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Michael Jordan's Ginger-Ale Pound Cake

Source of Recipe

Mr. Food - Recipe by Deloris Jordan, Michael's Wife


Recipe Introduction

The man who carried the Chicago Bulls to six NBA Championships, captured five MVP awards, and snared a record number of NBA scoring titles, was once a boy who took cooking classes as a matter of survival. Tall and lanky right from the start, the teenage Michael Jordan was convinced no girl would ever give him the time of day. He would have to learn to cook, he thought, because he would be alone for the rest of his life.Well, things don’t always work out as we plan—or as we fear. The world’s greatest basketball player gets plenty of attention these days, and he barely has time to cook. His interest in food, however, has not waned. Through the years, the cachet of the Michael Jordan name has been stamped on many foods, everything from a portobello mushrooms recipe once published in a Chicago Junior League cookbook to the McDonald’s McJordan Special, a burger topped with barbecue sauce, bacon, cheese, onions, pickles, and mustard.Now, Jordan has become a fast-break player in the restaurant field, too. In 1993, he opened his first restaurant, Michael Jordan’s The Restaurant, in Chicago. One of New York’s biggest parties of 1998 was held to launch Michael Jordan’s Steak House in the historic Grand Central Terminal.Whenever Jordan wants a break from all the hoopla in his life, he seeks out the nourishment that takes him back to his youth in North Carolina. Deloris, Michael’s mom, says that Ginger-Ale Pound Cake was one of his favorite foods and shared her recipe with us. It’s the kind of dessert that makes this big tall man a little kid again.

List of Ingredients

2 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup shortening
5 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (6 ounces) ginger ale




Recipe

Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat a Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, cream sugar, butter, and shortening. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon extract; mix well. Add flour and ginger ale, alternately. Pour batter into the pan and bake 75 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cake cool 20 to 30 minutes; remove from pan to cool completely.

YIELD: 10-12 Servings