Vanilla and Cream Cheese Pound Cakes

For me, pound cake is synonymous with baked goodies our mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers made.  The word pound in the title refers to the ingredients because the original recipes contained a pound of butter, sugar, eggs and flour.  Another interesting note on the origin of words is the same idea applies to cupcakes. The original recipe called for one cup of each ingredient.

Makes 12 
recipe from Australian Good Taste 
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100g unsalted butter, room temperature
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
250g cream cheese, room temperature
3 eggs, room temperature
190g (1 1/4 cups) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
40g unsalted butter (for icing), room temperature
230g (1 1/2 cups) icing sugar

Preheat oven to 160c.  Lightly brush twelve 80ml (1/3 cup) capacity muffin pans with melted butter to grease.  Use an electric beater to beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and half of the cream cheese in a bowl until pale and creamy.  Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Sift over the flour and baking powder and use a large metal spoon to stir until combined.

Divide mixture among the prepared pans and smooth the surfaces.  Bake 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centers comes out clean.  Set aside in the pans for 10 minutes to cool slightly before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Meanwhile, use an electric beater to beat the remaining cream cheese and extra butter in a bowl until combined.  Gradually add the icing sugar, beating constantly, until the mixture is smooth.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 2 hours to chill, or until the icing is firm.  Spread the cakes with the icing and decorate with cachous and edible flowers to serve.

The Culinary Chase’s Note:  Make sure the butter, eggs and cheese are at room temperature.  There is a tendency for the batter to curdle when adding the eggs but having the eggs at room temperature and adding each egg separately will help to prevent this.  Change the vanilla essence for fresh lemon juice for a citrus taste.  If you don’t have caster sugar on hand, you can make your own by grinding granulated sugar for a couple of minutes in a food processor (this also produces sugar dust, so let it settle for a few moments before opening the food processor).