Cream Cheese Pound Cake

When I came home from the hospital after having Ella, my first daughter, a friend of mine brought me a pound cake. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I had never had a "real" homemade pound cake. I ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Obviously, losing the baby weight wasn't on my mind yet. I searched out recipes and found this one. I'm not sure if my friend used cream cheese, but this cake is just as good. The first time I made it I lost count of the sugar I was adding, and I ended up using an extra 1/2 cup. It was delicious! So, the second time I counted correctly and the cake wasn't as good. Go figure. More sugar equals better pound cake! This is my "edited" version that includes the extra 1/2 cup of sugar. The crust on the cake is great. Probably my favorite part. I promise you though, if you make this, plan to take some to somebody else. If this cake sits in your house, you WILL eat all of it!



3 sticks butter, softened
1 8-oz. block cream cheese, softened
3-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour


Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add salt and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Add flour, dividing into four additions. Pour into a 10" round tube cake pan or bundt pan, buttered. Bake at 325 degrees for 1-1/2 hours or until done (I used my Pampered Chef Stone Bundt pan so I increased the temperature to 350 degrees). Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then flip out onto a platter. Cool completely.



Enjoy!



(adapted from NorthPole.com)