A true classic, my Pound Cake recipe is simple (only six ingredients) and satisfying! This cake is heavy and dense (as it ought to be!) while simultaneously being soft, buttery, and absolutely melt-in-your-mouth! It’s incredible served alone or pairs beautifully with whipped cream and fresh fruit. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Traditional Pound Cake (Made Better!)
I’m not sure where pound cake rates in terms of your favorite cake recipes, but I’ll admit it had never been a top contender for in my household. Humble and frosting-less, sure I would have a slice, but nobody in my house ever really got excited about pound cake, often overlooking it for light and fluffy angel food cake or prettily iced layer cakes.
If your experience with pound cakes of the past is anything like mine, you’re in for a real treat today. I set about developing this recipe with a mission, determined to perfect a pound cake that was simple and not overly complicated, one that didn’t stray too far from the traditional version (no fancy or unusual ingredients) but at the same time put all of its predecessors to shame.
Here you have it. Perfectly balanced, rich and sweet, my pound cake is so buttery and soft that melts in your mouth, and it’s anything but boring. It’s a heavy cake (as pound cakes should be!) with a dense, velvety crumb, but there’s nothing dry or crumbly about it.
While this cake can hold it’s own, it’s even better when served with homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit. It would also pair well with a spoonful or two of lemon curd (a great way to use up some leftover egg yolks!).
Break out your bowls–you’re going to need a big one–and let’s talk about what it is that makes this cake so perfectly special and irresistible.
What You Need (and What You DON’T)
Pound cake has traditionally been made with a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. When developing my recipe, I wanted to stay as true as I could to the traditional version, but some small adjustments were in order for the absolute best flavor (I mean, hello, vanilla extract!). The result is a soft, buttery crumb that’s perfectly dense without being at all dry or crumbly.
- Butter. Unsalted butter works best for this cake. It should be softened, but not so soft that it’s greasy, melty, or oily.
- Sugar. We stick with tradition and use regular granulated sugar only in this cake. Make sure to whip your butter and sugar until fully incorporated and fluffy before you move to the next step.
- Eggs. You will need six whole eggs and six additional egg yolks. It might seem like a lot, and it is, but trust me! The extra yolks help to keep the cake crumb moist with almost custardy undertones/flavors. We omit extra whites because they would make the cake crumb too light (remember, this is a dense cake!) and could even make it dry. This cake is perfect for using up extra yolks from another recipe! Save your extra egg whites to make meringue, pavlova, or Eton mess!
- Vanilla. You’re going to add a whole tablespoon of vanilla to this cake batter. This may seem like a lot, but I promise it’s just the right amount! PS. If you have a batch of homemade vanilla extract sitting in your cabinet, this is the time to bring it out!
- Salt. For flavor, I add a little salt.
- Flour. I specificaly developed this recipe to be perfectly soft and tender using plain ol’ all-purpose flour, but include notes in the recipe in case you’d like to substitute cake flour. Make sure you know how to measure your flour properly, or may end up with a dry cake. One more thing that I cannot stress highly enough: do not, under any circumstances, use self-rising flour. Your cake will almost absolutely overflow.
You may notice that my pound cake recipe does not use baking powder. This is intentional! Pound cake ought to have a dense crumb, and baking powder serves to lighten a cake’s crumb and help it rise. The eggs in our recipe work all of the rising-magic that we need, and not only would adding baking powder make the cake crumb too light (best-case-scenario), you’re also bound to find it’s overflowed all over your oven when the baking time has elapsed.
SAM’S TIP FOR LEMON POUND CAKE: I’ve received lots of requests for how to make a lemon version of this pound cake recipe. While you could just swap out the vanilla extract for lemon, it’s not going to taste as bright and sunny as you’re used to. I have a separate lemon pound cake recipe that packs lots of lemon flavor and is draped in a stunning white glaze. I highly recommend you try it!
As always, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pound Cake
- Grease and flour your baking pan. Shake out any excess flour and set aside.
- Beat the butter until smooth, then add sugar. Cream until light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, combine eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and salt. Slowly drizzle egg mixture into your butter mixture with mixer on low speed. Pause to scrape sides and bottom of the bowl, then increase speed and beat for another 1-2 minutes.
- Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour. Scrape and stir again on medium speed until well-combined, then beat for another minute. You should have a completely smooth, uniform batter. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top.
- Bake in 350F oven for an hour and ten to an hour and fifteen minutes. Test with a wooden skewer for doneness.
- Cool for 20 minutes, then run a knife around the sides and center of the pan before carefully inverting onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before serving.
SAM’S TIP: To test if your cake is finished, the best method is to use a long wooden skewer (like the kind used for shish-kebabs) as this batter is so thick that a toothpick just won’t cut it. Insert the skewer into your cake and check it for moist crumbs. If you have wet batter on your skewer, your cake needs to bake longer, but if there are a few moist crumbs then it’s time to pull that cake out of the oven! The cake is going to continue to bake while it cools, so if you pull out a completely clean skewer from your cake, it’s already at risk of being over-baked and dry, so you want to retrieve your cake from the oven before it hits that point.
Frequently Asked Questions
While this recipe was very deliberately developed to be moist, the most important thing when baking your pound cake is to make sure that you do NOT over-bake it. I recommend making sure your oven is not running hot (I keep two oven thermometers in my oven at all times just to make sure my oven display is telling me the truth) and then checking your cake earlier rather than later. Because of its thick batter and the sheer volume of batter, it’s going to take quite a while in the oven, probably an hour and ten to an hour and fifteen minutes. I check my cake at one hour and then return it to the oven in about 5-minute increments until it’s finished baking.
This cake was originally made with a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, and so the name pound cake was born. Crazy stuff, huh? 😉
This pound cake should not overflow if prepared as written and baked in the proper-sized pan (indicated in the recipe card). I have found that some people have had their cakes overflow, and in each instance this has happened because they had substituted self rising flour, used 12 whole eggs, or added baking powder to the recipe. Please do not make any of these alterations.
Enjoy!
More Classic Cakes to Try:
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
The Perfect Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups (455 g) unsalted butter softened
- 3 ½ cups (700 g) granulated sugar
- 6 large whole eggs¹
- 6 large egg yolks¹ (these 6 egg yolks are in addition to the 6 whole eggs listed above)
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ cups (438 g) all-purpose (plain) flour²
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F (175C) and generously grease (with shortening) and flour a 10 inch tube pan or 12 cup bundt pan. Shake out excess flour and set aside.
- Place your butter in a large bowl (this recipe makes a lot of batter! I recommend using a stand mixer if you have one) and use an electric mixer to beat the butter until it is creamy and smooth.2 cups (455 g) unsalted butter
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sugar. Beat until the ingredients are well combined and light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).3 ½ cups (700 g) granulated sugar
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, combine your eggs, additional egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt.6 large whole eggs¹, 6 large egg yolks¹, 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon salt
- Use a fork to lightly beat the eggs and yolks until all egg yolks are broken up and salt and vanilla are incorporated.
- With mixer on low speed, slowly pour egg mixture into your batter, allowing it to gradually become incorporated (don’t pour all the egg mixture in at once, if you can’t manage a steady stream then add the egg mixture in about 6 parts, allowing each part to become well incorporated before adding more). Once all of the egg mixture is incorporated, pause to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then increase speed to medium-high and beat for another 1-2 minutes.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually, about ¼ cup at a time, add flour to the batter until all has been added.3 ½ cups (438 g) all-purpose (plain) flour²
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl and stir again on medium speed until well-combined and beat for another minute.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared tube pan, use a spatula to smooth the surface of the batter.
- Transfer to 350F (175C) oven and bake in the center rack of your oven for an hour and ten to an hour and fifteen minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the thickest part of the cake comes out clean or ideally with a few moist crumbs (do NOT over-bake this cake or it will be dry)
- Allow cake to cool for at least 20 minutes then run a knife around the sides of the tube pan and the center.
- Carefully invert pound cake onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving.
Notes
¹Eggs
A lot of people have had questions about how many eggs to use. You need a total of 12 eggs for this recipe BUT you are only going to be using 6 whole eggs and then another 6 egg yolks. Meaning you will be discarding 6 egg whites (or save them to make meringue cookies or my white cake).²Cake Flour
If you’d like, you can substitute cake flour. If measuring your flour by weight (which you really should be!) you can do a straight 1:1 substitute for cake flour. If measuring by cups you will need 3 ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons of cake flour. This cake will turn out just as well; slightly softer, a smidge less dense, but still delicious. Just like with using all-purpose flour, you DO NOT need to add baking powder to this recipe if you use cake flour. Also worth noting: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES USE SELF-RISING FLOUR.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
KarenD
HI there! I just found a Wilton Giant Cupcake Pan hiding in my cupboard. Most people seem to think a pound cake recipe works best with it and use a couple of yellow box cake mixes plus other ingredients to make a pound cake batter for this pan. I’d prefer to make it all from scratch using the ingredients I have on hand (like for your recipe). Do you know how many cups of better your recipe makes? And have you ever, or do you know anyone, used your pound cake recipe in such a non traditional pan shape?
PS – your Worst Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is the bomb. I make double batches of it often and plan on doing that tomorrow.
Sam
Hi Karen! I haven’t measured the batter, but a 10 inch tube pan typically holds about 16 cups of batter so I would say this recipe makes close to that. I have not made it in a different pan, and I’m not sure I have had any feedback on anyone else doing so. If you try it, let me know how it goes. I’m glad you enjoy the cookies. 🙂
R. Allen
Hello Sam… I just made your POUND CAKE. it is delicious…i just bought eggs and butter but wanted a strawberry shortcake got berries but could not find the pound cake in the grocery…so whipped cream and strawberries and no cake…hummm go to the internet I tell you it was 46 and 5 stars now 68 and five. Thank you! It’s a keeper for sure… Got to put butter and eggs back on my list 😊
Sam
I am so happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you, I really appreciate it 🙂
Jillian
It’s alright, it certainly turned out with no issues, it’s a bit plain on it’s own though. I don’t know why others had trouble except perhaps not using a bundt cake pan or an odd one, they can vary pretty wildly in shape. My bundt cake pan was not large enough (8 cup capacity I think) so I just made a mini loaf as well. I don’t think I would make it again but it was a good way to use up eggs. I have chickens and had too many eggs so it was a good experiment. Tomorrow I will try it with some lemon curd or it may be good with berries and whipped cream.
Sam
I make this to use up fresh chicken eggs, too. Glad you over-all enjoyed, Jillian!
If you’re interested, here are my recipes for lemon curd and homemade whipped cream.
Jillian
I have no idea how to update my review but this cake gets better with age, a lot better in fact. Also its a great vehicle for lemon curd. I think I would make this again. On the first day I thought this tasted a bit to eggy, but somehow it lost that over time and now just tastes like vanilla pound cake with a very satisfying texture.
Sam
Thank you so much, Jillian! 🙂
Lizzie
There is no reason to use all of those eggs in ANY pound cake recipe.
In addition, to those who say milk is not d in a pound cake, you are wrong. Bakers/cooks have been using a cup of milk in pound cake recipes for generations. All one has to do is check the internet if you don’t know the history yourself. Even Paula Deen makes her mother’s pound cake with milk.
Using milk in a pound cake recipe is only one way to make it. People use cream cheese, sour cream, heavy whipping cream, evap milk, buttermilk, just to name a few. Please stop posting that a pound cake does not use milk.
I come from a family who were excellent Louisiana cooks/bakers, and y grandmother would put her eggs, milk, butter on the kitchen counter the night before making the best pound cake you could ever taste.
I’m not trying to be rude because I appreciate bloggers info/recipes, but just thought readers should know about pound cake recipes.
Thankyou!
Sam
Hi Lizzie, milk is not a traditional pound cake ingredient. I’m certainly not opposed to recipe variations (I use my own in this recipe, as you noted with the eggs), it’s just that traditional pound cake does not use it (just as a traditional pound cake would not use cream cheese, sour cream, whipping cream, etc., but that doesn’t mean a variation wouldn’t be tasty!).
My recipe doesn’t use or need milk because it’s based off the traditional, old-fashioned, classic recipe.
And yes, all those eggs are definitely necessary, try it and you’ll see why 😉
Trudy
Can I use vegetable oil with this, if so how much ? TIA
Sam
I don’t recommend it.
Jim
If you are going with vegetable oil, you might as well go with a boxed cake. I forget the origin story, but the veg oil substitute is basically what started that..
Melissa
Am I the only one who failed at making this recipe? I tried it twice and believe I ended up beating way too much air into the batter. The cakes rose and then fell completely in the middles about 3/4 through the bake time. The taste was good, but they couldn’t be served. I feel like beating on low, just until the flour is incorporated, would have yielded a better result in my case.
Sam
I’m so sorry this keeps happening, Melissa! I am not sure what could be going on, but it would definitely be worth a shot to try it with your method. I hope it turns out for you. 🙂
Jillian
So when I made a bundt cake mine turned out fine, when I tried making a mini loaf it fell some. Are you using a bundt cake pan?
Cynthia Edo
Hi,
Can I bake it in a 12inch cake tin?
Sam
Hi Cynthia! I don’t recommend using just a regular cake tin. You should use something like a bundt pan or an angel food pan to help it bake evenly. 🙂
R. Allen
I used a throw away foil pan 9 x 12 all purpose pan and it came out perfect just let it cool down flip it over and Walla…i sliced a 5×12 piece and cut the edges off and it looked perfect. It sure does make a lot of cake…i had strawberries and whipped cream with my cake…it was delicious.
Celeste
When a traditional pound cake recipe falls during cooking it results in a “sad streak” running through the cake, which is a gooey moist streak within the otherwise fluffy cake. Although some bakers consider this a failure, some of us live to eat a pound cake with a sad streak. As kids we would literally jump up and down in front of the oven in an effort to make the cake fall during cooking when our Mother baked one for us. Your recipe results in the entire cake being the consistency of a sad streak with a buttery, thick crust. This recipe is pound cake perfection in this sad streak lovers opinion. THE BEST!
Sam
I love your optimism 🙂
So glad you enjoyed the pound cake, Celeste! 🙂
Veronica
As far as I’m concerned, the whole point of a recipe is to have a starting point from which you can always return as you have try all sorts of creative additions. This is an excellent base recipe. Adjust it to suit your goals and tastes.
Sam
Glad you enjoyed, Veronica!
Nadine
Hi Sam,
I’m making petit fours and need to make this in a 9×13 pan, any idea what the bake time would be.
Thanks
Sam
Hi Nadine, I’m sorry but I’m honestly not sure as I haven’t tried this in a 9×13. The baking time will certainly be reduced, though!
R. Allen
Bake time is just about what Sams recipe calls for 1 hour and 14 was my time and it came out perfect… Start watching after 1:05… Hope this helps i cooked mine in a 9×12 foil throw away pan… I would not change how i cooked it… Good luck.
Corrin
Can you do this recipe in a loaf pan? I don’t have a tube pan. (I do have a bundt pan, but everything sticks to it! 😕) And I don’t know if there’s a difference between a tube pan and a bundt pan!
Sorry for the rant-ish question, I’m done! 😛
Sam
A bundt pan would work but you do want to grease and flour it really well all over so nothing sticks. If you want to use a loaf pan that would be fine too, but you’ll probably want to cut the recipe in half (or use two loaf pans) and the bake time will vary (hard for me to say for sure exactly how much as I haven’t tried it in a loaf pan, but I’d start checking around 35/40 minutes and then go from there). I hope that helps!
Corrin
Cool. Thanks! 🙂
Brittany
Cake is great. Cook time for me was about 10 minutes longer… but other than that thank you I will use it again
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cake, Brittany! 🙂
Happy
Just finished making this cake. I have been making many different pound cakes over the past 20 years, and this one was totally different than any other; mostly because of the dozen eggs and no milk. There is a difference between a dense cake and heavy cake. Dense is a tightly spaced crumb, heavy is just like what the scale says after we eat Thanksgiving dinner. This cake was too heavy and did not cook evenly or even come out of the pan properly. I am now making a tried and true real pound cake for my son’s birthday.
This was a big waste of money and time.
Sam
Hi Happy, Did you use a whole 12 eggs, or did you use 6 eggs + 6 yolks? Traditionally pound cakes are not made with milk, milk would certainly lighten it up and make it less dense/heavy (this cake is both), so it might just be that you have a preference for a different kind of cake. Disappointed to hear it wasn’t a hit for you, though!
Susan
That was a very gracious reply to a not-so-gracious comment! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Sam
You’re very welcome, Susan! <3
Haley
So I stink at baking and don’t know the first thing about..well..baking. But what I DO know is that there’s no milk in pound cake….unless the ‘pound of eggs pound of sugar pound of butter and pound of flour’ recipe my grandmother used to boast was just total bs.
Anyway, I always make this pound cake and I follow your recipe exactly. Its perfect every time. I’ve got 4 brothers, they like it more than my grandmothers. I even got a little ballsy and have been throwing in some berries and cream cheese. You got some good stuff here, Sam! Thank you!
Sam
Thank you so much, Haley! I am so glad you enjoyed the cake! 🙂
Happy
So, just checking, as I am making this as I type; there is no milk in this recipe? Traditional pound cakes have whole milk in them. Thank you.
Sam
No milk 🙂 Traditional pound cakes are made only with butter, flour, sugar, and eggs. Enjoy! 🙂
Melissa Adams
So if I want to try other flavors, like apple, I would use different flavored extract? Would I use those in addition to the vanilla? Or instead of?
Sam
I would reduce the vanilla (but not leave out completely, maybe cut it down to 1 teaspoon) and then add your preferred extract. I hope that helps! 🙂
Sudha
Hi Sam
There is no baking powder or cooking salt in your cake
Is it ok, if I don’t use it?
If we have to use, please suggest ratio
Thanks
Sam
Hi Sudha, I recommend making the recipe as written.