I’m pleased to present Lauren from Keep It Sweet for today’s guest post! She makes so many fabulous desserts, like these Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Bars, and I am very happy to have one of her desserts featured on The Spiffy Cookie today. Enjoy!

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Hi! I’m Lauren from Keep It Sweet.  First, thank you to Erin for giving me a chance to guest blog!  I love reading The Spiffy Cookie for delicious recipes like these Blueberry Blondie Cheesecake bars and her goat cheese stuffed chicken burgers!

For my guest post, I wanted to share a recipe that is sweet, delicious and easy, my favorite kind!  And, in honor of celebrating my first anniversary on Monday, I wanted to make something reminiscent of one of my husband’s favorite snacks, cream cheese and jelly sandwiches!

While I am partial to peanut butter and jelly (ok, really peanut butter and anything), my non-peanut butter eating husband is a lover of everything cream cheese.  Bagels with cream cheese and lox, red velvet cake with cream cheese icing, and of course a soft potato roll with cream cheese and jelly.  I’ll be honest, the first time I tried the combination it grossed me out.  But then, I made a cheesecake with strawberry jam swirled throughout and I was converted.

This Cream Cheese & Jelly Pound Cake is a little lighter than your typical pound cake with the use of light cream cheese in place of butter, but still moist and dense enough to satisfy any pound cake lover.  Eat a slice fresh out of the oven with a dollop of whipped cream or toast a piece of day-old pound cake and top it with a mixed berry sauce.

CREAM CHEESE & JELLY POUND CAKE

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

10 oz. of low fat cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt

1 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs brought to room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup jelly (I used mixed berry)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt), and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter on high speed for several minutes until mixture is light and creamy.
4. On high speed, beat the Greek yogurt into butter and cream cheese mixture for about a minute.
5. Add sugar and beat on high speed until batter is smooth and creamy.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, putting the mixer on high for about a minute or two between each.
7. Add in the vanilla on high speed for a minute; scrape the sides of the bowl and turn mixer on high again until well combined.
8. Reduce speed to low and gradually add in dry ingredients but do not overbeat.
9. Before batter is fully combined, remove bowl from mixer and lightly fold batter to get all of the dry ingredients mixed in.
10. Pour half of the batter into a 9×5 loaf pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
11. Top with jelly and spread evenly over the batter.
12. Top jelly with remaining batter.
13. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Note: This pound cake freezes well whole or in slices.

Source: Adapted from this lemon pound cake.