Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Strawberry Coulis

Pic courtesy of Annie's Eats

It's strawberry season! I first baked this little piece of work a couple months back for a friend's birthday. I just topped with a sugar glaze and it was divine. However, this last week, I was in Utah for a Demarle party I was giving, and I decided to go all the way and make the strawberry coulis (don't worry- it's just a fancy word, not fancy making) and wow, wow, wow- I was in heaven. Do yourself a favor- bookmark this, make it, and never look back.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Strawberry Coulis
adapted from Annie's Eats

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, at room temperature (I used Neufchatel cheese)
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract (You can use more if you like almond flavor, but I want to taste the cream cheese!)
3 cups all-purpose flour (can use half and half cake flour)
1 tsp. salt

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

Directions:
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 the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat 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 65-75 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. You'll probably have to use a scraper or spoon to "push" the strawberry juice through the sieve and there'll be quite a bit of seeds mixed with a little juice in the sieve that'll kind of stop it up so you'll have to dump out the seeds and do 2-3 rounds of this. Cover and refrigerate until cold. Serve with slices of pound cake.