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A slice of cream cheese pound cake on a plate with a strawberry garnish. There is a mug of tea next to the plate, along with a wooden serving board with the rest of the cream cheese pound cake loaf with some of it sliced up.
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Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This easy-to-make cream cheese pound cake has an ideal velvety fine crumb that a friend of mine once called “the ideal poundcake” texture! It is easiest to make with a stand mixer but you can also use a hand mixer if that’s all you have. I have included notes in the recipe using a hand mixer.
One thing to note, make sure to use room temperature butter and cream cheese for this recipe but especially if you are using a hand mixer. The stand mixer is more powerful, and you can use colder butter and cream cheese if you didn’t plan ahead, but it will take a little longer to mix and cream the cold ingredients.
Course Breakfast, brunch, coffee time, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword cake, cream cheese
Prep Time 30 minutes
1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 612kcal
Author Irvin

Ingredients

  • 14 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 1/4 sticks or 200 g
  • 3 ounces cream cheese 85 g
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 300 g
  • 5 large eggs at room temperature (see note below)
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon almond extract optional
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 210 g

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325°F.
    Cube the butter and cream cheese into 1/2-inch chunks. It’s ok if they are both refrigerator cold if you are using a stand mixer, but if you are using a hand mixer, you will want to use room temperature ingredients.
    Place them in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until the ingredients start to blend together, about a 1 to 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the ingredients are creamy looking, homogenized, and cling to the side of the bowl, about another 2 to 3 minutes (this will take longer if you are using a hand mixer).
    Add the salt and baking powder and mix for an additional 30 seconds until absorbed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
    Left image is cubbed butter and cream cheese in mixing bowl. Right image is butter creamed and clinging to the side of the bowl.
  • With the mixer on at low speed, add the sugar, pouring it into the bowl at a small stream, trying to “cream” it into the butter slowly. Continue to add all the sugar until it is incorporated and looks fluffy. Again, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. If using a hand mixer, add a little sugar at a time, then mix to incorporate and repeat the process.
    Left image is sugar being slowly poured into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer with butter and cream cheese well blended. Right image is the sugar mixed into the butter and cream cheese to the point where it is clinging to the side of the bowl and is fluffy and light colored.
  • Beat the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) together into a glass measuring cup with a spout.
    With the mixer on low speed, drizzle the egg into bowl, stopping to make sure the egg mixture has been absorbed before adding more. You want to try and keep the batter as smooth as possible, but in the end the batter might still look a little broken and grainy. That’s typical so don’t stress too much about it. If you’re using a hand mixer, repeat the same process you did with the sugar, by adding a little egg mixture at a time, mixing, and then repeating.
    Scrape down the sides and bottom, then on low speed, sprinkle and add the flour, mixing until the flour is absorbed and the batter is smooth.
    Left image is egg drizzled into the bowl of creamed sugar, butter and cream cheese. Right image is flour being added to the cake batter.
  • Do a couple more scrapes of the bottom and side to make sure everything is well mixed. Then lightly butter or coat a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking oil. You want to oil the pan right before you add the batter, otherwise the oil will just fall down the sides and pool into the bottom.
    Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 85 to 90 minutes, or until the top has cracked open, the center looks dry (not wet) and a skewer inserted comes out clean. If you have an instant read thermometer, the internal center temperature should be somewhere between 200° and 205°F.
    Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack, flipping it right side up and letting it cool completely before serving.
    Left images is pound cake batter being poured into a loaf pan. Right image is a small offset spatula smoothing out the batter on top.

Notes

If you have forgotten to bring your eggs to room temperature, take them out of the fridge when you start the recipe and place them in a bowl of hot water directly from your tap. Let the eggs sit in the hot water. The hot water will bring the eggs to room temperature in about the time it takes to get to the part where you add them to the batter, about 10 minutes.
Adapted from King Arthur Flour’s Velvet Pound Cake recipe

Nutrition

Calories: 612kcal | Carbohydrates: 40.6g | Protein: 12.7g | Fat: 38.8g | Saturated Fat: 24.2g | Cholesterol: 326mg | Sodium: 3842mg | Potassium: 817mg | Fiber: 0.7g | Sugar: 22.5g | Calcium: 342mg | Iron: 3mg