Cream Cheese Pound Cake

The past couple of months have been extremely busy for me. After moving from Toronto to Houston we stayed at our family home where it was family reunion time as the entire family had gotten together after almost a year . Last month we moved into our own home barely a couple of minutes away from the family home. It was somewhat of a Herculean task to start setting up the house from scratch since we had hardly brought anything with us from Toronto. In between we also had to look into all the nitty gritty that is part and parcel of moving to a new country – kids’ admissions, bank accounts, car insurance and more. There were also plans for us to go for Hajj which unfortunately could not materialize.

Alhamdulillah (all praises to Allah), now that the house and most importantly, my kitchen is finally set up I can get back to blogging, hopefully on a regular basis. As it is customary to make something sweet to mark a new beginning I had made this Cream Cheese Pound Cake a few days ago . It’s an extremely rich and moist pound cake with a slight hint of lemon flavor which comes from the zest added to it.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients:

3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (340 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1-8 ounce (226 grams) package cream cheese, room temperature

2 3/4 cups (550 grams) granulated white sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Zest (outer skin) of one lemon (optional)

6 large eggs, room temperature

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place oven rack in center of oven. Lightly grease, flour and line two 9*5*3 inches loaf pans with parchment paper.

2)In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3)In the bowl of your electric mixer (with the paddle attachment), or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add the sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Continue beating on medium-high speed until light and fluffy(about 5 minutes).

4) Add the vanilla and lemon zest and beat until incorporated.

5)Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

6)Add the flour mixture, in three additions, and mix just until incorporated.

7)Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the top. Bake for about 45-55 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

8) Remove the cakes from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 20 – 30 minutes . Remove the cakes from the pans to finish cooling on wire rack.

Here’s a glimpse of my new playground which will hopefully lead to many more culinary adventures, Insha’Allah (if God wills).