Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Because of its richness in butter, I seldom bake pound cakes or butter cakes.
According to  wikipedia  :The traditional pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar.

But it's been a long time since I've last baked a cherry lemon pound cake or rich butter cake.  Now, got some leftover cream cheese in the fridge and not knowing what to do with it.  Decided to bake this  ... butter + cream cheese = extra-rich pound cake ! (How am I  gonna shed my extra pounds ... Ha ha!)

Recipe source : Martha Stewart
Below my slightly modified version as I've scaled down to about 1/3 recipe and reduced the sugar quantity.

Ingredients
126g all-purpose plain flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs (the size of my egg is 60g each with shell)
100g caster sugar
113g salted butter, softened
113g cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method :
1) Preheat oven to 180°C. Position the rack in center of oven. Note : The temperature of the oven may vary, do adjust accordingly.
Sift together the plain flour and baking powder and set aside.

2) Butter (or spray with a non stick vegetable spray) a 4x8-inch loaf pan.

3) With an electric mixer or hand mixer, beat butter and cream cheese in medium speed until smooth. Gradually add caster sugar in 2 additions, beat for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

4) Next,  add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Adjust the mixer on low speed, add in the flour and beat until just combined.

5) Pour batter into prepared pan and gently tap the pan a few times on table top to release the trapped bubbles in the batter. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until cakes are domed, nicely browned. If the cake seem to be browning too quickly, tent with a sheet of aluminium foil. Check for doneness with a skewer or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake if it comes out clean.



6) Cool the cake in pan for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Feel free to dust with icing sugar or glaze the pound cake if you like.  But I'm enjoying few two slices as it is ... love this nice golden brown crust, extra moist with fine crumbs and a hint of buttery fragrance. Yeah consume in moderation :)