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.
Leslie
This is my first Thanksgiving without my mom, who loss her battle with breast cancer in May. She was the baker in the family. I wanted to try something different for the family this year. The cake is now in the oven. I hope it’s good, and I hope it makes her proud of me this Thanksgiving.
Sam
I am so sorry to hear that Leslie. I hope everyone loves it. 😊
Leslie
Everyone loved it! Thank you soooo much for this recipe!
Sam
Yay! I am so happy to hear it! ☺️
Karen
This cake is awesome! I make a pound cake and it is pretty good, Howe this is by far the best! I tried the lemon glaze over it and oh my this must be what “Manna” from heaven taste like!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Sam
Yay! So glad you enjoyed the pound cake, Karen!! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how it turned out for you, Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
Ericka Bradford
O M G this cake is GREAT!! LOVE this recipe! I have used plenty of different Pound Cake recipes and this one is by far the BEST one yet! I think it was those 6 egg yolks that did the trick. Then I put a powder sugar glaze with lemon on top and that took it over the top! Thank you so much and Happy Thanksgiving 🦃!!
Sam
Your comment just made my day, so happy it was such a hit for you!! Thanks for commenting, Ericka!! Happy Thanksgiving! <3
Lawanda
6 regular eggs and then 6 egg yolks? Total of 12 eggs right?
Sam
6 whole eggs and then an additional 6 egg yolks, yes
Tiffany
I’m so missed the six yolks in the recipe. I put the cake in the oven 30 minutes ago. Do you think I completely messed the cake up?
Sam
I haven’t tried it without the 6 yolks I would guess it would come out with a much lighter and possibly less moist texture, how did it turn out for you?
Tiffany Norman
Actually it was really good! Everyone loved it! I plan to try it with the six additional yolks around Christmas time. I’ll let you know the difference. Thanks so much!
Sam
I am so glad to hear it. Thanks for the feedback. ☺️
Lavette
Hello,
Just made this cake but misunderstood and just used 6 eggs, both yolks and whites. Is it ruined?
Sam
The texture is probably going to be a lot different.
Alan
For some reason, I have an abundance of salted butter. Will it change the taste of the cake considerably if I use that and leave out the teaspoon of salt?
Sam
Nope that won’t be a problem at all! Enjoy 🙂
lois
I used a loaf pan and cut the r3cipe in half. It was DELICIOUS.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Lois! 🙂
Tyrone Thomas
Can I use a solid bunlt pan
Sam
I’m not sure I know what a solid bundt pan is.
TC
Hello ! I was wondering, do I need to adjust oven temps if I’m using an electric oven?
Sam
Nope. The oven temperature will be the same whether you use a gas or electric stove. Just make sure your oven is preheated before baking. 🙂
Gloria Jackson
Would this recipe be enough batter for a 10″ round cake?
Sam
I would worry there would be too much batter, unless your pan is deep enough and even then, I’d be worried about how it bakes because there’s not a hole in the center to promote even baking.
Jackie
Hey, can I reduce the amount of sugar? Or will it have an alteration in the other ingredients as well?
Thanks
Sam
I don’t recommend just reducing the sugar. You would have to reduce the all of the ingredients in the batter by the same amount. 😊
Sheena Salaam
Hey this is my first pound cake!! I’m going to try this recipe seems pretty easy and delicious looking LoL will post when I make it! I’m so excited!!!!😂😂😊
Sam
I hope you love it, Sheena!!
Jerleen
Hi
I made the sugar spun cake it’s very easy to make and the texture is great.Im gonna search for more of your recipes It was oh so GOOD!!!!!!!
Jerleen
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Madeline
Can I half the recipe without altering the result? Also how long if I bake in a loaf pan?
Sam
Yes that should be fine to cut it in half 🙂 As for the amount of time in a loaf pan I can’t say for sure as I haven’t tried it, sorry!
Robin
No need to waste 6 egg whites.
Here in New Zealand 🇳🇿 , we have a traditional dessert called pavlova. Named for the famous Russian ballerina, it is a light, fluffy dessert a bit like marshmallow with a meringue-like crust.
It uses 6 egg whites + sugar, malt vinegar, cream of tartar & vanilla essence. A Must-have on the Kiwi tabke at Christmas (December is SUMMER down here), we top it with whipped cream and seasonal fresh fruit. Strawberries + kiwifruit look very Christmassy and festive.
It is cooked slowly and served cold. We never have leftovers. And No, it was not invented in Australia.
Sam
Two desserts at once! I like the idea! ☺️
Cherann
Hello! So do I use 6 eggs with the yolk plus 6 yolks? Sorry I’m a little confused
Sam
Yes, use 6 eggs (yolk and white) and then an additional 6 yolks. So total it’s 6 whites and 12 yolks, if that helps. Enjoy the cake! 🙂
Wade
Hi Sam, for those that don’t have a bundt pan and use and 7×11 or 8x 12 pan, what would you recommend for oven temp. And bake time. Thanks
Sam
The temperature would be the same but I have not tried baking this cake in a 7 x 11 or 8 x 12 so I don’t know how long it would need to bake.
Wade
One 7×11 is too small. It overflowed and made a mess.. lol.. Retrying with loaf pans and allowing room for rising.