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.
Edirin Ogboduma
Lovely recipe I made it today for Easter. I will definitely make it again
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cake, Edirin! 🙂
Missy
Delicious and easy! Just how I like it!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake, Missy! 🙂
Taloni
I am attempting to make this recipe for Easter as I already have all of the ingredients in the house. Does the butter need to be softened to make this cake?
Sam
Yes.
Jackie Hemple
Softened, not melted
Tara
Do I need to add baking powder if not using self rising flour?
Sam
Hi Tara! You don’t need baking powder or self rising flour for this recipe. Self rising flour will make the cake overflow the pan. 🙂
Creola L Dickerson
No need for baking powder or baking soda?
Sam
Hi Creola! No need for baking powder or soda needed here. 🙂
Stella
I made this recipe twice. The flavor is delicious. My family gobbled it up after I left it out over night and let it dry out a bit. Both times the outside baked well, but it’s too dense and greasy in the middle, kind of uncooked. The top falls in and sinks. I cooked it at 350 for 1 hour. Am I under cooking it?
Sam
Hi Stella! It sounds like it is being under-baked. I typically like to test mine with a long wooden skewer. 🙂
Nicole
Hi can I use brown sugar instead of white sugar?
Sam
That should be fine. Enjoy!
Stephanie
I’m not a big fan on eggs. Will this cake taste eggy with 12 eggs? Do I really need all 12 eggs?
Sam
Hi Stephanie! I do not think it tastes eggy. I would recommend using the 6 eggs and 6 yolks as written.
Jo
Can you double check the metric weights you included? They seem off. And it seems to me, based on a comparison with other pound cake recipes, that the quantity of sugar is quite high, or is that intentional to add sweetness?
Sam
Hi Jo! The metric measurements are correct, I just made the cake today and I always use weights for all of my recipes. The amount of sugar is my preference. I hope you love it! 🙂
Gregory Hanusiak
Will this recipe be too much batter for a lamb mold? How much do I put my in the mold?
Sam
Hi Gregory! This recipe would probably fill two 5-cup lamb molds (or you can fill one lamb mold and use the remaining batter in a 9×5″ loaf pan). Don’t fill them all the way to the brim or they may overflow, to be safe I’d only fill about 3/4 of the way full.
Maria
Made this GF. Best recipe I have found. Thank you!
Sam
So glad to hear it worked well GF! Thanks for commenting, Maria! 🙂
Carson
Halved the recipe and used a 9×5 pan. Edges were slightly burned?
Sam
I’m so sorry that happened! Was the rest of the cake cooked properly? If so does your oven run hotter than it says? It may have just needed less time in the oven. 🙁
Carson
Yes the rest of the cake was good, thermometer read 350, the oven is usually realiable. Could it have been that I used a non stick loaf pan?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Carson! That could be it. Glass doesn’t heat up as quickly as metal, so the glass will allow the exterior of the cake from heating too quickly and ensure the interior cooks evenly.
Pam
My house currently can’t go shopping so I went looking for a dessert recipe for Easter that doesn’t require fancy ingredients. This one looks perfect and I have a ton of eggs. I’m so excited to try it! I don’t have shortening to grease the pan. Can I use butter?
Sam
Hi Pam! Butter will work fine, just make sure you still flour the pan well. I hope you love the pound cake! 🙂
Karen
Hi!! Im so excited to be making this !!
Im going to make this today, am I using 6 eggs plus 6 egg whites total of 12 eggs?
Also, I’m making a lamb cake mold ( my grandmas ). Do I bake for time suggested?
Sam
Hi Karen! It is 6 whole eggs and then 6 egg yolks for a total of 12. I haven’t baked this in a lamb mold cake, how many cups does the mold hold?
SH
I’m making a lambie cake, too! It calls for 5 cups of batter.
Sam
This recipe makes approximately 10 cups of batter, so you could fill two lambs or one lamb and use the rest in a 9×5″ loaf pan (or you could cut the recipe in half). I hope that helps! And these lamb cakes sound adorable!
Donna Pepper
Karen, Please let me know how it turns out.I made one but I don’t like the taste so I need an improvement for next year.
Donna:
Karen
it Turned out great , I had it in the oven for about an hour . I wish I can post a picture. I had enough batter for a loaf pan. Had good flavor but maybe next time I’ll use orange vest & a orange glaze. . I would make this recipe again with some small revisions.
Jen
Hi. If I want to cook these in mini loaf pans, how long should I bake these for? Thanks
Sam
Hi Jen! I am not quite sure how long they would need to bake in mini loaf pans. I would just keep an eye on it. 🙂
Natalie Bloom
Ugh! I made late tonight and added 6 egg whites… not 6 egg yolks. I’m not sure what this will taste like? Anybody make that mistake before?