Ethel Grant, age 15, of Beaumont, Tex., for her question:

WHAT IS A POUND CAKE?

The pound cake is a very old fashioned, traditional cake. It received its name because of its unusual recipe: Mix together one pound of butter, one pound of sugar, one pound of flour and one pound of eggs    which comes out to be about eight or 10 eggs.

Modern bakers have updated the recipe to now include milk and a bit of baking powder and salt. Some chefs also add a little vanilla and a spice called mace.

Did you know that there are three kinds of pounds? There's the avoirdupois pound, which has 16 ounces, and the troy and apothecaries' pounds, which have 12 ounces each. The troy pound is used for weighing precious metals, while druggists sometimes use the apothecaries' pound.

The avoirdupois pound is used for measuring such merchandise as meat, cheese and butter. And pound cake, too.