easy to use, include pictures, and encourage confidence and independence in the kitchen. They also make an excellent addition to your Montessori continent box for North America.