Search for recipe stirs pleasant memories

By Kara Kimbrough

I’ve shared my love of pound cake before. Therefore, it should
come as no surprise that I recently spent a few hours following
the comments of members of an online food and recipe group as
they helped someone search for a long-lost pound cake recipe.

One of the members was trying to recreate a specific cake made
famous at Memphis-area parties decades ago. The fervency with
which group members discussed their favorite pound cake recipe
and the associated memories made me stop and search for a
specific pound cake from my own childhood.
I remember my grandmother making an old-fashioned pound
cake with a crunchy top in an angel food pan many years ago.
However, during the latter part of her life, the type of pound
cake underneath the silver domed cake cover in her kitchen
changed.
I searched the family cookbook, but the recipe for this specific,
shortcut-type pound cake was not listed.

All I could recall from the recipe is that the cake was not the
“old-fashioned” kind and the subtle taste of Wesson Oil (not in
an overpowering way, but just part of the equation) was present.
After searching, I located a recipe for Wesson Oil Pound Cake. I
quickly gathered the ingredients and made the cake. It was moist
and delicious, but like many things recreated from the past, it
didn’t taste quite as good as I remembered enjoying in my
grandmother’s kitchen.
Maybe it was due to the fact that the silver cake dome was
missing, along with the smell of coffee brewing in the silver
percolator.
Speaking of those two kitchen items…as I get older, the things I
value most in life are items attached to pleasant memories of the
past. I hope to someday recover the cake dome and percolator
and display them in my kitchen.
The monetary value and functionality of both items may be low,
but the memories associated with them are priceless.
As far as the group member’s quest for the Memphis pound
cake, the exact one was never found. With Memphis on my
mind, I located the recipe for Elvis’ favorite pound cake. It
happens to be my favorite way to make pound cake due to the
inclusion of heavy cream.
I’ve read that Elvis would eat an entire pound cake in one
sitting. I’m not one to judge because as we all know, there’s

nothing on earth quite as good as a slice of hot-from-the-oven
pound cake.
Wesson Oil Pound Cake
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup Wesson oil
5 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Cream butter and sugar. Add Wesson oil, eggs (one at a time,
beating after each one), flour, milk and flavorings. Pour into a
greased Bundt pan and bake at 325° degrees for 1 hour to 1
hour, 10 minutes.
Elvis’ Favorite Whipping Cream Pound Cake
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering
pan
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
plus additional for dusting
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
3 cup sugar

7 large eggs, at room temperature for 30 minutes
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream
Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven.
Generously butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess
flour. Sift 3 cups sifted cake flour and ¾ teaspoon salt into a
medium bowl. Repeat sifting into another medium bowl.
Beat together 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and 3 cups
sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high
speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (If using a stand
mixer, use paddle attachment. If using hand mixer, beat 6 to 8
minutes).
Add 7 large eggs, 1 egg at a time, beating well after each
addition, then beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Reduce to low speed
and add half of flour mixture, then 1 cup heavy cream, then
remaining flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. Scrape
down sides of the bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5
minutes
Spoon batter into prepared pan. Place pan in cold oven and
turn oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake until golden and a
wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out
with a few crumbs adhering, 60–75 minutes. 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.

Kara Kimbrough is a food and travel writer from Mississippi.
Email her at kkprco@yahoo.com.