Almond Pound Cake

W loves pound cake and he was pleasantly surprised when I told him I was making one from scratch.  I ran out of vanilla extract and sugar, so I had to modify the recipe with whatever I had on hand.  I should probably make sure I have enough vanilla extract cuz I think almond extract is an expensive substitute.

It's another Smitten Kitchen recipe- this woman is culinary gold!
Cream Cheese Pound Cake  (with my modifications)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 package (8 ounces) Philadelphia brand cream cheese*, at room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup honey
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons almond extract (vanilla would be fine, of course.  SK uses 1 1/2 vanilla, 1/2 almond)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 10-inch tube pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Alternately, you can use a 12-cup bundt pan, and simply butter and flour it.
2. Place the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl and beat with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar, increase the speed to high, and beat until light and airy, at least five minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the vanilla, almond, then the flour and salt all at once. Beat just until incorporated.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and shake lightly to even out the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean, 1 1/4 hours.
4. Place the pan on a cake rack and cool for 20 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely. Serve at room temperature.  ( I served it warm and it was delicious that way.)