Georgia's Secret Garden....Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake

A week in Atlanta was just what we needed. I had really planned to visit in April, when spring is most beautiful, but it turned out that we had an early spring break here in Texas. What an amazing time we had and having all three grandchildren together was such a blessing! I just had to share a few pictures of Gibbs Gardens with you. It was a tad early for the gardens to be in full bloom, but the beauty of spring arriving was seen everywhere through these 220 acres. These pictures are of the entrance, the Grandchildren's Sculpture Garden, The Daffodil Gardens and the Japanese Gardens. The Cherry Blossoms had just bloomed and the Daffodils were everywhere. April promises to be spectacular!

 

 

All of those beautiful yellow Daffodil's reminded me that

something "lemony" would be the first featured recipe of this week!

Best EVER Lemon-Cream Cheese Pound Cake

 

3 sticks of unsalted butter

8 ounces of cream cheese

2 cups sugar

1 1/8 t. salt

3 T. + 5 T. FRESH lemon juice

2 T, lemon zest

1/2 t. lemon extract

4 large eggs

2 1/4 C flour, sifted

2 t. baking powder

Powdered Sugar

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and prepare a bundt pan. Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, salt, zest, and 3Tbsp of lemon juice. Add eggs, one at time, mixing well after each addition. Add combined flour and baking powder on low speed until well combined. Bake for 1 hour 5 min to 1 hour 15 min, or until golden. Remove from oven and immediately brush bottom of cake with 2 T. lemon juice. Let cool in pan for 15 min, then invert cake. Brush the top of cake wit remaining lemon juice. Once cake is completely cooled, dust with powdered  sugar!