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| The King's Pound Cake with Strawberry Topping |
The King's Pound Cake
Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 155.
This was Elvis Presley's favorite pound cake according to a 1997 TV Guide article. I was curious and did some Internet searches for this and all of them are identical except for the addition of mace. I'm not sure if the mace was a Maida Heatter addition but apparently it is optional. Mace is similar to nutmeg but much stronger. Maida goes into elaborate detail on measuring 1/8 of mace (apparently 1/8 measures must not have been around when she wrote her book.
I overbaked the cake a bit and the crust was a little too dark. She recommends using a light metal pan and I did that and it still overbaked. Baking time calls for 75-80 minutes. I baked for 60 minutes which was still too much. Be careful!
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter (softened)
1/8 tsp. mace
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups sugar
7 eggs
3 cups sifted cake flour
8 oz. (1 cup) heavy cream
Adjust an oven rack 1/3 from the bottom. Preheat to 350. Butter (or spray) 2 10x10x3 loaf pans (light metal if you have it) and dust with fine dry bread crumbs.
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| Beat the butter until soft. |
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| Add the mace, baking powder and salt. Mix well. |
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| Add the vanilla. |
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| Gradually add the sugar and beat for about 5 minutes. |
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| Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary. |
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| Lower the speed of the mixer and add half of the flour mixture. |
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| Gradually add the heavy cream and mix well. |
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| Add the remaining flour. Beat only until smooth. |
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| Divide the batter between the two pans. |
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| Bake for 55-75 minutes. The cake is ready when it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for about 20 minutes. Carefully invert the pans and remove the cakes and let them cool completely on racks. |
