Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Each month our local rural electric cooperative publishes a magazine. Yes, this is the same rural cooperative that had me reading the meter each month so they didn't have to send anyone out.......   In it you will find articles on Kentucky authors, places to visit, local oddities across the state, and exceptional recipes.  Recently the food editor passed away and her family decided to honor her by sharing her secret recipe for Cream Cheese Pound Cake.  Delicious, dense, and moist, it has an excellent flavor that can be enhanced with fruit.  

I made it this weekend and was not disappointed in the results.  I hope you will give it a try. 

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
fresh fruit or whipping cream for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a large tube or Bundt pan.  In a mixing bowl, cream butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together until light in color and very fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time and beat one minute between each egg.  Stir flour and baking powder together, then gradually add it to the mixture with a rubber spatula. 

Once incorporated, beat for 5 seconds and check for lumps.  Bake in pan for 1 1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  You may want to place aluminum foil on top of the cake during the last 1/2 hour of baking so the cake doesn't brown too much.  The top of the cake should be golden brown and may even crack a bit.  Cool for 10 minutes and run a knife around the edges of the pan, then turn out onto a cake rack.  Cool completely before slicing. 

I baked mine in a Bundt pan, but will use a tube pan the next time.  It was a bit difficult to get out of the Bundt pan.  Mine did brown a bit more than I wanted, but the flavor was still excellent.