A Good Use of Lemon Curd: Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I found lemon curd in the pantry.  I can't remember why I bought it, but I'm sure it was for some long forgotten cupcake creation.  So I decided to get creative with it and tweak an old stand-by.  As a result, I now have a cake that I end up making about once a month throughout the spring and summer.

I have a pound cake recipe that I've used for years that I've made a variety of ways, but I have found that the lemon variation is now the favorite and most popular.  I top this cake with a lemon glaze (recipe follows cake).  Fresh raspberries and blueberries on the side are a great compliment to the lemon flavor....  I might consider a berry glaze sometime in the future.  If you want to make it without the lemon, omit the curd and lemon extract and double the vanilla.

I would not recommend attempting this recipe without a sturdy standing mixer--if the ingredients aren't mixed properly the cake doesn't rise and I've found mixing this quantity of ingredients without any liquid components is very difficult with a hand mixer.  Also, dumping all the flour in at once will create a kitchen disaster with a hand mixer, but the consistency really isn't quite right if you add the flour in batches.

Ingredients (all should be room temperature)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups butter
3 cups white sugar
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or more if you like it)
1 teaspoon lemon extract (you can substitute fresh lemon juice, but I think the extract is sufficient due to the strong lemon flavor of the curd)
1  jar of lemon curd (Don't use more than 12 oz).

Directions  

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.  
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth.  I put my mixer on medium-high speed (7 out of 12).
3. Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy.  
4. Add eggs two at a time, beating well with each addition. 
5. Add the vanilla and lemon extract.  
6. Add the flour all at once and mix in until just combined.  I turn the mixer all the way down to 1 or 2, or I use the fold setting.
7. In a medium sized bowl, wisk the jar of lemon curd until it is smooth and easy to spread. Depending on the brand of curd, sometimes I add a little milk or cream and a tablespoon of powdered sugar.  You don't want it to taste or look like jelly--it should blend well with the cake and enhance the flavors providing for a periodic ooze of lemony goodness.
8. Pour half the batter into a 10 inch tube pan.  Spoon lemon curd over the batter, then cover with remaining batter.  Swirl the batter with a knife or spoon to swirl the lemon curd.  
9. Bake at 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) for  at least 1 hour and 30 minutes. Check for doneness at 1 hour. A toothpick inserted into center of cake should come out clean, minus the lemon curd filling.  Sometimes the cake takes as long as 2 hours.  I usually place a rimmed cookie sheet under the cake just in case it cooks out.  It's only cooked over on me once when I used a smaller bundt pan.
10. Let the cake sit for about 30 minutes before turning out. 

Note: you may be tempted to turn your oven up and cook this cake a little faster.  Resist that urge. It has a cakey-cheesecake texture and a thick golden brown crust that can only be achieved with a slow oven.  Also, if your oven is too hot this cake will cook over your pan.  Some pound cake makers swear by skipping the pre-heating stage.  I've tried this method with this cake and saw absolutely no difference outside of adding extra time to the baking process. 


Quick and Easy Lemon Glaze
Wisk about 1/2-1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 large or 2 small lemons), and 2 tbs. melted butter into about 4 cups of powdered sugar until smooth and pourable.  Or more of everything if you want more glaze. I like a thicker glaze, so I tend towards only 1/2 cup of juice.  You can add some limoncello to this glaze as well for an extra dose of awesome. 

This cake takes forever to cool completely and makes your house smell amazing--2 things that don't really go well together.  Sometimes I put glaze on when I turn the cake out at 30 minutes just to get to sample it, then again about an hour later.  This always results in glaze running all over the place that has to be spooned over the cake.  If I'm doing it right, I put the glaze on after about an hour when the cake is still warm but not hot to the touch (i.e. if you were to cut it, it wouldn't steam and burn your mouth.  Don't ask...).