Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Pound cake is one of those desserts that's often overlooked, but I don't think it should be. It's a cinch to throw together and the ingredients are basic, but when a pound cake is done right, it's absolutely delicious. This is my go-to pound cake recipe. It turns out every time, and we absolutely love it. It's great on its own but this time of year we also like to top it with fresh strawberries.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.

Beat butter and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating 5-7 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating only until yellow yolk disappears after each addition. Quickly beat in vanilla.

Whisk together flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add to butter mixture in thirds, beating at low speed only until blended after each addition. Pour batter into pan. Gently tap pan on counter to remove air bubbles.

Fill a 2-cup ovenproof measuring cup or small baking pan with water, and place it in the oven on the rack below the tube pan.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely on wire rack.

source: recipe from The Southern Living Community Cookbook

Pound Cake & Macerated Peaches

We're in a sort of strange weather phase right now. Tomorrow is the first day of autumn, and I'm ready for it. We planted our mums by the mailbox, I'm craving all kinds of soups and pumpkin breads, and I'm definitely ready for some cooler weather. But we live in South Carolina, and it is still pretty hot here. Yesterday I laid out for a while but then it got even too hot for that. Caleb also harvested our first watermelon from our garden yesterday. As much as I'm ready for fall, it's more like a not-so-oppressively-hot summer.

I hosted a ladies' night for our small group the other week, and I made this pound cake and macerated peaches to top it with. Both were a hit, and I'm pleased to have an easy pound cake recipe. We still have peaches on sale here, but if you don't, I'd tuck this recipe away for next year.

Perfect Pound Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
5 eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter and flour a 4 1/2-by-8 1/2-inch loaf pain. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until very light and fluffy, 7 minutes. Scrape down bowl and beat 1 minute more. Add vanilla, then gradually add eggs, beating well and scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, add salt, then gradually add flour, beating well to combine and scraping down bowl as needed.

Transfer batter to pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 65 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack, 1 hour. Remove cake from pan and let cool completely on rack before slicing.

Macerated Peaches with Cinnamon Sugar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp honey
pinch of salt
2 tsp lime zest
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 pounds fresh peaches, quartered

Stir together first 8 ingredients in a large bowl. Add peaches; toss gently to coat. Cover and chill 1 hour.

source: pound cake recipe from Everyday Food, May 2011; macerated peaches recipe slightly adapted from Southern Living, June 2014

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

What I love about pound cake is that the ingredients are always on hand; it's just a matter of taking 10 minutes to mix them together and throw it in the oven. A good pound cake is moist, and this one stayed moist even past the four days the recipe said it would. Top it with fresh fruit or fresh whipped cream, or have it plain with a hot cup of coffee, and you have a perfect dessert. Happy Friday! 

Cream Cheese Pound Cake
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 eggs

Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese until soft and pliable. Add butter and sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and stir until blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium for 1 minute after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Stop the mixer and finish folding together the batter with a spatula.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, check on the cake, rotate it, and move to an upper rack if it's browning too quickly.

Bake for another 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 20 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cake will last, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to 4 days.

source: recipe from Joy the Baker Cookbook