Name: Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 80 min
Total time: 110 min
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 1 ½ cups unsalted butter (room temperature); 2 tablespoons oil or shortening; 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (one brick); 2 3/4 cups granulated sugar; 6 large eggs (room temperature); 3 cups sifted cake flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; powdered sugar for garnish

Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe – a true Southern dessert classic that never goes out of style. Passed down from generation to the generation, this pound cake recipe will always be a hit! With a lovely texture unlike my Kentucky Butter Cake , Sock It To Me Cake , Butter Pound Cake and Sour Cream Pound Cake, this is a recipe that stands out from all the rest!

The Original Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe – Nostalgic and Perfect!

You know a recipe is guaranteed to be great when it’s ingredients include what seems to be a pound of butter. Yes, each ingredient is vital in its own way, but butter is what makes the mouth water and the world go ‘round. I mean, who doesn’t love a cake that is first and foremost all about creamy, lick your lips butter. I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say, I do.

What is a Pound Cake?

Now, the name “pound cake” derived from the original recipes that contained one pound of every one of its ingredients: sugar, flour, butter and eggs. In the days when many people couldn’t read, this made it simple to memorize the recipe. I’m sure you can imagine that a cake with four pounds of ingredients makes for one hefty cake.

The product made the cake big enough to feed the entire neighborhood and on many occasions, it did. As time has gone on, the proportions of the recipe were adjusted to make a smaller, lighter cake. But let’s not kid ourselves, we’ve kept it just big enough that even if you have to share, there’s always leftover for late-night binges.

Where Did Pound Cake Come From?

Pound cake originated in Europe in the early 18th century; since then it’s traveled far and wide, becoming one of the most popular cake variations around the world. But there’s nowhere in the world that makes them better than in the South. The first known cookbook written by an African-American, Abby Fisher, is called What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking. Mrs. Fisher, born a slave, somehow found her way to San Francisco soon after the Civil War and created a life and a small business. Mrs. Fisher could not read or write.

With the help of her friends she was able to write and publish her cookbook that included two different Pound Cake Recipes. Mrs. Fisher’s recipes stayed true to her Southern roots and helped to create the outline for more recipes to come.

Today, Pound Cakes have become a staple for bakers all across the South. They’re easy to make, incredibly delicious and perfect to share with people you love or even strangers you want to impress.

There are some recipes so entrenched in your spirit that they almost become part of the family, kinda like a distant cousin. You know them inside and out, and no cookbook is necessary to execute their greatness. Making these recipes is as natural as walking. These are the types of recipes that the women in my family have been making for decades. They are completely worn in, and every single time I make them, they seem to get better and better.

For my family, it is definitely the pound cakes that fit snugly into this category. We can mix them together in mere moments but they always taste as though several hours were spent creating them. It is one of our super powers. I first learned how to make these passed down cake recipes from my Big Mama when I was a young girl. She’d watch me patiently as I sifted large bowls of flour and paused frequently to sneak tastes of the delicious batter. We chatted about my school day or she’d tell me stories to make me laugh until my belly hurt.

There is a certain care and meticulous nature in the baking process that Big Mama takes pride in. She truly passed that pride on to me. I wasn’t just learning to bake; I was learning about my family’s deep rooted traditions and the fabric of our heritage. These are the same traditions I hope to pass on to my daughter and to the grandchildren I’ll welcome into my kitchen.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe with sprinkles of powdered sugar raining down on it.

What Is Cream Cheese Pound Cake?

Now don’t get me wrong, the flavor of this cake is simply irresistible. It is buttery and simultaneously dense and light in a way that doesn’t seem possible. It is the oxymoron of cakes with a texture that’s indescribable.

Don’t be put off by the idea of cream cheese either; it does not add an unappealing cheese flavor. Instead, the cream cheese creates a smooth texture and a slight tang that’ll have you smacking your lips.

Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake Ingredients

To create a super smooth melt in your mouth texture, these are the ingredients that come together perfectly for this cake:

Butter
Oil
Sugar
Cream Cheese
Eggs
Cake Flour
Salt
Flavoring

Butter is always a crucial ingredient in pound cakes. In fact, I don’t know many pound cakes that don’t have this at the very start. You begin with room temperature high quality and high fat butter which melts into granulated sugar once mixed on high speed. That, in addition to cream cheese, make this cake absolutely magical! It is rich and creamy to start and mixes until light and fluffy.

I also add oil for an additional element of moistness to insure each taste melts in your mouth. This cake has a large amount of eggs (SIX!) which act as stabilizers in pound cakes. The yolks add moistness but the whites dry out the batter so they balance each other out.

I opt for cake flour in this cake versus all purpose flour. It develops less gluten so it doesn’t become as tough when mixed and baked. Finally for additional flavor, salt is necessary for all sweets baking. Never forget this! And when it comes to flavor extracts, I love vanilla for this cake or you can make it unique by adding other flavors.

Tips for Making Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe

With any pound cake, texture is key to creating the perfect taste. To create the best texture, begin by making sure that your cake batter is mixed well. You must beat your fat to incorporate air into your cake because it doesn’t have a leavening.

Tip 1: Most will skip the importance of the “creaming” process which is mixing the fat and sugar together.

Tip 2: Make sure that you do not over mix once you add your flour to this cake. Because flour has gluten, if you over mix it, the texture will change. As soon as your flour is incorporated into the batter, stop mixing. Also remember to slow down your mixer. This is also important.

Mixing the cake batter for this easy pound cake recipe.

When you bite into this Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe, every flavor is ignited and each ingredient, while coming together as a whole choir, really sings its own note. With each bite, I’m also reminded of the beauty of this recipe and how far it came before making it into my kitchen. Every time I bake it, I also remember to infuse it with the most important ingredient, love.

MORE POUND CAKE RECIPES

If you want more pound cake recipes like my

*Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating and leave comments below!*

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Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe

Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe - a true Southern dessert classic that never goes out of style. Passed down from generation to the generation, this pound cake recipe will always be a hit!

4.44 from 57 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: classic recipe, cream cheese, pound cake

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Servings: servings

Calories: 616kcal

Author: Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grandbaby Cakes

Ingredients

1 ½ cups unsalted butter room temperature
2 tablespoons oil or shortening
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature one brick
2 3/4 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs room temperature
3 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
powdered sugar for garnish

Instructions

Start by preheating your oven to 325°F then liberally spray a 12-cup bundt pan with non-stick baking spray.
In your mixer bowl, add butter, oil or shortening, and cream cheese and beat for 2 minutes on high speed. Slowly add in sugar beat on high speed for an additional seven minutes until very pale yellow and fluffy.
Next, add eggs, one at a time, combining well after each addition and scraping down the sides as needed.
Turn your mixer down to its lowest speed, and slowly add flour into batter in two increments then add salt. Be careful not to overbeat.
Lastly, add in vanilla extract, scrape down sides and mix until just combined and turn off mixer.
Pour cake batter into prepared bundt pan, and bake for 1 hour and 15 -20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert cake on serving plate for at least an hour or until the cake is cool to the touch.
Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Video

Notes

Tips for Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Most will skip the importance of the "creaming" process which is mixing the fat and sugar together.

Another tip is making sure that you do not overmix once you add your flour to this cake. Because flour has gluten, if you overmix it, the texture will change. As soon as your flour is incorporated into the batter, stop mixing. Also remember to slow down your mixer. This is also important.

Nutrition

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Comments

Doris says
December 14, 2019 at 9:32 pm

My family loved it in 3 days I have made it 3 times for family and friends. Again thank you so much for this recipe.
Kay says
December 14, 2019 at 7:44 pm
Can I make this in a sheet pan
- Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) says
  December 15, 2019 at 9:04 am
  I believe it can be however I don’t think anyone has tried. If you do, please let me know how it turns out.
Connie Shein says
December 9, 2019 at 1:40 pm
I will definitely add this to my dessert table for the crowd coming for New Year’s Day.
Mary sue says
December 9, 2019 at 9:34 am
What size bundt pan did you use? For some reason my cake spilled out of my bundt pan while in the oven.
- Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) says
  December 9, 2019 at 10:07 am
  A 12 cup should do it for sure.