Gluten-free Pound Cake with Cardamom

The traditional pound cake recipe calls for one pound of flour, one pound of butter, one pound of eggs, and one pound of sugar.  Wow, that’s quite a few pounds, and if you ate a few slices of a traditional pound cake, you might pack on a few pounds too.  Well, here’s a gluten free version that has a lot less sugar, but contains the full buttery, and moist satisfaction that you crave plus the alluring flavor and scent of cardamom. 
This beautiful spice was a favorite of Cleopatra, and it is rumored that she used a perfume blended with cardamom that enticed and befuddled both Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony.  Cardamon was also one of the spices that grew in the Hanging Gardens of Nebuchadnezzar II.

Here is a very old recipe from The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, which was written by Hannah Glasse in 1747, and it was a best seller for nearly a century!

Pound Cake Recipe from the 18th Century:

“Take a pound of butter, beat it in an earthen pan, with your hand one way, till it is like a fine thick cream; then have ready twelve eggs, but half the whites, beat them well, and beat them with the butter, a pound of flour beat in it, and a pound of sugar, and a few caraways; beat it well together for an hour with your hand, or a great wooden spoon.  Butter a pan, put it in and bake it an hour in a quick oven.”
(Quite frankly, the recipe looks rather hard, but then they were used to hard work in those days.  The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy is still in print if you want to take a glimpse into how they cooked back then.)

Serving Size: 10 - 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup white rice flour

• 1/2 cup sorghum flour

• 1/4 cup arrowroot flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum

• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

• 4 whole eggs (free range)

• 1 cup organic butter, softened

• 1/2 cup turbinado sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon *stevia (green powder form)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Lightly coat a 9- inch loaf pan with butter, and dust with a little rice flour so that your pound cake can turn out easily when done.

3. Place the first six dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

4. In a separate bowl, cream the butter, sugar , and stevia powder together with a spatula or wooden spoon. This will take a few minutes. Or you can also use an electric beater, but I find that doing it manually is much more meditative and gives your arms a little workout.

5. Then add in the eggs one by one until well mixed.

6. Add in the vanilla extract and cardamom.

7. Using a sifter, sift the flour mixture into the egg and butter batter.

8. Mixture well, and pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

9. Place in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until it has a nice golden brown top and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

10. * Stevia comes in many forms. I prefer the least processed, green powder which can be purchased on line from Mountain Rose Herbs or

For love of food and friends,

Karen

KARENISCOOKING, COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.