Cream Cheese Pound Cake

à la Amanda of Is This Thing On? Either way, I'm going to be in heaven for the next couple of days. And I can say that with confidence because I made TWO of these suckers!!

Whipping the fats, sugar, and eggs thoroughly will give you a light and airy finished batter.

A scale comes in handy for making sure you fill both pans equally.

Any of these could be proper titles for this blog post Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Look at that crumb... yummy!

I originally came across this recipe on AllRecipes.com, but after further investigation, I noticed it's nearly identical to Smitten Kitchen's recipe. The following is an adaptation of ingredients and methods from both recipes, as well as some improvisation.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Makes 1 large bundt, 1 10-inch tube cake, or 2 standard loaves

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 10-inch tube pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Alternately, you can use 2 loaf pans. (I used 2 9x5" loaf pans and my cakes were somewhat short. I recommend using 2 8x4" pans.)
2. Place the butter, cream cheese, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture. Gradually increase speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Beat in the extracts. Add the remaining flour and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl thoroughly.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and shake lightly to even out the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, 1 hour and 15 minutes.
5. Place the pan(s) on a cake rack and cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely. Serve at room temperature.