Welcome Spring with Vanilla Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

If you've been around the cafe for a while, you might remember this equipment fail from November:

I was trying to make this Caramel Apple Cake. And while the cake was delicious, it didn't look so pretty.

So yes, I did put a new Bundt pan on my Christmas list, and my favorite middle son gave me this beauty on the big day:

Sometimes better equipment is all you need!

Daughter Carrie gave the new pan its first test with this delicious cake. The light vanilla flavor with a bit of tang from the cream cheese makes this the perfect dessert for spring. It would make a great base for strawberry shortcake, too, if you weren't already addicted to Grandma's recipe :)

This recipe is from a website called http://www.rockrecipes.com/. They have tons of good looking recipes over there, and once I get a minute to breathe, I'll have to browse a bit longer than I did the other day.

Here it is:

Vanilla Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

ingredients:

for the cake batter:

1 1/2 cups sugar
8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup butter
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

for the Vanilla Cream Cheese glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar (aka icing sugar)
4 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 teaspoons milk

instructions:

Preheat your oven to 325°.

Cream the sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla together well.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Stir together the flours and baking powder, and then gently fold the dry ingredients into the batter until everything is smooth and creamy.

Bake in a well greased and floured Bundt pan (or two parchment lined loaf pans) at 325° for about 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Or use the touch test: press down lightly in the center of the cake. If the cake springs back, it's done. If an indentation remains, bake a few minutes longer.

Cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

Beat all the ingredients for the glaze together very well until very smooth. Add more of less milk to get the glaze to the proper consistency which should be relatively thick but not quite pourable.

Spoon and swirl the glaze on top of the cake and let it drip down naturally.

And try to restrain yourself to one piece!

In other news, spring has officially arrived in South Dakota!

In addition, I recently purchased a new camera. I'm taking a research trip to western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana in a few weeks, and I hope this new toy takes fabulous pictures. I played with it a bit last weekend when we went to Custer State Park. 

One thing you'll notice from these pictures is that even though the crocus, daffodils and Pasque flowers are beginning to bloom, we don't have greengrass yet.

No, that's not a typo. Greengrass. All one word. The Hills and prairies are still brown.

Okay, Thatcher was not at the park. I was fiddling with the camera settings :) Besides, I had to include him in this post. Today is his birthday!

Which means it's also Jeter's birthday! Happy birthday, you handsome dogs!

One reason for the new camera was to make it easier to get distance shots like this...

...and this one, looking east at sunset.

And close up shots, like this one...

...and this one. Yes, he is standing near what you think he's standing near. That's where the insects are!

I'm very happy with the way this one turned out - with no danger from trying to get too close:

But this last one surprised me. This would have been a big white splotch with my old camera:

It's amazing to see what you can do with the right tools!

What new tool or equipment has made your life easier lately?