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.
shelby
I’m making a trifle that calls for 2 10oz packaged poundcakes. I am making this recipe instead but do I need to double the recipe or does this make roughly the same amt?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Shelby! For this recipe, I typically use a 10″ tube pan, however, if the trifle calls for (2) 10 oz pound cakes, I want to say that you will be fine without doubling it. The recipe makes more batter than a standard loaf pan can handle so you would probably need two pans, the baking time will also vary so I would keep an eye on it. I hope that this helps! 🙂
Contessa
Hi. Is this All-purpose flour or self rising?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Contessa! I made this recipe with all-purpose flour. I hope that you enjoy the pound cake! 🙂
Carly Garvey
Easy peezy & so yum. My first homemade cake EVER!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your first homemade cake ever was such a success and you found the recipe easy to follow, Carly! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Gwen
Good cake used lem
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you, Gwen! I am glad that you enjoyed it and adding lemon worked well for you. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Kati
Hi there can you use a bundt pan instead of loaf pan
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Kati! Yes, that will be fine. I recommend that you keep an eye on the bake time. I hope that you enjoy the pound cake. 🙂
Maxine
Hello I am confused on the eggs did you add the eggs whites i can’t tell on the recipe because you didn’t mention the eggs whites.
Thanks
Maxine
Sam
Hi Maxine, you’ll add 6 eggs (whites and yolks) and then 6 additional egg yolks (without the whites). I hope that helps and I hope you love the pound cake!
Candi
Will this cake bake up in a loaf pan
Sam
It makes more batter than a standard loaf pan can handle so you would probably need two pans, the baking time will also vary but I’m not sure exactly how long it would take, I’m sorry Candi!
Lauretta Stanley
Could this possibly be made with chocolate?
Also, I need to make cakes using my lamb pans. If you are familiar, it takes 6 cups of batter. Worried if that would be too much with this batter. Also, I wonder about the baking time.
Sam
I do think it could be made with chocolate but having not experimented with it myself I’m a little hesitant to suggest exactly what the changes would need to be. I think I’d try substituting some of the flour with cocoa powder but again it would take some testing before I could be sure and advise confidently.
I have never made this cake in a lamb pan but I have had people comment that they have done so with this recipe with success. From what others have said you should have more batter than you actually need (some people have used the excess to make mini loaves). No one has yet commented how long it would take to bake through unfortunately but if you do try it I hope you will let me know and I’d be happy to share for others who are interested (I don’t have my own lamb pan to try myself).
Teressa Brown
Im not going to rate this yet.. but I am a little confused.. it said 12 slices which I would assume was 1 cake.. it is in the oven now and I made the recipe to a T. I have 20 minutes left and it is over flowing… Pour cake all over the bottom of my oven?!? Has anyone else had this happen?
Sam
Hi Teressa, what size pan did you use?
Also just want to confirm that you did not add milk or baking powder or self rising flour and you used just 6 eggs and 6 yolks (not 12 whole eggs).
Sarah
Would like to try this recipe, however can I use it in a different size pan? Honestly I’ve never made a pound cake before but my customer wants a pound cake as a small/jumbo cupcake. So it would be a 6” cake pan and a Pyrex glass bowl. Will the recipe still work? I know I’ll have to adjust cook times. Thanks for your help!
Sam
I haven’t tried this in other pans but don’t see why it would be a problem. As you mentioned the cook time will need to be adjusted and take care to not over-fill the pans but I think it would work fine. Would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Sarah MacLean
If I substitute lemon extract instead of vanilla will it be enough to give it a lemon flavor nor should I add lemon zest too?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Sarah! Yes, you can substitute lemon extract instead of vanilla. I haven’t done it personally to know if more lemon is needed, it really depends on how much flavor you want it to have. Let me know how it turns out. Enjoy! 🙂
Peter S Visconti
I read the recipe – haven’t tried it yet..
I have made other pound cakes and STILL searching for that Perfect Recipe….
Sam
I hope you’ll let me know how you like this one, Peter!
Lorna
Cake is great in Florida. I live in Denver in the summer. What does one need to do for altitude?
Sam
Unfortunately I’m not familiar with high altitude baking but hoping that someone who is can chime in!
Tye
This is a great recipe I added in a little bit of lemon juice for that extra flavor.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the Pound Cake, Tye! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Randy Martin
This recipe makes THE BEST POUND CAKE I HAVE EVER TASTED! I’ve tried many others but this one is THE BEST. I do one thing different. I add one tsp Almond Extract to the mix. I use the vanilla in the recipe and add almond!
Sam
I am so happy to hear this!! Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out for you, Randy! 🙂
Martha
Can I substitute 2 cups of sugar with honey or corn syrup
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Martha! I don’t recommend it for this recipe. 🙁