Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Late February, and the winter is releasing its hold on the Lowcountry with the gradual patience that all Southern seasons practice. The azaleas are preparing. The camellias are blooming. And the grandmother — me — is preparing too: preparing the kitchen for Will\'s first visit, which James and Elise have scheduled for March, when the baby is old enough to travel and the grandmother is old enough to cry at the arrival.

I have been assembling the guest bedroom — Mama\'s room, now Will\'s room — with the particular attention of a woman who considers the preparation of a room for a grandchild a sacred act. The cradle is in place. The changing table is ready. The children\'s books are on the shelf — the same titles I stocked when I was a branch manager, the librarian\'s selection curated for a person who cannot yet read but who will, I am certain, be a reader, because the reading is in the genes, and the genes are in the family, and the family is in the books.

The Librarian\'s Table continues to sell — modestly, meaningfully, the way both books sell: not in blockbuster numbers but in the specific numbers of readers who find the book and love the book and cook from the book and write back. The writing-back is the validation. The validation is the community.

I made buttermilk biscuits — the Sunday ritual, the weekly practice, the cold-butter-hot-oven discipline that has been the constant for ten years and that will be the constant for ten more, because the constant is the practice, and the practice is the love, and the love does not stop.

The biscuits are the Sunday ritual — the weekly proof that love is practice and practice is love — but a first visit calls for something more deliberate, something that sits on the counter and announces itself as a celebration. I have been thinking about the cream cheese pound cake all week: the dense, golden crumb that holds together the way a family holds together, the way a room prepared for a grandchild holds its breath waiting to be filled. This is the cake I will bake for March. This is the cake Will’s parents will slice while I hold him, and he will not know yet what it means, but the meaning will be there regardless, in the butter and the sugar and the slow, patient oven.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes | Servings: 12

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan thoroughly, making sure all crevices are coated to prevent sticking.
Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and cream cheese. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and cream cheese together on medium speed for 3–4 minutes until very light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add sugar. Gradually add the granulated sugar to the butter mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition until the mixture is pale and airy, about 5 minutes total.
Add eggs. Add the eggs one at a time, beating just until the yolk disappears after each addition. Do not over-beat at this stage.
Add extracts. Mix in the vanilla extract and almond extract, if using.
Fold in flour. Reduce mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing just until combined after each. Do not overmix — a few streaks are fine before the final fold.
Bake. Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake at 325°F for 75–85 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is deep golden brown.
Cool. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then carefully turn out onto the rack to cool completely before slicing, at least 1 hour.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cream Cheese Pound Cake — The Cake I’ll Bake When Will Arrives