Cream Cheese Pound Cake | Panque

Published: Dec 24, 2017 · Updated: Oct 24, 2019 by Mely Martínez

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Before I tell you about this delicious recipe for “Panque” or Cream cheese pound cake, let me share a little bit our bread in Mexico. The wheat bread had always been an important part of our daily life in México, since the times of Spanish colonization, when the Spaniards brought wheat bread as part of their gastronomy.

Later in the 1800’s, Mexican bakers enhanced their repertoire with the arrival of the French. This rich foreign influence, with the added creativity of the Mexican bakers, created a large variety of Mexican bread and pastries.

A popular tradition among people in Mexico is to enjoy a hot cup of coffee always accompanied with sweet bread, or sweet breakfast roll. We love to enjoy it in the morning as our breakfast or during the late afternoon. Some days I like to have this combo for my dinner. It’s a Mexican tradition that has been preserved throughout our history, and passed from generation to generation, to the point that many restaurants still offer you a basket with a variety of sweet bread at your table during breakfast time.

Bread is always present in our table, and it is a topic of conversations over breakfast as well as the source of popular sayings. Some examples are: “When you are hungry there is no hard bread”, “The sorrows with bread are less painful”, “bread to bread and wine to wine”, just to mention a few.

But let me tell you about this delicious and easy to bake “panque” recipe (pound cake). This has an addition of cream cheese, it is my way to substitute the use of the cream that forms and floats at the top of raw milk when you boil the milk. In Mexico, it is called “Panque de Natas”. In old times, raw milk used to be boiled and the cream that formed was saved until you have enough to use it for desserts or to prepare this delicious bread. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

JUMP TO FULL INSTRUCTIONS

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 325F. Grease one 5 x 9 loaf pan. I like to grease the pan with vegetable shortening and then dust it with flour. (Please check the ingredients list below)
• Cream butter and cream cheese in a large bowl using a mixer on high speed. Add the sugar, little by little, until mixture gets fluffy.
• Reduce speed to medium, and add eggs one by one, then add vanilla extract.

• Add sugar gradually, scraping down the bowl sides.
• Reduce speed to low, and add flour and salt, adding flour little by little. Finally, stir in the pecans using a spatula. Place batter into the pan. Tap to settle the batter and smooth top with the spatula.
• Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when you insert it. Let it cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes and then remove from pan. Completely cool before slicing.

Enjoy with a glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee or chocolate.

Provecho!
Mely Martinez.

If you like this recipe, check this quick Mexican Muffins “Mantecadas” recipe and How to Make Cinnamon Rolls

For recipes in Spanish visit México en mi Cocina.