Cream Cheese Pound Cake
This Cream Cheese Pound Cake is a tender, moist, and flavorful dessert that’s a new spin on traditional pound cake. Plus, it’s super simple to make! Top it off with whipped cream and fresh berries or enjoy plain!
The simple addition of cream cheese gives this pound cake a soft, tender crumb that absolutely melts in your mouth. Make sure to save this recipe along with some other cake favorites like Tres Leches Cake, Marble Bundt Cake, and Strawberry Pound Cake!
Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
Pound cake is one of my favorite desserts. The moist, dense texture is so good, I always find myself going back for another slice. I have quite a few pound cake recipes on the blog now, but I think this one takes the cake (no pun intended!)
Because let’s be honest, you really can’t go wrong with adding cream cheese to dessert. It adds a little bit of tang to this recipe and also makes it so incredibly soft and moist. You won’t be able to stop eating it.
Ingredient List
Just pantry staples here! That’s what makes cream cheese pound cake so great! Simple and delicious, everything that dessert should be.
Unsalted Butter: Adds richness and moisture to the cake. Use softened butter so it mixes together smoothly with the other ingredients.
Cream Cheese: This recipe’s star ingredient! It adds a little tang and gives the cake a tender crumb. Again, softened cream cheese is best so it mixes smoothly with the other ingredients.
Granulated Sugar: To sweeten things up.
Large Eggs: Act as your binding agent to hold everything together.
Egg Yolks: For some extra richness. These help achieve that classic pound cake texture.
Vanilla Extract: For warmth and extra flavor.
Salt: Boosts all of the flavors.
All-Purpose Flour: Gives the cream cheese pound cake its structure. You can also use cake flour but it will change the crumb slightly.
How Many Eggs to Use
You will need a total of 9 eggs but you will only use 6 whole eggs (whites and yolks) plus 3 egg yolks. You will discard 3 of the egg whites, or save them for another recipe.
How to Make Cream Cheese Pound Cake
If you can make boxed cake mix, you can make this cream cheese pound cake! It’s so simple- the hardest part is waiting for it to come out of the oven.
Preheat Oven, Prepare Pan: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and generously grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. Tap out any excess flour. You may alternatively use a pan spray that already has flour in it.
Cream Cheese Mixture: Use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer to cream softened butter and cream cheese together. Scrape down the sides sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the sugar and beat until well combined and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Add Wet Ingredients: Add the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix until combined, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
Add Dry Ingredients: Add the salt and flour and mix until combined, again scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
Transfer to Pan: Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake and Enjoy: Bake for 65-70 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, with just a few moist crumbs stuck to it.
Beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy
Mix in the sugar until fluffy, then add the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla
Add the flour and salt and mix to combine
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake
Tips for Making Cream Cheese Pound Cake
I want to set you up for success when making this cream cheese pound cake! Here are some tips below for you to follow.
Room Temperature Ingredients: Start with room-temperature ingredients. Leave the cream cheese, butter, and eggs on the counter for 1-2 hours before beginning the recipe. Having room-temperature ingredients will allow them to blend more easily, avoiding having chunks of butter or cream cheese that refuse to break down and combine with the other items.
Prep the Bundt Pan: Prepare the bundt pan adequately! I found using a baking spray with four in it, like Baker’s joy, to be the easiest. But you can spray the inside of the pan with regular pan spray, add 1/4 cup of flour, and tap the pan as you turn it to ensure the flour sticks to every crevasse in the pan. Tap any excess flour out of the pan before adding the batter.
Baking: Don’t under-bake or over-bake! This cream cheese pound cake is thick and moist, so making sure it’s fully baked but not over-baked is a little tricky. I found that by the time 70 minutes of baking was done, some thick batter was still coming out in a toothpick but the cake was definitely looking baked. I took a chance and removed the cake from the oven, inverted it onto a cooling rack, and let it cool completely before slicing it. The inside was perfect and not underbaked! The key here is the consistency of the batter on the toothpick. It should be thick and clumpy, not thinner or runny at all. It should look very similar to the inside of a cake pop.
Storing Leftovers
As long as it’s in an airtight container, your cream cheese pound cake will last for 3-4 days at room temperature, or 1 week in the fridge.
Can I Freeze Cream Cheese Pound Cake?
Yes! Cream cheese pound cake actually freezes very well. Let the cake cool completely after it’s finished baking then wrap very well in plastic wrap. I also recommend then wrapping the cake in foil, just to be sure it’s well covered. You may also slice the cake and individually freeze the slices (they’ll thaw much quicker this way) but it’s very important that you make sure that the cream cheese pound cake is carefully and completely wrapped up. It will stay good for 2-3 months!
More Tried & True Pound Cake Recipes
Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Updated on April 16, 2024