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.
Tracy
Hi you say grease pan but you don’t say to grease with butter, olive oil, vegetable oil etc etc . Can you say exactly what to grease pan with. Thank you
Sam
Hi Tracy! Sorry about that, grease the pan generously with shortening and then flour it as well. I’ve updated the recipe to indicate shortening, I hope you love the cake!
Tracy
Thank you so much for your response, Ile try the recipe again.
shemika
how many jumbo eggs to use
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Shemika! I am not certain. I use 6 large whole eggs + 6 large egg yolks for this recipe. Without trying it myself I am not 100% certain but my best guess would be 5 jumbo whole eggs and 6 jumbo egg yolks. Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Denise
I am not a baker but this was one of easiest recipes to follow it was delicious it will now be one of my favorites
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you found the recipe easy to follow and delicious, Denise! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Tracie
Will adding chocolate chips changed the baking of this cake?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Tracie! No, it will not. Feel free to add chocolate chips to this if you wish. A trick to help them not sink to the bottom is to toss the chocolate chips with a little flour before adding it to the cake batter. I hope that helps! Enjoy! 🙂
Gabrielle
Can I make this recipe without a tube pan? Using a regular cake pan?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Gabrielle! Yes, that will be fine. Others have also used loaf pans with success. Please keep in mind the baking time will be different than what is listed. I hope that you enjoy the recipe. 🙂
Gabrielle
Hi! Thank you for your recipe! The taste and texture turned out great. However, the edges and bottom of the cake did burn a little. Do you have an idea of the best way to avoid this next time? Thanks again!
Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for trying my recipe, Gabrielle! I am sorry that you experienced burning on the edges and the button. It sounds like your oven may be running slightly too hot. Next time, I would lower the temperature by 10 degrees and place the cake in the middle of the oven. Hopefully, this will help. Keep me posted on the results. Thanks again for the feedback. I am glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Andrea
No rating since I’ve not tried the recipe yet. Visiting family out of state and purchased a pound cake for afternoon coffee gathering. Wanted a recipe, I’ve never made one before. When I return home I will be making my first poundcake for my husband. I’ll update y’all with the outcome!
Sugar Spun Run
I hope that the pound cake is a hit when you do make it, Andrea! Keep me posted on how it turns out. Happy Baking. 🙂
Robert O
Literally just finished baking this cake, came out almost perfect. Cake was moist but not too moist, outside browned a little more than I prefer but not burned. I baked for 1:15. Next time I’ll try for 1:12. My wife loves it.
I measured by weight, not by volume. Thank you for specifying the gram weight for each ingredient, made things easy to prepare.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, Robert. I am glad that it turned out well for you and your wife enjoyed it. 🙂
Julie W.
I would like to use this recipe for a birthday cake. If I make it in two round cake pans, how long should I bake it for?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Julie! It really depends on the size of the pan you are using. I do not have the exact bake times for all pan sizes so I would reccomend keeping an eye on it. 🙂
Jen guillory
Unfortunately I had the same problem as others, it did not cook all the way through and I put it in for an hour and 20 minutes and yes I checked my oven temperature and it was correct. Very disappointed since the ingredients were quite pricy.
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Jen! I am so sorry that you experienced issues with this recipe. If the cake did not bake through it just needed a little longer in the oven. Regardless, I hope that it tasted delicious. Thank you for your feedback.
Thomas
I love this recipe, the cake turn out just the way I want. But I want to add other flavors like Lime, Banana or Orange, is that possible?
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy to hear that the cake turned out perfectly for you, Thomas! You can most certainly use this recipe as a base and add other flavors. Some have used lemon extract and lemon zest and had great success. Keep me posted on what you try and how it turns out for you. Happy Baking! 🙂
Donna Zasowski
I made this twice and both times was a mess. What am I doing wrong. The first time it went ALL over the oven. What a disaster!!!
The second time I didn’t want it to go all over so I put a small amount in a 6 inch layer pan and BOTH the 10″tube pan AND the 6″layer pan fell and caved in in the middle.
Please help as It was a very delicious cake even caved in.
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Donna! I am so sorry that you are experiencing issues with this recipe. With your first attempt, did you by any chance use self-rising flour? As far as the cake caving, there are several factors that could have caused this to happen. First, over beating the batter and incorporating too much air can cause a collapse. Or it could be the result of the oven temperature being too high causing the cake to rise too rapidly then sink. Have you checked your oven temperature for accuracy? I recently purchased a new oven and found that it was running 15 degrees hotter than indicated. Regardless, I do hope that it tastes delicious.
Katie O
The cake is fantastic!! My family loves it!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your family enjoyed the pound cake, Katie! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Nina Wheeler
Hey. I am trying this recipe as we speak. I am wondering if lemon flavoring will work. Please let me know ASAP. Lol. Otherwise I’ll be letting you know the results.
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Nina! Others have added lemon extract or lemon zest to this recipe and have had success. I hope that you do too! 🙂
Elijah
So this recipe uses 12 eggs in total?
Sugar Spun Run
That is correct, Elijah! I hope that you enjoy the cake! 🙂
Elijah
Thank you! I’m making it tonight for my brothers birthday. I’ll definitely leave a review to let you know how it went😁
Taraisha Smith
Yes first time ever making a pound cake this recipe was amazing I’m now on my 3rd request for this cake
Sugar Spun Run
I am happy to hear that the pound cake has been such a hit, Taraisha! Thank you for trying my recipe. 🙂
Camille
I added almond extract and poppyseeds to this and baked it in two loaf pans. The flavor is absolutely delicious, but the loaves are overbaked on the outside and still doughy on the inside, even though my skewer came out clean. The part of the cake that is cooked through is amazing, but I’m not sure what I could do differently to get the inside baked through without burning the outside.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your pound cake turned out well and that it tasted delicious, Camille. It sounds like your oven temperature is running too high. I recommend purchasing an oven thermometer to test for accuracy. Next time, I would lower it by 25 degrees and see if that helps! Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂