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Ingredients
- Topping:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 teaspoon salt (1/2 teaspoon if you use salted butter)
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons King Arthur Cake Enhancer, optional
- 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon water
Preparation
Step 1
1) Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease 9x5 x2 3/4" loaf pan, or 12x4x4" tea loaf pan. To avoid overflow, be SURE to use correct size pan!
2) In medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together butter, cream cheese, salt, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract, and almond extract until well combined.
3) Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; mixture may look slightly curdled/grainy. After final egg, beat at high speed for 3 minutes. Batter will still look a little curdled, but will have gained a bit of volume. Once all eggs are added, stir in milk.
4) Add cake enhancer, then sprinkle in flour gradually, with mixer going at low speed. Mix just until combined. The batter will be smooth and thick (not pourable). Spoon batter into prepared pan.
5) To make topping, combine sugar, vanilla, and water. Stir until mixture is syrupy. At first it'll seem very stiff, but will become "drizzlable" as you stir. Set topping aside.
6) Set cake on baking sheet, for easiest handling and as precaution against potential overflow (which shouldn't happen if you use correct size pan). Bake it for 55 minutes (for either size pan).
7) Remove cake from oven, and brush with sugar mixture. It'll be kind of stiff, and may clump up; again, that's OK. Return cake to oven for an additional 15 minutes or so. It's a bit challenging trying to figure out when it's done; center will test done, while very top, right under crust, will still be kind of soggy. Center should register about 200F on an instant-read thermometer.
8) Remove cake from oven, and after 5 minutes loosen edges. After an additional 5 minutes, turn cake out of pan to cool completely on rack.
Tips from our bakers:
If desired, substitute 1 tablespoon lemon zest + 1/4 teaspoon lemon oil, OR 1/8 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia flavoring, for the vanilla and almond extracts.
If desired, bake cake in 9-cup tube or Bundt pan. You'll need to bake it a shorter amount of time than in loaf pan, so start checking at 55 minutes.
Since this cake is so dense, baking time can be tricky. You want it thoroughly baked, but not dried out. When cake is done, a cake tester inserted into center will come out clean, and internal temperature at center will be at least 200F. Top 1/4" or so of top crust may still be moist and sticky; but it shouldn't be batter-like. Finished cake may have some moist streaks near top crust; that's OK.
You'll find bringing butter and cream cheese to room temperature makes them easier to beat without lumps forming. And room-temperature eggs help keep batter lump-free, too. It takes about 2 to 3 hours to bring these ingredients to room temperature, so plan ahead.