Pound Cake For The King

According to Mary Jenkins Langston, Elvis Presley had a sweet, sweet tooth. Langston cooked for  the King for 14 years and knew exactly what he loved to eat. While she debunks the myth that he loved jelly doughnuts ("I never saw him even once eat a jelly doughnut" — elvispresleypedia.com), Langston concedes that the King loved his Southern Food. And he did indeed love his "butter-soaked deep fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches" and banana icebox pies.

Another favourite of his? The pound cake. Not just any pound cake but the one made by his childhood friend Janelle McComb. According to an article in Saveur, McComb used to bake her famous friend two loaves every Christmas and Elvis loved it so much, he could eat an entire loaf himself.

Don't judge. When you taste this beaute, you'll understand. It's amazing. You can't possibly stop at a piece. Or two.

A good pound cake is really, really soul-satisfying. A great pound? Well, who can resist right? This recipe is bordering on being great. Certainly one of the best pound cakes I've tasted and the best one I've tried making. 

A tad sweet though it is (even though I reduced the sugar by 1/2 cup), the cake is so, so tender with a lovely dark brown crust. It's perfect. 

Elvis Presley's favourite pound cake 

3 cups cake flour

3 cups sugar (I used 21/2 and it was sweet enough)

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 tsp salt

7 eggs

226g butter, softened and at room temp

1 tsp vanilla

Beat the butter, sugar and salt in a mixer on medium to high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure each time the egg is incorporated into the batter before adding more. Reduce the speed of the mixer to medium-low and then add half the flour followed by the cream and then the remaining flour. Mix until incorporated then increase the speed of the mixer to medium and beat for about 5 mins till really light and satiny. 

Grease two loaf pans or a 10-inch bundt pan. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pans on the counter top a couple of times to release the air bubbles. 

DON'T pre-heat the oven. Place the cake tins into the oven and heat it to 180C. Bake for 1hr 15 mins or till a tester comes out clean with a few crumbs clinging on. 

Cool for at least 30 mins before cutting.  

Citrus Flavoured Butter Cake

My quest, for as long as I can remember, has been to make a perfect butter cake.

I love butter cakes more than any other cake on the planet. A simple butter cake — you know, the kind you have at birthday parties, iced with a delicious buttercream topping that's sweet and uncomplicated? A butter cake that is tender and moist?

Yup, butter cakes make me happy. It reminds me of my childhood, of family, of close friends and of happy occasions. No one mourns or sulks with butter cake. Nope, that's what ice cream and chocolate is for. Butter cakes are celebratory.

I've tried a number of recipes and while always tasty, they were never perfect. The texture was never just right, you know? A little dry, a little dense. A crumb that was too thick or not apparent enough. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Then I stumbled upon a recipe for Trish Boyle's Plainly Perfect Pound Cake. Now, I've never quite understood the difference between the two (the pound cake and butter cake). To my understanding, the difference is that a pound cake is supposed to be made with a pound of each of the main ingredients: flour, butter, sugar and eggs and if you adjust the quantities, you have to adjust them equally). Taste wise, I'd say the two are very similar, except that the pound cake is perhaps a little denser.

 Trish Boyle's Plainly Perfect Pound Cake is kinda like a pound cake (the measurements for all four ingredients are equal, almost) but it sure tastes like the butter cakes I grew up eating and still love to eat so much. If someone else has a better distinction between the two I'd be indebted to learn. :)

Apart from the four essential ingredients (flour, butter, sugar and eggs) and the leavening agent (baking powder), she also adds a small measure of heavy cream which gives the cake an obvious rich and creamy texture which I really adored.

The citrus accents from the zests of both oranges and lemons added a freshness to the cake that I welcomes.

Hers came plain, without any frosting which is fine but I decided to slather on a thin layer of butter cream frosting, also flavoured with the citrus zest.

Trish Boyle's Plainly Perfect Pound Cake
(adapted from Shirley of Kokken69)

200g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
226g butter (softened)
226g sugar (you don't have to be so precise; 200 or 250 is fine)
4 eggs
80ml heavy cream
1 tsp orange zest, or slightly more if desired
1 tsp lemon zest, or slightly more if desired
1 tsp vanilla essence

Topping (enough for only the top of the cake)
50g butter, softened
100g icing sugar, sieved

Preheat the oven to 170C

Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

Cream the butter until light and pale. Add the sugar and beat till light and fluffy, about 3 mins.

Add the eggs, one at a time and mix till well incorporated. Add the vanilla and the zests.

Lower the speed of the mixer and add the flour in three installments, alternating with the cream.

Pour batter into a greased/lined/greased and lined loaf pan.

Reduce the heat to 160C and bake for 60-70 mins or till a tester  inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, cream butter until light and add the sugar. Beat till fluffy. Chill for at least 30 mins. Remove and beat till soft (about 2 mins) and spread on the cake once it has cooled.