Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This is probably the best cream cheese pound cake.  Period.  It's creamy and cream cheesy, dense, moist, buttery, and cream cheesy.  I had to put cream cheesy in there twice because the cake has a full pound of cream cheese in it.

It came from the Faith Presbyterian Church cookbook, Recipes and Remembrances.  The recipe is from the kitchen of Mrs. Martha McKay, long-time member of the Presbyterian church, Ladies' Variety Club, and styling Southern women everywhere.  She's the epitome of class, coaching the Junior Miss contestants on manners and propriety.  Don't quote me on it, but I'd swear she was a debutante in her youth.

I made this ingredients-smiley-face just for y'all

'cause having you here is better than sliced bread.

 She's the best small-talk-maker I know, her ease of dismissing a conversation as simple as looking down and away. She's a retired teacher but substitutes quite often.  I understand the youngsters groan to see her walk in the classroom, an expected easy day of loafing in class effectively rearranged into productive school work by her very presence.  

I compared her recipe with a dozen others this afternoon and the only thing really different is the amount of cream cheese.  The ingredients show eight eggs.  These are eight medium eggs that were a bit on the small size for medium.  When substituting medium for large eggs always add one more to the number -- two if they're small like these are.

I love the long loaf pan for this cake.

The cake itself is put together like almost any other pound cake.  The directions say to combine the cream cheese, butter, and sugar.  I like to mix the butter and cream cheese first.

 Did you remember to pan coat the loaf pan?  

Go to the Dollar Tree and purchase a multi-pack of these

cheap cheap economical brushes.  When they get yucky

after a couple of uses and washes, throw them away.  

Add sugar when butter and cream cheese are well mixed, creaming together until **snicker** well creamed together.  If you mix it until it's very light and fluffy something weird happens; there'll be a layer of butter going through the cake after it's baked.  That's not a BAD thing and I don't know exactly why it does this although I bet my nephew could, trained chef that he is.  I'm not professionally trained -- I'm learned!

Alternate adding two eggs to the butter/cream cheese/sugar mixture with the flour.  I try to do it in three additions.  It doesn't always work that way, sometimes the flour blops out or three eggs glop in at once.  It's not rocket science:  alternate the two so there are no big clumps of one or the other in the batter.

Add the vanilla last.

:o(  Almost out of Mexican vanilla...

Pour/spoon into prepared pan.

This is a lot of cake batter, making one very large loaf pan full or

one very large tube cake, or two medium loaf pans.
And that's my batter on the spatula.  nnnnomz...

It goes into a cold oven that's now been set to 250 F.

Find something to do for a while, like two and a half to three hours.

I like to blog, listen to whatever I feel like on Pandora,

lurk on FB, and have something good in the

Waterford (never save the good stuff for a perfect day - 

every day is perfect).

Ding!  Give it the toothpick test when it gets to smelling too delicious to stand.  It's done!  Cool five minutes before turning out.

Did it turn out perfect?  Nope.  The top crust cracked and some of it broke.  I could google it and tell you every single thing done that made this happen.  But I don't have to.  This cake is delicious (not just this cake but this recipe).  Unless you absolutely burn it up, it will be moist, with continuing moistness until it's completely consumed.  It keeps well, covered, on the counter and it freezes better than any other cake made here.  If you've not made a cream cheese pound cake - well - tomorrow's Friday;  it's as good as any reason I know to make one.

The ingredients and instructions per the cook book are:

16 ounces cream cheese
  2 sticks butter
  1 stick margarine (I used three sticks butter -  I can't tell that it makes a lot of difference)

  3 cups sugar
  3 cups plain flour (cake flour makes a slightly less dense cake)
  1/4 teaspoon salt
  6 large eggs
  1 teaspoon vanilla

Set out overnight the cream cheese, butter, margarine, and eggs.  Cream together the cheese, butter, margarine and sugar.  Alternate adding the 2 eggs and 1 cup of sifted flour with salt added until all mixed.  Add vanilla.  Put in sprayed and floured bundt pan.  Bake for 2 1/2 hours at 250 F.  Start in cold oven.  Makes a large cake.

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And there you have it and there I did!!!

Y'all enjoy.

Cake Release Facilitator: Pan Coat 101

It's a big cake weekend.  Wwwwell... One big cake, one two-tier cake, and six others.  On top of starting the new job tomorrow and hosting the Class of 1947 Reunion here Saturday, it's a very busy week.  The cakes were started and will be finished early to free up refrigerator space.  I've one refrigerator and right now it's full of cakes (these are just crumb coated, I'll decorate in the morning)!!!

Anyways.  My trusty oven was full of cakes baking this morning.  I knew (I KNEW) I should have made a batch of pan coat before starting.  If there's one thing I hate intensely dislike, it's having to stop a project because of not having everything to complete it, a concept the ADHD soul might not grasp.  I like to start something and finish it without ever stopping.  No one likes to go on a road trip with me for the same reason;  when I'm going I'm going and when I'm coming home I don't/won't stop (that'll teach them to drink two glasses of tea before leaving the house).  I had one more oven full of cakes to mix and bake: four more pans.  I was out of pan coat.  Grrrrrrrrr...

What is pan coat?  Well.  It's that stuff that coats the pan to keep cakes from sticking.  Before I worked for Mary Sue, a talented caterer and cake-maker (ooooooooo!  now SHE does roses!!!) I didn't even know the stuff existed.  I had always greased and floured the cake pans the old way.  About the time the oldest son was born Baker's Joy was discovered on the grocery store shelf.  Ohhhh JOY!  I fairly loved the ease of use despite its pricy-ness.  Mary Sue had a Tupperware canister full of pasty flour-y greasy stuff she used in the cake pans, applied with a paper towel.  One afternoon I watched Ollene pull the recipe and make it.  Hmmmmmmm....

A couple of years ago I started making cakes and remembered the pan coat.  A quick Google search revealed the recipe.  They're all basically the same;  I've tweaked mine just a bit.  I don't care for the oiliness found in using the 1 to 1 ratio of oil to shortening to flour.

I almost thought of the camera too late this morning.  It's not a properly documented tutorial but, ehhh, you're reading this...  Hey hey Booboo!  Smmmmmarter than the average bear!

I've always used the Cuisinart but Mama uses her mixer and it's almost the same consistency.  You'll need oil, shortening, and flour.  I was out of plain flour and used self-rising.  I don't know if one or the other makes any difference here;  I've never known it to.  That doesn't mean it won't -- just that I haven't experienced it yet (yet??).

Martha White:  MmmMMM GOOD!  I like Martha White Flour and a lesser known brand called Sunflower.

Put all the ingredients in the processor and let it run until very smooth.  I like to use a paintbrush to coat the pans with.  Don't spend a lot of money on a fancy pastry brush, this one from the Dollar General store works as well and lasts as long.  They'll eventually start losing bristles from all the constant use and washing, but that's alright, too.  Throw it away and get another.  There's not a whole lot of investment in it.

Put the pan coat in a container with a tight fitting lid.  I store mine down in the cabinet;  it gets used fairly quickly around here.  If you make a batch and don't bake often, put it in the refrigerator to keep for several months.  Even in the refrigerator, the oil and shortening will eventually go rancid.  Ewwwww...nasty.

That's a big pickle jar in the photo with approximately four and a half cups of pan coat in it, the yield from this morning.  Adjust the amounts up or down to suit your need.  Again, most recipes online have equal amounts of all three ingredients.  OOOOooooo... and if it's close to the holidays and coconut cake season? by all means, use coconut oil in it!  Drop the baking temperature by 25 degrees if you do;  I've had coconut oil scorch because of its lower flash point.  That was nasty too...

Here's the recipe used today:

Pan Coat
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
2       cups vegetable shortening
2       cups flour

Mix all together until smooth with your favorite implement of combining ingredients. 

You'll never buy another can of Baker's Joy now;  this is so easy and cost effective.  Y'all break out your favorite cake recipe and pans and try it out!