Lemon-Cream Cheese Cake

Recently, I found myself wanting a dessert made with cream cheese. But I was not in the mood for a cheesecake. And I wanted to make something that would not be time consuming. I decided to make a lemon-cream cheese cake, which I found on Cooks.com.

Although I love rich foods, I found myself feeling convicted. We are in an age of health-consciousness; so I decided to make a lightened version of the cake. This was very easy to do. All I did was replace the regular cream cheese with neufchatel; and I used low-fat milk in place of whole milk. The taste was still very, very good and the cake was light and moist. The lemon glaze added a nice layer of tang that contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the sugar.

I served the cake with hot tea, which was the perfect accompaniment.

Enjoy!

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons grated lemons, rind of
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare 10' Bundt Pan.

3. In large mixing bowl, blend cream cheese and shortening until creamy.

4. Beat in 1 1/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

5. Add lemon peel, flour, baking powder, salt and milk.

6. Blend at low speed just until thoroughly blended, scraping bowl
occasionally.

7. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan and bake 45-50 minutes .

Glaze: Combine lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar. Pour over hot cake, allowing it to run down edges between cake and pan.

Cool 30 minutes, then remove cake from pan. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar.