The Easy Hack That Will Give You Bigger, Fluffier Pound Cake
Elvis Presley loved food. Of course, who doesn't, right? But Elvis was a bit of a foodie who had a propensity for comfort foods from the South. According to The New York Times, The King was a fan of banana, bacon, and peanut butter sandwiches, black-eyed peas and ham, chicken fried steak, fried dill pickles, and gelatin made with Shasta soda pop. The iconic musician also liked pound cake, but it wasn't just any pound cake that the "I Can't Help Falling in Love" rock star craved. He liked his pound cake fluffy, golden, and delicious. In fact, Road Food reports that the recipe for Elvis' favorite pound cake was extremely popular among fans.
Pound cake is called pound cake because, per All Recipes, traditional recipes for this dessert call for a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs, a pound of butter, and a pound of flour. What made Elvis' pound cake recipe so unique and popular? Perhaps, it's simply because it uses a tried and true method of baking this beloved dessert that produces the fluffiest pound cake your mouth can imagine, and once you know this hack, there's no going back.
No preheating needed
Elvis' favorite pound cake recipe starts with a cold oven, per Road Food. Sacrilege! No preheating? According to Epicurious, the cold oven pound cake method produces a fluffier cake than using a preheated oven. The food site cites Cheryl Day's "Treasury of Southern Baking," which explains that recipes for cold oven pound cake seem to have been part of a marketing campaign for gas stoves. Day revealed, "The crust, though — that's the real signature aspect of this cake. I've never had anything like it on a cake before."
Why does using a cold oven for your pound cake produce a more "delicate" and fluffier end product? It comes down to the extra time it takes to bake the cake, which allows the ingredients in the dense dessert to leaven slowly and more fully. The extra time allows the baking powder to have a second chemical reaction before the batter sets. In addition to a cold oven producing an overall better pound cake, it also allows you to savor your pound cake a little longer: Cold oven pound cakes can keep for up to 5 days. Of course, that's if your family and friends don't gobble it up before then.