Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This Saturday is the DC Blogger Bake Sale! I decided to try something I've never made before: Pound Cake. This was my 1st test trial before actually baking up a storm tomorrow night. The recipe from Smitten Kitchen (loveeee this blog), has an amazing flavor and crispy crust that I've never seen with store-bought pound cake. I also tried making a lemon version (not pictured) by replacing the almond extract with lemon extract.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 package (8 ounces) Philadelphia brand cream cheese*, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract plus 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (original recipe calls for 2 teaspoons vanilla but I liked this mix better)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
* Philadelphia cream cheese is often recommended for baking for consistency purposes, as in, bakers know this brand works, and because it contains less water than other brands.

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 10-inch tube pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Alternately, you can use a 12-cup bundt pan, and simply butter and flour it.

2. Place the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth.

3. Add the sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and airy, at least five minutes.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the vanilla, almond, then the flour and salt all at once. Beat just until incorporated.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and shake lightly to even out the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, 1 1/4 hours.

6. Place the pan on a cake rack and cool for 20 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely. Serve at room temperature. Why did my cake rise so much?

Then I made a glaze to pour on top of the cake:

Kahlua Glaze

2 tbsp melted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Kahlua

Place sifted powdered sugar in a medium size bowl. Add melted butter, milk, vanilla & Kahlua to powdered sugar. Stir until smooth. Add more milk if necessary. Drizzle over the cooled cake.

Ta da! It's a very easy and yummy recipe. Not overly sweet but full of flavor. It's quite addictive, and the bf loved it.