Easter Peek-a-Boo Pound Cake

With this Easter Peek-a-Boo Pound Cake, everyone will be asking, “How did you do that?” Get ready to impress at your Easter parties this year with this easy-to-make, yet extraordinary cake.

I have to admit I’ve struggled with pound cake for a long time. It never worked right. The texture was always coarse and the whole cake was heavier than it should be.

Then one day I realized that we are located in a high altitude city. Ogden Utah sits at nearly 4,300 feet. It is recommended that at 3,500 feet you adjust your recipes to compensate for the lower air pressure.

So, I set out to find a recipe for pound cake that would work at high altitudes. I found one and tried it. To my utter amazement, I had finally baked a pound cake that had a consistent small crumb texture and didn’t feel like it weighed a ton.

If you live above 3,500 feet, try this recipe. If you live at a lower altitude, you may want to just stick with your trusty pound cake recipe, but follow the directions for making the peek-a-boo cake below.

Easter Peek-a-Boo Pound Cake

High Altitude Pound Cake

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour OR 3 cups sifted cake flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup butter or margarine
10 drops lemon essential oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F.
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Break eggs into another bowl.
Add butter and cream with beater.
Add milk to the eggs and butter; mix.
Beat together the butter and egg mixture with the flour mixture on medium speed for 3 minutes.
Add milk, lemon essential oil, and vanilla.
Beat batter on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9-inch loaf pans.
Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool completely with cake upright in the pan.
Remove cake and enjoy!

Peek-a-Boo Cake

You will need:

1 recipe of pound cake
cookie cutter of your choice that is not taller than your pan
food coloring of your choice

Directions

Mix up one recipe of pound cake batter. Do not bake at this point.
Divide batter in half and tint one half to your desired color, leaving the other half uncolored.
Pour colored batter into 1 9-inch loaf pan and bake according to recipe directions.
Cover the uncolored half and set aside until ready to use.
When colored cake is baked, allow to cool completely.
Slice cake into slices as wide as your cookie cutter.
Use your cookie cutter to cut a shape out of each slice.
Spoon a thin layer of uncolored cake batter onto the bottom of a greased and floured 9-inch loaf pan.
Carefully place cut-outs down the middle of the pan and place them as close together as possible.
Spoon remaining batter over the cut-outs. You may find you don’t need to use all the batter. (I found it easier to keep the shapes from tipping or breaking by using a piping bag to squeeze the batter around the shapes.)
Bake at 350° F for another 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.