Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Have you ever baked a cake without pre-heating the oven? The first time I did that was with the World's Quickest Yeasted Cake - but that is a very different type of cake from this. The Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake calls for the cold oven method which will help the cake rise higher, making it less dense than typical pound cakes. This method also produces a cake with a crispier crust.

I was not disappointed by this recipe. The cake rose high in my loaf pan, had moist, tender crumbs and was light to the bite. The lemon and ginger zest added a tangy yet refreshing aftertaste. I also made a lemon glaze for the cake so that I can use up the juice from the lemon which I zested. I served mine with a dollop of yoghurt and blueberries. My kids enjoyed this cake very much and asked for it again.

One of the problems I've always faced with some types of butter cake is that there are some parts that is a little dense. A couple of methods which has helped me get rid of that problem is ensuring that the butter is really softened and at room temperature (I leave it outside for at least 2 hours) and that I cream the butter and sugar mixture sufficiently till it is pale (white) and creamy.  

During December, the folks at NuNaturals sent me a box of their products to try out in my kitchen. NuNaturals makes diabetic-safe, low glycemic and tooth-friendly sweeteners from Stevia, which is a South American herb that has been used as a natural sweetener for centuries. I reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe and used NuNatural's Liquid Vanilla and Lemon drops to sweeten and flavour the cake further. To make the glaze, I used NuNatural's Presweet Tagatose (which has a fine texture almost like icing sugar) mixed with lemon juice. The liquid sweeteners really enhanced the flavour of the cake the healthier way while the Tagatose made a wonderful glaze - no one could tell it wasn't made of icing sugar. NuNatural products can be purchased directly from their website and they ship worldwide. Use this discount code: BLG0613 (effective until June 30, 2013) for a 15 percent discount.  

Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake (Half recipe for 1 loaf pan 5 x 9 inch)
From Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

Ingredients

• 115 g of cake flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 113 g softened unsalted butter
• 113 g softened cream cheese
• 1 1/4 cup sugar (reduced to 1 cup sugar)
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla essence (replaced with 1/4 tbsp Liquid Vanilla Stevia and 1/4 tbsp Liquid Lemon NuStevia)
• 3/4 tbsp freshly grated ginger 
• 1/2 tbsp freshly grated lemon zest 

Method

• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position.  Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.  
• Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.  Beat in vanilla, ginger, and lemon zest. 
• With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour.  When all of the flour has been added, mix for 30 seconds on medium.  
• Pour batter into prepared pan and place in cold oven.  Turn oven to 325 and bake until cake is golden, 65 to 80 minutes (I baked my loaf for about 60 mins). Check for doneness with long wooden skewer.  Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing.

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup icing sugar (I used NuNaturals Presweet Tagatose)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Method

• Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together till you achieve desired consistency and drizzle over cake. Add more icing sugar if it isn't thick enough. 

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I am submitting this to Bake-Along hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, Lena of Her Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids

This is for Javelin Warrior's Made with Love Mondays

This is for Tea Time Treats hosted by Lavender and Lovage and What Kate Baked