Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Strawberry Coulis

I am not the most visual-artistically talented person ever, so when it comes to decorating cakes or cupcakes, I tend to keep it simple. This also explains my love for my bundt pan which turns out cakes impressive enough to elicit sighs of approval but doesn't require a lot of work on my part.

This was the dessert I brought for our church supper club yesterday to finish off a classic cook-out meal with burgers, veggie kebabs, potato salad, and green salad. I wanted to make something light but still indulgent. May just does not seem like the time to be making heavy chocolate tortes.

Pound cakes allegedly got their name because they required a pound of sugar, pound of flour, and pound of butter. All those pounds sound so heavy, but this cake was dense without being heavy. The flavor of the cream cheese and butter was enhanced by the strawberry coulis (which, as I told everyone, basically is "fancy" for pureed strawberries).

Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Strawberry Coulis
source: Smitten Kitchen via Annie's Eats

Ingredients

for the cake:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 (8 oz.) package Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt

for the coulis:
2 cups quartered, hulled strawberries (about 12 oz.)
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Preparation

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a bundt pan or tube pan (line the bottom with parchment if using a tube pan). Combine the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a hand mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and airy, at least 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts. Add in the flour and salt and mix until just incorporated.

Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, about 75 minutes. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow to cool for about 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and allow to cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

To make the strawberry coulis, combine the strawberries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a food processor or blender. Puree until very smooth, then press through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds. (I did not remove the seeds. No one seemed to mind.) Cover and refrigerate until cold. Serve with slices of pound cake.