Thursday Recipe - Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This came out of one of those old cookbooks I own. I lightened it up and cut the sugar. My kids said it was one of the best cakes I've made in ages. It was easy, too.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

2/3 c. butter
1/4 c. oil
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 8 oz. package low-fat cream cheese or neufchatel cream cheese
2 1/2 c. white flour
6 eggs (use 7 if they are medium or small)
1 t. vanilla

Grease and flour a bundt pan. Set aside. Heat oven to 325°.

Cream butter and oil together until fluffy. Add sugar. Cream until well mixed. Add cream cheese. Beat together until very light and fluffy, at least 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat for another 3-4 minutes, until eggs are incorporated and the whole mixture is very light and creamy. Stir in flour just until well mixed.

Pour batter into bundt pan. Bake for 70-75 minutes until a *toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate.

We served this with berries and whipped cream. It was delicious and completely disappeared.

*If you have never used the toothpick method, here's what you do:
Stab a toothpick into the center of the cake. Pull it out. If you have wet lumps sticking to it, the cake needs another 5 minutes or so of baking time. If the toothpick comes out with no batter or crumbs on it, or just a couple of very small crumbles, the cake is done. You can also use a butter knife or chopstick to test this way.