Almond and cream cheese pound cake…

Cream cheese in pound cake? yeah.. very very healthy 😉 (maybe not) – and very tasty. This september and October, we made a few trips to Wisconsin to meet our friends. It’s during one of these trips that I had a sugar high and bought this cake from a local gas station – it sure was tasty but way too sweet for me. I knew for sure that I had to make this at home and found a recipe on food.com. It’s a pound cake and I had to make it! I liked everything about this recipe – even the almonds that come in the way — 🙂

This is what you need:
1/2 cup of butter
4 oz cream cheese
1 and/2 cup of sugar
1 and 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup of almonds – divided

This is how you make: Steps: –
Preheat oven to 325* – Generously spray a loaf pan with non stick cooking spray – sprinkle the insides of the pan with a qtr cup of almonds.
In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until blended smooth. Add cream cheese and blend till smooth and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. – Now add eggs one at a time, and keep beating till they incorporate in the batter. Add the flour, vanilla extract and a qtr cup of almonds and beat for about 2-3 mins. – Pour into the loaf pan. Bake at 325*F for 1 hour . Check for doneness at 1 hour. A toothpick inserted into center of cake will come out clean.

This was very light and tasty… the texture is super soft. I will make it again and maybe toast the almonds next time – hmmmmmm

I am sending this recipe for the Holiday exchange – if you happen to read this post… Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Chicago Metallic

AND
Food of the Month – Contest hosted by Amy

Enjoy!

Sour Cream Pound Cake

 I love pound cakes and brownies to an extent that it is always a battle for me to choose between the TWO! I love them — really really love brownies and pound cakes or pound cakes and brownies. Since I started blogging – it’s all the more a challenge as there are a TON of awesome recipes on the web with simple variations to each one of these. and COMEON – we know it’s a lotta butter and suga which is not good for health 😉 — sigh the cost of loving these two. Blogging and trying different recipes – led to sharing them with friends and with colleagues at work – which led to these disappearing in no time – which led to trying more – which then led to a mission – blogging pound cakes and brownies! Yes, I have just taken it as mission to try every recipe of these two that appeal to me (I wonder if any that wont!!! – no don’t see that happening).
So – here is the first one to this mission. Sour cream pound cake – I had butter, sour cream was dying to be used and wanted to use lime zest and that’s how I chose to make a sour cream pound cake!

This is what you need:
1 cup sour cream – room temp
1 stick butter, softened – room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs – room temp
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 lime (this is optional – but I’d say add it… the cake is so so tasty with the hint of the zest.

This is how you make:
Steps:
– Preheat oven to 325*
– Generously spray a loaf pan with non stick cooking spray. use parchment paper if you’d like to.
– In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until blended smooth. Add sour cream and blend till smooth and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
– Now add eggs one at a time, and keep beating till they incorporate in the batter. Add the flour, vanilla extract and lime zest and beat for about 2-3 mins.
-Pour into the loaf pan. Bake at 325*F for 1 hour . Check for doneness at 1 hour. A toothpick inserted into center of cake will come out clean.

It was very tasty and the hint of lime zest – was very very refreshing. The texture is dense and so it is filling and may be heavy if eaten more than 2 slices at a time – so space out when you want to eat this 😛

Here is wishing me luck on my ‘fun’ mission!
Carpe Diem

I am seding this recipe to BAKE FEST @ ZESTY PALETTE hosted by Vardhini

CFC Brownies with a hint of coffee

A BROWNIE addict, enthusiast and/or a freak is left with only one choice when they come across a recipe that is promising in more than one ways –  to be cakey, fudgy and chewy (CFC !!!!) And the choice we brownie addicts have is to BAKE’em, Eat’em and maybe Share’em

Here is a link to the recipe – I did alter it a bit by subsitituting 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate with unsweetended cocoa powder and added a teaspoon of instant coffee 😉 (I just love the hint of coffee in my brownies) http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/amazing-brownies-a-giveaway/

I call them CFC brownies and they did live upto their name.

Carpe Diem 🙂