Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

 Here's an easy one that even a novice baker can handle. The ingredients are simple, and everything is pretty straight forward. You basically just mix everything in the order listed, pour it into a prepared pan, and boom, into the oven it goes! How easy is that??? The cake is wonderfully rich and moist by itself, but then you pour the cream cheese glaze over it and it's absolutely SINFUL. I don't even remember where I got the recipe, but I do remember everyone loving it when I made it for a group get together. Serve it with any kind of fresh berries, slices of fresh pineapple or peaches, or just by itself. You could even top it with a little sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. No matter how you serve it, I promise you it'll be a hit!

1 cup butter, softened at room temp
1/2 cup shortening
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened at room temp
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbs pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300ºF.  Lightly grease and flour a 10 inch bundt cake pan.
Beat butter, shortening, and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; add sugar gradually beating well until fully incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time, beating at low-speed until mixed in. Sift together flour and salt and gradually beat in, also at low-speed until just blended. Stir in vanilla.
Pour/scoop into bundt pan.  Smooth top with a spatula.  Bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle.
Let cool on wire rack for 15 minutes.  Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

Drizzle with cream cheese glaze:

 4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 to 4 tbs milk 

Beat cream cheese until very creamy. Beat in powdered sugar. Stir in vanilla. Add 3 tablespoons milk or enough to make it the right drizzling consistency.


Tips:
Instead of greasing and flouring the pan, I often use a baking spray. Not just regular cooking spray, but one that has flour in it and is meant specifically for baking.
Be sure to let it cool in the pan for a good 15 minutes before turning onto a serving plate. It needs that cooling time to help it set up.
For a yummy variation, add a little freshly grated orange or lemon zest to the cream cheese glaze.