Cream cheese pound cake
Instructions:
- Position one rack in the bottom and another in the middle of the oven. Place a large baking pan of water on the lower rack. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Thoroughly grease and flour a 10-inch light metal tube pan. (A dark metal, nonstick, or heavy Bundt pan will make the crust too dark and thick and will alter the baking time.)
- Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy in a large bowl with an electric mixer set to medium speed, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running, slowly add the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to high and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour to the egg mixture in three additions, beating at low speed only until it disappears into the batter each time. Mix in the vanilla and the mace. Stir the batter with the rubber spatula to make sure all the ingredients are stirred up from the bottom. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake on the middle rack until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a wire cooling rack for 20 minutes. Turn out the cake and set it face up on the rack. Cover with a clean tea towel and let cool to room temperature before cutting. Store covered at room temperature. An oldfashioned domed cake plate or cake tin is ideal.