Cream Cheese Pound Cake( Bon Appetite)

Robin and I went to Port Huron, MI on Saturday. In March, Robin finally got her Nexxus card so now she can join me in the Nexxus lane. This means we don't have to wait in a long line or even speak to a Customs agent. This makes for an easy and stress-free border crossing. We're only 62 miles from the border so it takes about an hour to get there. We ate at Ruby Tuesday's( no pictures). I never thought there would be a day I'd get excited about eating at a chain restaurant. Port Huron is the land of chains. Our choices are Chili's, Red Lobster, Applebees, Olive Garden and Ruby Tuesday. There is also a Denny's, Bob's Big Boy and a few other diner type places. Lastly, there is the "authentic" Mexican place and some chinese mom and pop places. I wanted a turkey burger though, so Ruby Tuesday it was. I was telling Robin how when I was in High School in Florida, my friends and I would go to Ruby Tuesday( it was at the Mall) for salad bar. It cost 2.99 for our lunch and we thought it was such a great deal. Anyway, I graduated almost 23yrs ago and now the salad bar is 8.99 alone or 2.89 with a meal.

I digressed, so back to Pound Cake. We went to TJ Maxx and I found this Bavarian Bundt pan on clearance for 12.99. I thought a pound cake would be good for this pan and I was right. I was afraid it would stick, but I sprayed it really well with a baking spray that contained flour. I found this recipe on Epicuirous.com. It got good reviews so I went with it. Its really a very tasty pound cake, totally melt in your mouth. I reduced the quantity of vanilla and added 1tsp of pure almond extract.

The cake is put into a cold oven and then baked slowly at gradually increasing temperatures.

serving size

Makes 1 large cake.

ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs, room temperature
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups sifted all purpose flour preparation
Butter and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Using electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add sugar and salt; beat 10 minutes, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. 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 cold oven. Set temperature at 200°F; bake 20 minutes. Increase temperature to 250°F; bake 20 minutes. Increase to 275°F; bake 10 minutes. Increase to 300°F; bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour longer. Cool cake in pan on rack 15 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack; cool completely. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Wrap; store at room temperature.)

Bon Appétit, December 2003