Cinnamon Swirl Pound Cake
Pound cake gets a bad wrap. There are some crazies out there that think it's bland, dense and not worth the effort. Well crazies, you're dead wrong. Pound cake is SO worth the effort...when done right. What do I mean by "done right?" Well, it's pretty simple. We need a tons of fat in the form of butter, sour cream and cream cheese. Why? Because fat is flavor! This fat also provides moisture to our cake. We need great flavor and I can promise you that is what you get here. There's tanginess from the buttermilk, lemon, cream cheese and sour cream. There's great warm flavors from the molasses, cinnamon and brown sugar. Lastly, we need great texture. For a pound cake, it should be a bit dense, yet still have some lightness and moisture to the cake. We also get wonderful texture from our streusel topping. Trust me pound cake haters, this pound cake is one you'll want to try.
To begin, you want to be sure all your cold ingredients get brought up to room temperature.
Then, you'll want to prep your 9x5" loaf pan. I highly suggest using a light-colored baking pan, like the one you can get here. Light pans reflect heat and promotes more even baking. A darker pan absorb heat. That means if you use a darker pan, your cake will bake much quicker which means you'll likely over-bake or burn the cake. If it's last minute and a dark pan is all you have, reduce the baking temperature and time by at least 25% and wrap the outside of the pan in some aluminum foil. You could always save yourself the trouble and just run to your local store and grab a light pan instead of having to worry about the decrease time, temp and foil wrapping technique. Next, you'll want to be sure to have parchment paper on hand. We're going to line our loaf pan with parchment and spray it with cooking spray really well. You could also line it with parchment and butter and flour it really well. Either method works fine. Note, do as I say and not as I do. In the video tutorial, I'm using a dark pan, (literally had to buy one last minute, because we just moved) and I lined the pan with foil, because I was out of parchment. Being that I had to shoot the video and didn't have time to go back to the store to pick up parchment and the proper pan, I went with it. I wanted to show you the basics of how to execute the recipe. But, the devil is in the details. The pan and how you line and grease your pan will have a big impact on your outcome. Okay, okay...enough. I'll get off my soapbox.
Anyway, once you have everything prepped, we can begin. Start by sifting all your dry ingredients together and set aside.
Next, combine your sugars in a medium bowl and set aside.
Next, you can combine the wet ingredients in a large measuring cup and set aside. You can give it a whisk, but it's not necessary.
Combine the cinnamon swirl ingredients, sans the cake batter, into a small measure cup and set aside.
Lastly, prep your streusel topping by combing the ingredients and placing into the fridge until ready for use.
Cream the softened cream cheese and butter together for about two or three minutes on medium speed.
Turn the mixer off and scrape the bowl down well. Turn the mixer on to a medium speed and gradually in the sugars. Turn the speed up back to medium and mix for about five minutes until light, fluffy and more voluminous.
Turn the mixer back onto a medium-low speed and gradually add in the wet ingredients. Wait a bit between each addition so that the mixture can absorb the liquids. Once all the liquids are mixed in, stop the mixer. The mixture may appear separated and curdled, but that's normal since our mixture is just fat and liquids at this point. Don't freak out about this! It'll be fine, I promise!
Add the dry ingredients all at once and gently fold in until just combined. Don't overmix! We don't want a dry cake here.
Use a large cookie scoop to scoop out half of the cake batter into a separate medium bowl. Pour in the cinnamon swirl ingredients in the measuring cup into the bowl. Fold in to combine until uniform in color. Don't overmix.
Use the same cookie scoop to scoop out three normal batter into the prepared loaf pan (which should be light and lined with parchment!). Space the scoops out into the pan, meaning you place one scoop in one corner, another scoop in the opposite side corner and one in the middle. Then scoop out three more scoops from the cinnamon swirl batter and place in the empty spot in the loaf pan. You want to make sure to mix it up. Be sure not to overfill your pan, as I did! Use a skewer, offset spatula or pairing knife to do a figure 8 motion to swirl around the batter about 3-4 times. Don't over do it or you won't get a swirl, you'll just get a blended batter. Tap the batter over the counter.
Take the streusel topping out of the fridge and crumble the streusel over the top of the batter. Place the pan onto a baking sheet. I like to bake this on a baking sheet in case it overflows. Bake at 325°F for 60-90 minutes. It may even need a bit longer. Pound cakes take a while to bake. Check at the 50 minute mark. Halfway through baking, tent the top with aluminum foil. Use a skewer to test for doneness. A few moist crumbs should come out on the skewer when testing.
Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for about an hour. Drizzle the top with cream cheese glaze. Enjoy with whipped cream.
See how I do it:
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 2 1/12 sticks (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups cake flour
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 6 whole eggs
- ⅓ cup sour cream, room temp
- ½ cup buttermilk, room temp
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ juice and zest from lemon
- Cinnamon Swirl:
- ¼ cup blackstrap molasses
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ the cake batter
- Streusel Topping:
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
- Cream Cheese Glaze:
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream + more if needed
- 1 very small lemon, zest and juice
Instructions
To begin, you want to be sure all your cold ingredients get brought up to room temperature. Preheat your oven to 350°F, but we will bake at 325°F. Prep your streusel topping mixture by combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with your hands until it clumps together like wet sand. Set the streusel topping mixture in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
Then, you'll want to prep your 9x5" loaf pan. We're going to line our loaf pan with parchment and spray it with cooking spray really well. You could also line it with parchment and butter and flour it really well. Either method works fine.
Anyway, once you have everything prepped, we can begin. Start by sifting all your dry ingredients which includes the cake flour, baking powder, cinnamon, lemon zest, and set aside.
Next, combine your sugars in a medium bowl and set aside.
Next, you can combine the wet ingredients including, the eggs, buttermilk, oil, sour cream, vanilla, oil and lemon juice in a large measuring cup and set aside. You can give it a whisk, but it's not necessary.
Combine the cinnamon swirl ingredients, sans the cake batter, into a small measure cup and set aside.
Cream the softened cream cheese and butter together for about two or three minutes on medium speed.
Turn the mixer off and scrape the bowl down well. Turn the mixer on to a medium speed and gradually in the sugars. Turn the speed up back to medium and mix for about five minutes until light, fluffy and more voluminous.
Turn the mixer back onto a medium-low speed and gradually add in the wet ingredients. Wait a bit between each addition so that the mixture can absorb the liquids. Once all the liquids are added in, stop the mixer. The mixture may appear separated and curdled, but that's normal.
Add the dry ingredients all at once and gently fold in until just combined. Don't overmix!
Use a large cookie scoop to scoop out half of the cake batter into a separate medium bowl. Pour in the cinnamon swirl ingredients in the measuring cup into the bowl. Fold in to combine until uniform in color. Don't overmix.
Use the same cookie scoop to scoop out three normal batter into the prepared loaf pan. Space the scoops out into the pan, meaning you place one scoop in one corner, another scoop in the opposite side corner and one in the middle. Then scoop out three more scoops from the cinnamon swirl batter and place in the empty spot in the loaf pan. You want to make sure to mix it up. Be sure not to overfill your pan.
Use a skewer, offset spatula or pairing knife to do a figure 8 motion to swirl around the batter about 3-4 times. Don't over do it or you won't get a swirl, you'll just get a blended batter. Tap the batter over the counter.
Take the streusel topping out of the fridge and crumble the streusel over the top of the batter. Place the pan onto a baking sheet, which we're doing in case it overflows. Bake at 325°F for 60-90 minutes or more, if needed. Check at the 50 minute mark. Halfway through baking, tent the top with aluminum foil. Use a skewer to test for doneness. A few moist crumbs should come out on the skewer when testing.
Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for about an hour.
While the cake is cooling, prepare your glaze by mixing together the sifted confectioners sugar, vanilla, salt, lemon, butter and cream cheese. A stand mixer or hand mixer works best for this.Add in a bit of milk or heavy cream at a time until you reach glaze consistency. Drizzle the top of the cake with cream cheese glaze. Enjoy with whipped cream.
Notes
This cake tastes better as it sits. Cover uneaten cake tightly with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Store at room temp for two days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw in the in the fridge and then bring out to room temp. We don't want to store it in the fridge, because a cake dries out in the fridge.
