Ellen-Pallooza Dessert - Part Two

Cream Cheese Pound Cake for my Mom's Birthday.

When talking about the 4th of July we wanted to have a lighter dessert option to offer that didn't involve chocolate. My Mom wanted to buy fresh fruit and we thought that a Pound Cake and whipped cream would go great with it. Sara Lee was mentioned at which point I was like "what the heck? You've got Shauna Granit!" Now mind you, this pound cake is rather dense but remained moist! A difficult combination to achieve, but I think I nailed it! Paired with Fruit and whipped cream I found it to be a real winner for dessert for those who want to feel like they're being good (because this pound cake is anything but good for you!)

I adapted the following recipe from All Recipes and of course any variation of pound cake is always great in my opinion because they are so easy and really a great dessert for any time of year! One thing that I want to continue to pound into the heads of my readers is something that has been pounded into my head. Do not, for the love of God over mix the batter! I promise, when over mixed it will be dense, but not in a good way, and have the bite of a bread instead of a delicate bite. Delicate bites are what you are after when baking!

Here are the from scratch ingredients displayed before you. As you can see, this is a pretty easy recipe comprised of only 6 ingredients!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake 
Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese - room temp.
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter - room temp.
3 cups white sugar
6 eggs - room temp.
3 cups AP Flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 and prepare a 9.75 inch bundt pan or 10 inch tube pan. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy. You may have to stop the mixer a time or two and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Add the eggs two at a time mixing until integrated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the flour all at once with the vanilla and mix until just combined. Do NOT over mix. It is always best at this point to use your rubber spatula and gently mix by hand if there are any streaks of flour remaining. This is also the opportunity to integrate any flour that may have somehow made it's way to the bottom of the bowl. 

Pour the mixture (slowly) into a well prepared bundt or tube pan, when I say well prepared I mean butter and flour that baby like there's no tomorrow. The saddest thing that can happen to a bundt and/or tube cake is it not releasing from it's mold. 

Before placing the cake in the oven gently lift the pan a couple of inches off of the counter and then drop back onto the counter a few times to get any air bubbles out that may be in the batter. 

Now to borrow a phrase my great-grandmother used to use, "you're just going to want to bake it until it's done dah-ling!" This may or may not equate to an hour to an hour and 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. 

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before inverting it onto a cooling rack to allow to cool completely.

Dust with powdered sugar prior to serving with various fruit and whipped cream! Voila! Yummy!