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Pound Cake: Chocolate-Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Source of Recipe

Recipe written by Anne Byrn


Recipe Introduction

Or, should I call this cake a mailbox masterpiece? When friend Kathy Sellers was testing some recipes for me, she used to place slices of the ones that she gave a thumbs-up to in my mailbox. What a treat it was to hurry down to the mailbox those July mornings to see if my little care package had arrived. Oh yes, I know it's against the law to place anything but mail in the box, but I'm sure that if the mail carrier had come early, he smiled at seeing the plate of warm, moist, cream-cheese laden chocolate pound cake. Or unable to resist to its heady aroma, maybe he helped himself to a slice! This cake is best served warm . . . or at mailbox temperature.

List of Ingredients

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain butter recipe fudge cake mix
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract



Recipe

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly mist a 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, cream cheese, water, oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

3. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 58 to 62 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto one rack, then invert it onto a second rack so that the cake cools large side up for 20 minutes more.

4. Slide the cake onto a serving platter. Slice and serve.

--Store this cake, wrapped in aluminum foil or plastic wrap or in a cake saver at room temperature, for up to 1 week. Or freeze it, wrapped in foil, for up to 6 months. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving.


Notice the lower oven temperature of this cake. Because this cake is baked in a tube pan and needs to be cooked slowly to cook through, I have lowered the temperature. Plus, when you cook a cake this big at 350°F it will darken and get crusty on the top and sides. You must use room temperature, or soft, cream cheese in this batter or it will lump up. To quickly turn cold cream cheese into soft, unwrap it and place it on a microwave-safe plate in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. If you are working in a cold kitchen, you may want to warm your water so that the soft cream cheese doesn't lump up when it hits the cold water and eggs.