Sometimes all it takes to inspire a new recipe is a fun new ingredient to experiment with, a special occasion or a cool new tool you are just dying to try out.  The cake I’m going to share with you today was really a combo of all three, as I set out to use a new fun mini bundt pan set to make a vanilla infused pound cake for two very important occasions!

Let’s start with a sneak peek inside my kitchen when I’m baking. Here is what it looked like after a recon trip to Publix to acquire all necessary ingredients:

Using the iPad in the Kitchen
We got an iPad last year and as you can see, it’s quickly become our most used kitchen tool!  Its so handy when you need a quick recipe idea, want to do a conversion and I’ve even starting saving our weekly meal plan to it for quick perusing.

More on using the iPad in the kitchen in a later post, for now lets get back to the vanilla cream cheesy goodness.

The star ingredient in this cake is Vanilla. I used two delicious forms to get the rich robust flavor I wanted: Nielsen Massey Vanilla bean paste and Khoisan Tea Bourbon Vanilla powder. Both of these were gifts from my super awesome momma, and both were picked up in the TJ Maxx food aisle for a fraction of what you would pay elsewhere.

Nielsen Massey Vanilla Bean Paste & Khoisan Tea Bourbon Vanilla

The bean paste is a thickened vanilla extract flecked with sweet, flavorful vanilla bean innards!

Vanilla Bean Paste Closeup

Also a gift, but this time from Jason’s mommy, I had been dying to try out this fun Nordicware bundt pan (ps… If you ever don’t know what to get me for Christmas… kitchen toys are always a winner!) With bundt cakes its important to spray your pans very well and I use an icecream scoop to distribute the batter evenly.

Nordicware 4 Shape Bundt Pan

 

You’ll notice a few air bubbles in my final product. I’m so used to trying to keep things light & fluffy that I forgot with bundt cakes you should tap on them to settle out the air prior to baking.  Mini Bundt Cakes

The three round cakes were a surprise for our good friend James’ birthday.  His wife was out of the country and after some prodding she informed me that he loved pound cake with glazey stuff on top. It was the funniest thing when his sister also dropped off a pound cake the same day!

 

The remaining heart shaped cake (not exactly appropriate to share for a dudes bday when his wife is in another country) stayed home and got a special Valentine’s day treatment for me and J-Bird to enjoy.   I sprinkled these sweet Wilton Hearts under the cake like confetti and drizzled the glaze over the contours of the cake for a dramatic effect.

Heart Shaped Bundt Cake

I also cooked down some frozen strawberries in confectioners sugar and water and served that with the sliced cake. Apparently we were too busy savoring it to take a photo! At any rate, here’s the recipe so you can whip this up in your own kitchen.

 

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Pound Cake

8 oz. package cream cheese
1 ½ c. butter
3 c. granulated sugar
6 eggs
3 c. all-purpose flour ( I used King Arthur Organic All Purpose)
1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste
2 tsp. vanilla bourbon powder
tip: Substitute 2 tbsp. of vanilla extract if you don’t have these

Preheat your oven to 325 F. Coat your bundt pan with cooking spray. Cream together the softened cream cheese and butter until smooth. Slowly add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Incorporate each egg individually and mix until uniform. Scrape sides of bowl and add in all of the flour. When flour is incorporated, add your vanilla ingredients and stir until uniformly distributed. Pour into bundt pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or use the toothpick check. (Note: mine only needed 50 minutes due to the smaller pan size).

Vanilla Bean Glaze

2 tsp. Meringue Powder
1 tbsp. Milk
3 c. Confectioners sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla bean paste

Mix the milk and meringue powder using the whisk attachment on your mixer. Add in the vanilla bean paste. Incorporate one cup of the powdered sugar at a time, whipping between each addition.  On the last cup of sugar,  add slowly until you achieve the thickness of glaze you are after.  Drizzle over the top of the cake with a squeeze bottle for a professional look.

tip: Meringue powder is the secret to getting a white opaque glaze.  You can omit the ingredient if you don’t have it, but your glaze will look thinner and more translucent.