God bless America that looks yummy!
It all starts off with this…
Lovely and golden isn’t it?
Elvis Presley’s favorite pound cake
This is a recipe I have been wanting to try since I first read the article in Gourmet magazine back in 2005. Much attention has been paid to Elvis’ odd eating habits, particularly his passion for bacon, peanut butter and banana sandwiches (seriously that couldn’t be bad). This recipe is almost as ridiculous in fat and calorie content, but well worth it.
I was a bit hesitant to tackle this cake because it seemed a bit “high maintenance”. Usually I look for cake recipes that call for all purpose flour instead of cake flour because I didn’t see the point, I also loathe sifting. I followed this recipe to a T and I’m so glad I put in the effort to triple sift, also – I will never go back to using all purpose flour! The texture of this cake was so velvety and it had the perfect “crumb.”
I think pound cake has gotten a bad rap, most people feel like its too heavy or dense and I blame mass produced heavily processed store bought pound cakes the likes of Sara Lee for this reputation. This recipe is the perfect harmony of richness and airiness. I’m going to experiment with adopting the recipe for a chocolate version or perhaps a marbled swirl? Hmmmm. I should probably harness this energy for good rather than baking so much.
Ingredients:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering pan
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) plus additional for dusting
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups sugar
7 large eggs, at room temperature 30 minutes
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup heavy cream
Special equipment: a 10-inch tube pan (4 1/2 inches deep; not with a removable bottom) or a 10-inch bundt pan (3 1/4 inches deep; 3-qt capacity)
Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven.
Generously butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess flour.
Sift together sifted flour (3 cups) and salt into a bowl. Repeat sifting into another bowl (flour will have been sifted 3 times total).
Beat together butter (2 sticks) and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or 6 to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down side of bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes. Batter will become creamier and satiny.
Spoon batter into pan and rap pan against work surface once or twice to eliminate air bubbles. Place pan in (cold) oven and turn oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inner and outer edges of cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack to cool completely.
Ta Da!
I brought this to my parent’s house for their July 4th BBQ. I dressed it with homemade whipped cream and sliced strawberries and blueberries. It was super delicious, but it wasn’t quite perfection. This afternoon I decided to make a quick strawberry sauce with lemon zest and a wee bit of sugar. Wow, totally worth the extra effort.
This strawberry sauce would be really good over some vanilla ice cream too.
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