The Cake Slice Bakers: Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Have you ever heard of a cake being baked in a cold oven?  Well, if you haven’t you are not alone.  When this month’s cake was announced I was surprised to learn you do not pre-heat the oven.  This “technique” is supposed to result in a crisp crust on the pound cake.  This pound cake was delicious and not as dense as your typical pound cake.  The recipe calls for lemon zest along with fresh ginger.  I left out the ginger as I don’t like it and quite honestly why make something the baker herself won’t like? LOL  I wish I would have added more lemon zest and some lemon juice as the flavor was not as pronounced as I would have liked.  I did add a lemon glaze on top (lemon juice + powdered sugar) but it still wasn’t enough lemon flavor for me.  Granted, this wasn’t supposed to a lemon pound cake but I am a lover of lemon desserts!  As usual I shared this with my co-workers and everyone loved it.  Click here to see what my fellow bakers thought about this cake.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp grated fresh lemon zest

Method:

Adjust oven rack to the lower-middle position.  Grease a 12 cup bundt pan and dust with flour.  Combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl when necessary.

With the mixer on medium-speed add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla, ginger and lemon zest.  Turn the mixer to low-speed and add the flour mixture, half a cup at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.  Mix batter for 30 seconds on medium-speed.

Spread the batter into the bundt pan and place the cake in a cold oven.  Turn the oven to 325 degrees F and bake without opening the oven door until it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 65-80 minutes.  Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert it onto a cooling rack.  Cool completely before slicing and serving.  Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

About these ads