Cream cheese pound cakes by Jane come in 10 winning flavors, including Turtle, with a topping of chocolate, caramel and nuts, above.

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June 2005
Updated March 2008

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cookies, Cakes & Pastries

Cakes By Jane

Ethereal Cream Cheese Pound Cakes

CAPSULE REPORT: Not all pound cakes are created equal, yet you don’t have to be dense and buttery to be delicious. These “southern cream cheese pound cakes” are light and chiffon-like, elegant and addictive. We had four and can’t wait to try the other six! A lovely dessert or hostess gift, the cakes are also available as corporate gifts in personalized tins.

When you think of a pound cake, you think of a dense, buttery cake—rich cake that can show off even under a scoop of ice cream and a topping of hot fudge.  When someone says “cream cheese pound cake,” it sounds even richer—maybe even dangerous.

The only thing dangerous about Cakes By Jane is how easy it is to eat slice after slice after slice. 

Let us repair to a sidebar: A classic pound cake is a loaf cake made with one pound each of eggs, butter, flour and sugar (that’s about eight eggs, in case you were wondering); plus vanilla or lemon flavoring. A myriad of variations has evolved through the years—sour cream, chocolate, and every flavoring under the sun. The classic British version is actually a fruit cake containing currants, raisins, sultanas (golden raisins), and glacé cherries.

Jane’s is not a classic pound cake but a round “southern cream cheese pound cake,” a variation of an old family recipe passed down to Jane by her grandmother. The addition of a lot of cream cheese and a reduction of flour in the classic recipe has created an ethereal, chiffon-like pound cake.  For all that Cakes by Jane describes their pound cakes as dense and fudgy—and in the context of other southern pound cakes, they may be—compared to those we know from our northeast existence we would describe them as elegant and refined. If the other pound cakes of our experience are all-American girls, these are Grace Kelly.

There are 12 flavors, each homemade from scratch. While we didn’t eat all 12 (we hope to over time), the four we did have were excellent (almond, cappuccino, lemon, and vanilla).

Top row: Vanilla and Chocolate cream cheese pound cakes. Bottom row: Lemon and
Raspberry cream cheese pound cakes.

The cakes will retain freshness for up to two weeks refrigerated or in an airtight container—Cakes by Jane even provides a storage bag with a golden twist-tie. The cakes are preservative-free and thus can be re-frozen without losing flavor or consistency. Not that you’ll have any left to freeze.