Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Does this ever happen to you?

I planned to make a delicious Cream Cheese Pound Cake. I try to make some sort of dessert every week or so and this sounded wonderful to me. Does the rest of the country make pound cakes or is that just a Southern thing? Anyway...

In order to make this cake I dutifully left the butter, cream cheese and eggs sitting on the counter of my kitchen so they could come to room temperature. But, late in the day when I finally decided to mix the batter and bake the cake, I realized I didn't have any all-purpose flour, just white whole wheat flour. I asked Bobby what he thought I should do. His answer was, “Do it right.”

Right. I didn't tell him I had already messed this up by leaving the ingredients out to get warmed up, so I just agreed, mixed up the batter until I was supposed to add the flour, and put it in the refrigerator hoping for the best.

The next day I headed off to the grocery store determined to finish this cake. I was now hoping for good instead of the expected “wonderful”.

When I returned from the store I turned on my very old computer to find the recipe. As sometimes happens, my computer screen wouldn't come on. I had to unplug the whole contraption from the wall twice, waiting each time to see if the screen would grace me with it's presence. That's when I realized the keyboard wasn't working. I then had to find where the keyboard plugs in, plug that back in, and restart the computer, again.

Finally, the stars aligned. I had the recipe in view and the pound cake batter half finished from last night. I sifted (yes, sifted!) and beat in the flour.

After scooping the batter into 2 loaf pans because I don't own a “tube pan” and my bundt pan is too small, I put the cake in a cold oven, as directed. This cake takes forever to bake, so I had some time on my hands because you have to constantly adjust the oven temperature.

So, for my first 20 minutes I licked the beaters from my mixer and dropped batter on the kitchen rug. I folded some clothes and switched laundry from the washer to the dryer. Then, I began to wash the dishes that were accumulating by the kitchen sink.

In the next 20 minutes I continued the dishes, wrapped 2 very late Christmas gifts, and began eating lunch.

The 2 very belated Christmas gifts

Next, I continued lunch, watched the Good Wife on Amazon Prime, took a shower and washed my hair.

Finally, the cake was done. I was anxious, to say the least, to see how this puppy turned out.

The cake was good, delicious even. It had that perfect, pound cake, crispy top and a delicious interior. I was pleased to find there was no “sad streak”, as my mother calls it – that part of the cake that is notoriously under-done. The only slight flaw was that the cake collapsed slightly, but the crispy top just fused together more tightly.

We ate the cake as dessert and breakfast; with hot tea and tall glasses of water. We ate it with fruit and toasted it with butter. 

Delicious Grace Cake on lovely Christmas plates (relax, the Christmas plates have now been packed away)

I had thought I would give one of the cakes away, but we ate them both all up, savoring every moist crumb. I don't think I deserved to have a cake turn out that well, especially considering my efforts.

It's nice when life turns out like that, isn't it? Everything goes wrong, but somehow it all turns out right.

It's grace. I should call that cream cheese pound cake “Grace Cake” instead. Unmerited favor. Delicious.

This recipe comes to me and now to you curtesy of Rushton Waltchack who used to send out a new recipe every week along with a Bible verse.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Makes 1 Large cake

1 C. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 (80z.) cream cheese, room temperature

3 C. sugar

1 tsp. Salt

6 Large eggs, room temperature

4 tsp. Pure vanilla extract

3 C. sifted all-purpose flour

Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan or tube pan. Using electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese in a large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar and salt; beat 10 minutes, occasionally scrapping down the sides. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Beat in flour at low speed until batter is smooth (do not overbeat). Transfer batter to pan.

Place pan in a cold oven. Set temperature at 200 and bake for 20 minutes. Increase to 250; bake for 20 minutes. Increase to 275; bake for 10 minutes. Increase to 300; bake until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack. (Bon Appetit)

Rushton's Tips: A few hours before I know I am going to bake this, I set the eggs, cream cheese, and butter on the counter to warm up. They don’t have to totally be room temperature. Just make sure you are going to be home for a while when you make this since it has to bake for so long. Be sure and use pure vanilla and not imitation!

All the "supplies" for letter sending

I finished our Christmas cards the Monday before Christmas. That's 3 days before Christmas for those of you keeping track and probably not enough time for the post office to wing my letters from northeast Pennsylvania to the mailboxes of our loved ones. Sorry about that, to those who got our card late, and to the post office for adding to their burden.

It was well into December when I asked Davis, “Why am I procrastinating writing this Christmas letter?” He said, “I don't know but it's getting late.” I think I really liked the last letter we sent. I was afraid to write a dud. But, I charged in and wrote, resigning myself to a letter that was just OK. Except for putting the wrong name of the author Allen has taken to reading and saying he's worried about not growing (because he's NOT. It has been a long time since he grew any, but he's NOT worried) I think it turned out OK, about like I expected.

So, there I was, the precious minutes of 2015 ticking away, armed with a picture from our Thanksgiving trip to Washington, DC and a completed, somewhat mediocre, letter. Now, to find the ADDRESS LIST. Once I found it I was pleased to discover there were only about 15 addresses I needed to confirm or locate.

This part was fun. I emailed or facebook-ed those people (or their mothers) and asked for the recipient's correct address. I also included something newsy or asked what was happening on their end. I got back chatty responses, amazing updates and one slap on the wrist (apparently, I should just KNOW my cousin's address in Waco). It was a delightful week or so of blessed reconnection.

I love hearing from friends and family, seeing annual pictures of kids growing before my eyes, families expanding. I get especially excited when the cards are at least SIGNED by HAND. If they have a note included, wow! I could be in a good mood for a week.

All the while, I had started the PROCESS. We send out somewhere near 160 Christmas letters to 16 states and 3 countries. I feel like this is my chance to really connect with our dear ones, so I at least sign the letters (or get my husband and kids to) and I try to write a short note. I wish I could hand deliver them too, but the cold, overworked postmen will have to suffice.

Each day for a week I would turn on some Christmas tunes, light the Advent candles and sit down at the kitchen table. There I would address envelopes, write a note, label the back of the picture (want everyone to know which twin is which!), fold, lick and seal. I did all this while chain eating Hershey's kisses and promising Bobby that I would stop making friends so the LIST would stop growing.

Through the chocolate haze and concern that the letter was just too long, what I felt wasn't frustration or carpal tunnel or the sense that I was drowning. What I felt was thankful. Thankful that we could cover the expenses of copying a letter and picture and still be able to buy stamps. Thankful that I had had sweet contact with precious friends because I'm too disorganized to know their addresses. Thankful we used up a ton of envelopes from one of Bobby's past jobs. Thankful to hear the boys joyfully calling out names of friends and family while they put the stamps on (Hey! I've got the Barleys. I've got Aunt Sally!) Thankful that we have friends at all. Just thankful.

Our basket o cards

Of course I messed some stuff up in this year's Christmas letter adventure. I should have:

*noted where our picture was taken (with the statue of Einstein in front of the National Institute of Science in Washington, DC. No, it's NOT Samuel Clemens.)

*refused to rely on the Charlie Brown Christmas stickers, I mean stamps, to convey that this was a CHRISTMAS letter. Christmas stationery or at least red or green paper would have been nice

*had self-adhesive envelopes!!! Visions of George's fiancee, Susan, from Seinfeld licking all those cheap wedding invitations and DYING danced in my head. Maybe that's why I was eating the Hershey's kisses like crazy (note from my dear husband: “I got a really good deal on those envelopes. How was I to know it would take more than 4 years to use them all?”)

*had the boys proof read the letter before copying it

*had ALL my family write notes and sign letters – it doesn't have to be just me

*started earlier, and

*given the postman some sort of Christmas gift.

So, now as the chocolate has long since faded from my tongue, I'll put the cards we received with my scrapbook stuff, hoping to include them in our ongoing Christmas album; I'll resign myself to throwing away those last 3 letters I never found the addresses for; and I won't wait until next December for the flood of contact from those 16 states. I'll make it happen all year long.

I love the rebelliousness of snail mail, and I love anything that can arrive with a postage stamp. There's something about that person's breath and hands on the letter.

Diane Lane

I've been thinking about what I want this year, 2016, to look like.

I used to make resolutions. Every year, I would read this book called How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life. It leads you through a series of writing exercises where you list things you've dreamed of doing and things you need to do and has you put them in some sort of order. You list long and short term goals and make different categories like “physical” or “spiritual.” I'm not opposed to doing that again.

I guess I just got frustrated because it took so much time to get control of my time, you know? I also really didn't like seeing the exact same goals for this year that I had last year. Still need to get healthier, still haven't made anyone's wedding cake, still haven't published a children's book (seriously, those things are all on my “goals” list!). My life, year to year, looks remarkably the same. My kids are changing, some of our activities are changing, and the location has certainly changed. But, those goals are still hanging around out there.

So, when I've been thinking about this year, I'm just making a ragtag list of things I'd like to do and do often. I'm sure I'll be able to check some of them off.

So, in 2016, I'd like to...

cook fish more often because it's good for us, read really good books, do something crafty just about every day, play the piano and guitar, sing with my eyes closed and my hands raised, hear God tell me to do something crazy and run out the door to DO it, shake my tail feather at Zumba, laugh with abandon, make snacks for my 16 year old kids to eat after school, try all the pizza joints in Berwick, take Davis' computer to the coffee shop and spend the afternoon writing, write letters and call friends, use the good china, invite people over, read God's Word and take the time to PONDER it, take a picture every day, go to IKEA, wear my pink jeans, use all the candles in my candle stash, make something lovely with my Daddy's ties, post random quotes on Twitter, color a lock of my hair with the purple hair chalk I bought but never used, go to movies on Tuesday afternoons.

I could include things like teach a Bible study and volunteer as well. But, I don't want to put so much pressure on myself that I just chunk it all. There should be joy in the journey, right?

So, while I'd like to say I'll do, see or make all my pins on Pinterest THIS YEAR, or that I'll exercise 4 times EVERY week or that I'll pray for my husband Every Single Time I stop my car at a stop sign, I know I won't. Will I check some of those things off my list? Sure! But, I'd also like to leave the door open for God to lead me to do something else. Because aren't they all really His goals anyway? Aren't they ALL spiritual?

I'd like to look back at 2016 and feel a bit less rushed, a bit more peaceful. I'd like to look back at all those 365 pictures I've taken and bask in the glory and splendor that was LIFE in 2016.

Maybe 2017 will be the year to dust off my copy of How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life. But, not now. Now, I think I'll light a candle while I figure out the way to IKEA.