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.
Kathy
Great recipe and comes out perfect!
Although I did alter it a bit and used Truvia instead of sugar (hope that you don’t mind)
and it turned out fine. Of course I’m certain that it would be much better with the sugar but I am very pleased with the way it came out. I used a bundt pan as that was all I had and it was done at 50 mins. So pleased with this recipe! Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you, Kathy! I am so glad that you enjoyed the pound cake. Thank you for letting me know how it turned out using Truvia in place of sugar. I am asked this often, but personally, I have never tried it. Thanks for the feedback. Enjoy! 🙂
Sally
Super easy and so so delicious!! Didn’t change a thing and turned out amazingly perfect! Thank you for the great recipe to use up 2 dozen pullet eggs!
Sam
Thank you so much Sally! I am so glad you enjoyed the pound cake. 🙂
Alison
I made this recipe and it turned out perfect. Then my husband asked for it for his bday and it bubbles over and was a mess😩 I am trying it a third time and I am having the same thing happen, the top bakes but it’s not baking through and just bubbles over😢 this recipe is so good. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong since it went so perfectly the first time. Any feedback welcomed!!
Sam
O no! I am so sorry to hear that! Is there any chance you used self rising flour? I’m assuming not, but it never hurts to check. One other possibility is the eggs are getting over-beaten. I hope this helps and it turns out for you next time.
Lori Adams
I have made this twice using 2 tablespoons lemon juice for the vanilla extract and adding one teaspoon grated lemon zest from organic lemons. Hope you don’t mind my changes. I used it layered with fresh whipped cream with vanilla and a tiny bit of sugar, with limoncello, fresh stawberries alternating with cake and whipped cream, then fresh blueberries, cake and whipped cream, then fresh raspberries and mint leaves on top in a trifle bowl for the Fourth of July. Five people devoured it, and it was huge! Served with a chevre and rosemary cracker appetizer, mojo marinated grilled pork tenderloin, corn, black bean, red bell pepper, and Bermuda onion salad, with lime juice and chopped cilantro. Plus some artisan bread. It was the hit of the party and so delicious. Seconds were served! Even to non-dessert people. I have never made a pound cake before, although I am a layer cake (from scratch) baker. They all remarked on how delicious the cake was. I just made one this morning to wrap and take to my cottage in Maine for another small party tomorrow. Oh served with a good semi-dry rose and mojitos. Thank you so much, I looked at so many pound cake recipes on the internet, but this seemed by far the best. And it was! Wonderful and not difficult at all. Have you ever tried vanilla bean paste? I find it superior for baking, but if using extract, I always try to use a superior grade. I used King Arthur’s All Purpose Baking Flour which is found throughout America, but it a product made locally in Vermont, where I live. Many thanks again!
Sam
Oh wow! All of this sounds absolutely AMAZING! I am so happy to hear everyone enjoyed the pound cake (and your changes sound delicious!), your comment is making me hungry! I have used vanilla bean paste before, I do like it but usually just use vanilla extract.
Thank you for your comment, Lori! I appreciate it!
Crystal
I will be trying this recipe tomorrow! I have been looking for a moist and delicious pound cake recipe for a while now and have yet to find one! *Fingers crossed*
Sam
I hope you love the pound cake, Crystal! 🙂
Carey
This pound cake is phenomenal! Good enough that I HAD to come back and comment, which isn’t something I ever do. There’s not a single thing I would change, ingredients and directions are spot on. The top, which ends up being the bottom of course, is the best part! So good! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Side note- after being wrapped up in saran wrap for an entire week, at room temp, the flavor, moisture and texture are still wonderful. The only reason I have any left is because I hid some from my hubby 🤤😂
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Carey! You are not the first to admit to hiding it from a hubby! lol. I love it! Thank you so much for your comment and for taking the time to leave the pound cake recipe a review. I am so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Joyce Miles
Just took mine out of the oven, smells and looks good
Sugar Spun Run
I love the smell of warm pound cake, yum! I hope that you enjoy it, Joyce! 🙂
Debbie
Im making this today. The last pound cake i made was so crumbly. Different recipe tho. What causes crumbling? Also can i use cake flower in this recipe?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Debbie! Usually, if the pound cake is crumbly in texture it is most likely a result of over-mixing your cake batter for too long or over baking. As far as cake flour, I have had others use it and have had success. I hope that you enjoy this pound cake recipe. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Colleen Stone BENNER
I hope to make a princes cake (doll in middle of cake , after baking and appropriately decorated) with pound cake batter. I plan to bake the batter then slice the form into several layers, then reassemble with a chocolate mixture into between layers. Will the cake hold up to slicing into 3 maybe four layers?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Colleen! Yes, the pound cake should be ok for what you are trying to accomplish. I hope that you enjoy it! 🙂
Mary
Making this right now and it looks like it’s about to run over the pan in the oven! Help! I’m using a regular bundt cake pan and did the recipe as stated!
Thanks!
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Mary! Oh no! I’m sorry that you’re experiencing this. You can place foil or a baking sheet underneath the pan on the rack below to catch anything that may drip. What size bundt pan did you use? I hope that it comes out well for you. 🙂
Carolyn
This cake came out beautiful and delicious.
I baked it in a bundt pan for 50 minutes and it was perfectly crispy on the outside and soft, moist on the inside and taste delicious. Best pound cake I’ve ever eaten.
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Carolyn! I am so happy that you enjoyed the Pound Cake. Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback. Enjoy! 🙂
Suzy
WONDERFUL!!! An incredibly moist and delicious pound cake. This is the only recipe that could pry me away from chocolate. Absolutely wonderful with fruit and whipped cream 🙂
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that you enjoyed the Pound Cake, Suzy! I love chocolate myself! Next time, you may want to top it with ganache. SO GOOD! Thanks for your comment. Enjoy! 🙂
Charles
Thanks for recipe. I want to make sure that I am reading this correctly. Am I using 12 eggs? 6 whole and 6 yolks…
Sam
You will need a total of 12 eggs, but you will only be using 6 whole eggs and then 6 egg yolks. I hope you love the pound cake! 🙂
Katie
Can this recipe be halved (3/4)? I only have a standard bunt pan, and I’m worried it will run over!
Sam
Hi Katie! You can cut it in half if you need to. My bundt pan is a standard sized bundt pan. 🙂
Carolyn
I baked it in a standard size bundt pan. Just make sure you are using all purpose flour and not self rising flour.
Debbie
Will try this,thanks for sharing
Sam
I hope you love the pound cake, Debbie! 🙂
Harral Landry
Turned out really good. I used the mini-loaf pans and shortened the cooking time.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the pound cake, Harral! 🙂
Francine Hampton
Excellent recipe! Thanks for sharing…
Sam
Thank you so much, Francine! I am so glad you enjoyed the pound cake. 🙂
mabelle
i really love your pound cake recipe Sam. Ever since I tried it,I make it twice a week now for my hubby. Last weekend I tried it in an 8×3 loaf pan. I was able to fill 4 pans and baked it for 45mins. turned out beautiful!
Sugar Spun Run
Mabelle, I am so happy to hear that you and your husband enjoy the pound cake so much! Thank you so much for your feedback. Enjoy! 🙂