Pound Cake

Recipe courtesy of Cook’s Country April/May 2012

3 cups (12 oz) cake flour

1 tsp salt

4 large eggs plus 2 large yolks, room temperature

¼ cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups (21 oz) sugar

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

6 oz cream cheese, softened

Adjust the oven rack to middle position and preheat your oven to 300˚. Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan.  (Reader, we used baking spray (made with flour) and it worked flawlessly.) Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Whisk eggs, yolks, milk and vanilla in a 2 cup liquid measuring cup.

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat sugar, butter, and cream cheese on medium high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and very slowly add the egg mixture until incorporated (batter may look a bit curdled). Add flour mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the bowl as needed. Give the batter a final stir by hand.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and gently tap it on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 80 to 90 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway in the baking time. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes only. Remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely, about 2 hours. The cake can be wrapped with plastic and held at room temperature for 3 days.