Cinnamon Cream Cheese Poundcake

It's been raining here lately.

A lot.

What better time than now to try some new recipes?

No better time, I say.

So what are we waiting for?

~♥~

I did that thing again.  You know, the non-cupcake thing.  Is that OK?

♥CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE POUNDCAKE♥

This new recipe comes from Ingrid of 3 B's .... Baseball, Baking, & Books who found it on the blog One Ordinary Day

Makes one 12-cup bundt cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. unsalted butter (3 sticks) room temperature 

8 oz. Philadelphia Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Spice Swirl cream cheese, room temperature  

*TIP: Both Ingrid and I chose to make our own brown sugar and cinnamon cream cheese.  Here's how I made mine: mix 1 T. brown sugar + 1 t. cinnamon into 8 oz. room temperature cream cheese.  Sample it and add brown sugar/cinnamon to your taste.  Try not to eat it all before you add it to the batter.)

3 c. granulated sugar

6 large eggs

2 t. pure vanilla extract

2 t. ground cinnamon

3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
Cinnamon glaze (recipe follows)

Directions:

1. HEAT oven to 325°F and lightly spray a 12-cup bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. CREAM butter and cream cheese.
   
3. ADD granulated sugar and beat for 5 minutes on HIGH (until mixture is light and airy)
4. ADD eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
5. ADD vanilla and cinnamon.
6. In a separate bowl, COMBINE flour and salt.
7. ADD flour mixture to wet mixture and mix until just combined.
8. POUR batter into pan and even out the top.  
9. BAKE for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake is golden brown and cake tester comes out clean.
10. COOL in pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes.  REMOVE from pan and allow to cool completely.
11. GLAZE with cinnamon glaze (recipe follows)

Now comes the time for the glaze. I bet you're pretty excited, right?  I mean, twice now I've mentioned it and said "recipe follows," so I'm sure you've been dying to scroll down and check it out.  Well, here's the situation: There are three (3) recipes. 

-There's the first recipe, the original recipe, which is the one I used initially but thought it was missing some oomph.
-There's the second recipe, a thicker recipe, that Ingrid came up with and, if I'd had some heavy cream, I totally would have tried.
-Then there's a third recipe, a thick, more cinnamon-y glaze, that I came up with after I felt the first was lacking.

Here they are in the same order:

[ORIGINAL] CINNAMON GLAZE: Whisk together 1 c. powdered sugar, 2 T. milk, and 1/2 t. ground cinnamon until smooth.  Pour onto cake. (This is the one in the pictures above)

INGRID'S CINNAMON GLAZE: Whisk together 3/4 c. powdered sugar and 2 T. heavy cream.  Pour onto cake.  Grate cinnamon on top (optional).  (This is the one pictured in Ingrid's post)

MISS DOT'S CINNAMON GLAZE: Whisk together 1 c. powdered sugar, 1/4 c. Coffee-mate French Vanilla, and 1 T. cinnamon.  Add more Coffee-mate as necessary to get preferred consistency.  Pour onto cake.  (I didn't get a chance to take a picture of this because, well, let's just say it didn't last long...)

I cannot express how incredibly moist this cake is.  I feel it could stand alone without the glaze -- perhaps just some jam?  Preserves?  Powdered sugar?  Whatever sprinkles your cupcake.  As for how much we liked this recipe, well, let's just say Mr. Dot has announced that it has made it to the Top Ten List of Things to Bake for my Husband [AKA: him].

enjoy

♥