Homemade cream cheese pound cake is as delicious for an afternoon treat as it is for dessert! You’ll love the sweet, subtly tangy flavor and tender crumb.
PREPARATION TIME:
Ingredients:
1½ cups unsalted butter softened (339 g)
8 ounces cream cheese softened (227 g)
2½ cups granulated sugar (450 g)
6 large eggs room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour (360 g)
½ teaspoon salt
Confectioners’ sugar for serving
Instructions:
Notes:
Weigh the flour: Using too much flour will result in a dry cake, so use a kitchen scale to weigh it. If you don’t have a scale, fluff the flour in its container, spoon it into a measuring cup, and level off the top with a knife.
Scrape down the bowl: Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl along with the paddle or beaters frequently, especially when creaming the butter, cream cheese, and sugar! It’s important for this mixture to be extra smooth before adding the eggs and flour. You’ll notice that I mention scraping the bowl very frequently in the recipe steps! Do not skip this because, once baked, little lumps of butter or cream cheese can leave holes in the cake.
Don’t overmix the batter: Once you add the flour, it’s important not to overmix the batter, or the gluten will develop too much, resulting in a tough, very dense cream cheese pound cake.
For a citrusy twist: Add 2 teaspoons of lemon zest or orange zest to the batter with the vanilla extract.
If the top of the cake starts to look too dark while baking, tent it with foil for the remainder of the baking time to protect the top.
Use a wooden skewer: Toothpicks are sometimes not long enough to reach the center of the cake, so you can use a wooden skewer instead to check for doneness.
