Recipe of the Week: Cream Cheese Cherry Pound Cake with Vanilla Glaze

Recently I came across a recipe at allrecipes.com for a cream cheese cherry pound cake so I decided to give it a try, and boy am I glad I did! It is a deliciously moist cake...great for snacking! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 cup maraschino cherries, quartered
• 1/2 chopped pecans

Method:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat together cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs to batter. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients into batter and stir until combined. Fold cherries into batter. Spray Bundt cake pan with cooking spray. Completely cover the bottom of the pan with chopped pecans. Evenly spoon batter into pan on top of the nuts. Bake for approximately 75 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted into cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan for 5 minutes or so, then run a butter knife around the outer edge of the cake and carefully turn cake out onto cooling rack covered with a cloth towel. Cool cake completely and then transfer to cake plate. Drizzle vanilla glaze over cake, cut and serve.

Vanilla Glaze:
Heat 1/3 cup butter and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract in medium sauce pan over low heat until melted. Gradually stir in 2 cups powdered sugar and bring mixture to a boil and stir until smooth and desired consistency. Pour warm glaze over cake.

Have a TERRIFIC week!!