Cream Cheese Pound Cake

When I started baking in 2011, I was very attracted to this Cream Cheese Pound Cake which was featured in Joy of Baking. I consider Stephanie Jaworski my baking teacher because I learnt baking by watching her video demonstrations. It's funny when I think of why I was so taken by this cake. It was the shape (it is baked in a bundt pan) and color (golden brown crust and yellow interior) that made it so attractive. I was disappointed that there is no video demo for this cake (up to today there is none yet) but I bravely attempted it anyway.

The first time I baked this cake (and I baked it many more times subsequently), I baked it in a 9" deep square pan. It is a big cake and I remember struggling with my hand mixer when I added flour into my egg, sugar, butter and cream cheese mixture. My mixing bowl was too small and I was too inexperienced to anticipate this problem. The batter was stuck to my mixer paddles and it was quite a mess! But lo and behold, the cake turned out and my partner pronounced the cake "powerful!". Beginner's luck was on my side :)

But I was not so lucky on some other occasions. My main problem was the mixing of the batter. Sometimes the uneven mixing resulted in certain dense oily spots. But still, the cake was edible and well received. Now that I have gained more experience and am much better at baking, I decided to bake this cake again. But this time in a bundt pan. And this is the first time that I am using a bundt pan, inherited from my beloved auntie. Thank you, Ee-Ee!

This being a pound cake, the cake is on the dense side. It is however, moist and soft but not fluffy. My auntie has tried this cake but she did not like the dense texture. She prefers the fluffy type of butter cake. But this is just a matter of preference. I like fluffy cakes but if a cake is meant to be dense but has good taste and flavor, I can accept it.

Tastewise, this cake is very buttery and delicious. I can't detect the cream cheese at all, I guess all it does is add to the moistness of the cake. The recipe calls for lemon or orange zest but I left that out because I don't really like orange or lemon scented cakes.

I would say that this is a good cake if you love buttery cakes. It has a good aroma and is very rich. Definitely an indulgence and don't get carried away because it packs many calories. This would be a good cake to bake and serve when you have a good number of people around to share it with you.

The recipe below is reproduced in full with my adaptations in red.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Recipe Source : Joy of Baking

Ingredients :

- 3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour (I used 300 grams self-raising flour)

- 1 teaspooon baking powder (I omitted)

- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (I omitted)

- 1/2 teaspoon salt (I omitted)

- 1.5 cups (340 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature (I used 250 grams)

- 226 grams cream cheese, room temperature (I used 250 grams)

- 3 cups (600 grams) castor sugar (I used 150 grams)

- 6 large eggs, room temperature (I used 5 eggs because that was all I had)

- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

- Zest of a lemon or orange (I omitted)

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 160C

2. Butter and flour a 10" (25cm) bundt pan and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda.

4. In a mixing bowl beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

5. Add the sugar in 3 additions, beating well after each addition.
6. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

7. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and beat until incorporated.

8. Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated.

9. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.

10. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. (My cake was done in 45 minutes)

11. Cool the cake in the pan for about 20 minutes before removing the cake to cool completely.