Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze

A great cake for a summer dessert.  Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and fresh berries.  No frosting makes it perfect for warm summer days!  If you are not a fan of lemon, you can omit the lemon glaze.

1  1/2 cups butter (3 cubes) softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1  1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour

Soften butter and cream cheese.  Beat together and add sugar, beating well.  Add vanilla.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.  Gradually add flour.  Pour into greased and floured tube pan, bundt pan, or 2  8" x 5" loaf pans.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1  1/4 hours, or until cake tests done (toothpick method). 
Makes 16 servings

Lemon Glaze
Juice of 3 lemons
2 or 3 heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar

After cake has cooled, remove from pan and place on wire rack (put a cookie sheet underneath to catch the glaze drips).  Mix lemon juice and powdered sugar for glaze; sweetness to taste.  Poke holes in the top of the pound cake with a toothpick and spoon glaze over the holes.  Let glaze "set" and place cake on cake plate.

Note--How I get the cake out of the tube pan in one piece?
My method is--put cake on cooling rack when you take it out of the oven.  Let cool in pan for 15-30 minutes.  Using a knife, loosen outside edge of cake from pan and remove cake with tube still in the middle.  Place on cooling rack and let cake cool completely.  Take a knife and loosen around the tube part and loosen the bottom of the cake from the cake pan bottom. Use one or two spatulas to lift cake off.  Never had a failure getting the cake out of the pan and have baked this cake many, many times.  Important hint--Make sure to grease pan with shortening and thoroughly dust with flour, yes, the old-fashioned way to prepare a cake pan; Pam spray is not enough!