Amaretto Pound Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

 

I feel the need to warn all y'all that this recipe is sort of an indulgence...

I didn't make all of my usual substitutions, however I did make enough swaps to cut the calories, fat, and carbohydrates by more than half, without any of the luscious pound cake being lost!

The truth is this: 

I had amaretto in the house that I can't drink (but I'm counting down the days...), I also had this brand new product from Philadelphia Cream Cheese called Indulgence. It is cream cheese in chocolate heaven. Literally, it is tubs filled with a creamy, rich, sweet chocolate flavored cream cheese spread. Need I say more? 
 
Okay... it comes in White Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate. Yum. Now, I have to be honest here. It isn't in stores yet.. but it will be soon. I know...

I'm evil for even bringing this up to y'all before you can go buy it yourself. It showed up on my doorstep on my birthday. Quite appropriate, I thought. So, to honor myself and my mom's birthing day, I grabbed a banana and the dark chocolate and spread a big amount on the banana and ate it straight away. It was heavenly. No cooking required. 

Easy, delicious, and yes, a little naughty, but it was my birthday after all. But I had a lot of it and I wanted to use this amaretto and we were invited to a friend's for a house warming and I thought Amaretto Pound Cake using a White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting might just be our ticket in the door.

And I was right on. It was amazing! Soft, buttery, dense and the perfect compliment to the white chocolate cream cheese frosting. 

I cheated because you can't exactly do this today. But you will be able to very, very soon. If you need to make this now.. just combine 3/4 cup of amaretto and 1/3 cup of granulated sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Poke holes in the cooled cake and pour liberally over the pound cake to saturate.

And don't worry, I'll let you know when you can get your own Philadelphia Indulgence! 


In the mean time, allow yourself to indulge in this delicious Amaretto Pound Cake!

Now, on with the recipe...

Amaretto Pound Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
1 Cup (8 Ounces) Unsalted Butter, softened
8 Ounces Fat Free Greek Yogurt 
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 2/3 Cup Baking Splenda
4 Large Eggs
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
4 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsps. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
3/4 Cup Fat Free Milk
1/4 Cup Amaretto


White Chocolate Amaretto Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/4 Cup Amaretto
8 Ounces Philadelphia Indulgence White Chocolate

1. Heat oven to 325°. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt cake pan.

2. In a large mixing bowl with electric mixer, cream butter and yogurt and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine the milk and the amaretto liqueur. 
4. Add dry mixture to the creamed mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk mixture and ending with dry ingredients. Mix the batter until smooth and well blended. Pour batter into the prepared Bundt cake or tube cake pan. 

5. Bake for 1 hour to an hour and a half. Check after one hour and if still not firm and a toothpick or cake tester doesn't come out clean when inserted in center, cook for for another half hour checking after 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15-30 minutes.
 
6. Meanwhile, combine additional amaretto with the Philadelphia indulgence and whip with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. 
7. After the cake has cooled to the touch, about 30 minutes, smooth the creamy frosting over the top and sides. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve!

Servings: 20 slices

Nutritional Skinny:

223 calories / 10 g fat / 29 g carbohydrates / .2 g fiber / 3.5 g protein


Mental Health Benefit: This is a bit of a splurge, I won't hide behind it. I rarely post such indulgences, but it was my birthday, I had booze, and I wanted a little sugar. What can I say, nobody's perfect and a splurge is allowed no matter who you are. But by making a few swaps such as using Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese and cutting the sugar in half and using Splenda for the other half I have managed to make this a slightly skinnier version which saves over 200 calories, 20 g of fat, and almost 60 g of carbohydrates! I hope you have this kind of "guilt-less" indulgence in your future too!