You Ain't Nothing but a Pound Cake

by
G. Stern
This is a slice of a soft golden pound cake.

These recipes, courtesy of Sarah D. are for Elvis Presley's favorite cake and an appropriate frosting. Sarah got the cake recipe from Jane and Michael Stern (no relation) in the Boston Globe. The cake was made for Elvis every year by a Mississippi hill-country woman. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, has used this recipe for over 50 years. It was her mother's and grandmother's before that. She still makes it and brings it to the Elvis Presley Birthplace (306 Elvis Presley Drive, Tupelo, Mississippi, for interested travelers) on his birthday.

We now know," Sarah adds, "that if drugs didn't kill Elvis, he would have soon been called home with arteries that couldn't pass water."

Ingredients

  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1/2 lb butter, softened
  • 7 eggs, at room temperature
  • 3 cups cake flour, sifted twice
  • 1 cup whipping cream or heavy cream
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
cake mixed
Assemble ingredients

Directions

  1. Butter and flour a 10" tube pan1
  2. Thoroughly cream together the sugar and butter.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in half the flour, the whipping cream, and then the rest of the flour, Add the vanilla.
  4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Set in a cold oven and bake at 350°F. Bake until a sharp knife inserted in the cake comes out clean, about 60–70 minutes.
  5. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes, and remove it from the pan, and then let cool thoroughly.