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!