Old Fashioned Pound Cake & Raspberry Trifle

Total Time: 3 hrs 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (or brandy extract)
• 9 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 lemon, zest of, chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or lemon)
• 4 -8 cups fresh raspberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup water (optional)
• 4 teaspoons baking cocoa
• fresh berries

Recipe

• 1 line bottoms & sides of three 8x4 loaf pans with parchment paper--do not grease; preheat oven to 325; place oven rack in lower position.
• 2 in a large bowl, mix pound cake dry ingredients; set aside.
• 3 in a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy & fluffy, scraping bowl several times; add flavorings, then eggs three at a time--continue beating (a curdled appearance will be "beaten" out with thorough mixing).
• 4 now begin adding the flour in about half-cup portions, mixing well after each.
• 5 turn batter into prepped pans, quickly pushing it higher around edges than in center (this will keep the top level).
• 6 bake for 20 minutes, then increase oven temp to 350, bake 40 minutes longer (crack on top will be slightly browned--showing no moistness).
• 7 cool for 5 minutes on cooling rack, then remove from pans to finish cooling--do not remove paper!
• 8 when cooled, wrap waxed paper around two of the loaves, and then plastic wrap & freeze. slice the remaining loaf into 12-15 slices, then cubes; set aside.
• 9 whipped cream layer: in a mixing bowl, beat cream with sugar until stiff peaks form; set aside.
• 10 cream cheese layer: in another bowl, beat cream cheese, lemon juice, vanilla and sugar. add about 2 cups of the whipped cream and the lemon zest--fold in; set aside.
• 11 berry layer: set aside one cup of berries for garnish. sprinkle remaining berries with sugar, then lightly mash/crush them. let them sit for about 30 minutes to get juicy---if you're short of time, add the water and this makes a nice juice too.
• 12 just in case: check berries for bugs and inch-worms! they will float to the top of the juices. (sorry to gross you out! but so much better you pick them out ahead than have them "appear" in the dessert!).
• 13 assemble the trifle: sprinkle a layer of pound cake cubes in the bottom of a 3-quart glass serving bowl.
• 14 drizzle 3-4 tablespoons of berry juice over the cubes.
• 15 spread one fourth of cream cheese mixture over the cake cubes.
• 16 sprinkle one teaspoon of cocoa over this, then some crushed berries.
• 17 repeat this twice. add about half of the reserved berries to the last layer.
• 18 top with remaining cream cheese, whipped cream and sifted cocoa; remaining berries added as a garnish before serving.
• 19 cover & refrigerate for about 3 hours, altho' this is ready-to-eat now (taste really does improve!).