A deliciously rich and buttery classic pound cake.The inside of the cake is swirled with dollops of strawberry jam. Swoon!
This post is brought to you in partnership with my friends over at Lifeway Kefir! All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help make Taste of Genevieve possible.
I love a no-fuss recipe. Like this classic vanilla pound cake. It’s a cinch to make, it’s perfect for any season, and it never disappoints. It looks fancy and hard to make, but I’m betting you have all the ingredients you need to make this easy cake in your pantry. The beauty of a classic vanilla pound cake is that it requires the simplest ingredients….butter, flour, sugar, eggs! I topped this cake with fresh strawberries and a powdered sugar glaze but you can finish with any berry of your choice and top with sifted powdered sugar as well.
The texture of this cake is super moist thanks to the addition of Lifeway Kefir. Lifeway Kefir is a tart and tangy cultured milk smoothie that is high in protein, calcium and vitamin D. I love using it in my baked goods as a replacement for sour cream, greek yogurt, or buttermilk! Plus it’s healthy and delicious — what’s not to love?!
Here are some of the ingredients for the cream cheese pound cake and why each is used.
- Butter: Butter is the base of pound cake. You need 2 sticks of properly softened butter.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese is the difference between dry pound cake and moist pound cake. End of story!
- Sugar: This is a very large cake, so a lot of sugar is required to sweeten the cake and properly cream all the butter and cream cheese. 3 cups seems like a lot, but remember this cake yields many servings.
- Kefir: Kefir is an unconventional ingredient in pound cake, but it adds so much moisture. We are avoiding dry pound cake as much as we can!
- Vanilla Extract & Almond Extract: Both are used for flavor. I absolutely love the almond flavor in this recipe.
Swirled Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ cup plus 4 tablespoons plain Lifeway Kefir, divided
- ⅔ cup strawberry or raspberry jam
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- Fresh strawberries or raspberries for garnish
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325°. Spray a Bundt pan with baking spray and dust with flour.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, cream cheese, and granulated sugar at medium speed until fluffy about 4 to 5 minutes. Half-way through, be sure to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition. Add in both extracts.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with ½ cup Kefir, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
- Pour one-third of batter into the prepared pan. Dollop rounded teaspoonfuls of the strawberry jam onto batter, and swirl together with a wooden skewer. Repeat batter and jam steps once; top with remaining batter.
- Bake until a tooth pick inserted near the center comes out clean, about ~70 minutes. Let cool in the bundt pan on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and remaining Kefir until smooth; drizzle onto cooled cake. Garnish with strawberries, if desired.
This recipe is a great one, and if you follow it exactly, you should end up with the perfect pound cake that will wow family and friends! Lastly, if you try this cake make sure to comment below on my post and of course tag me on Instagram. Would love to see how it turns out!
I hope you love this classic vanilla pound cake just as much as I do!
Taste of Genevieve 
One Comment Add yours