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 recipeย 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 wonโt 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 itโs 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, itโs 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, itโs 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 itโs finished baking.
This cake was originally made with a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, and so the nameย poundย cake was born. Crazy stuff, huh? ๐
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:
Letโs bake together! Iโll 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 ยฝ cups (700 g) granulated sugar
- 6 large whole eggsยน
- 6 large egg yolksยน (these 6 egg yolks are in addition to the 6 whole eggs listed above)
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 ยฝ cups (438 g) all-purpose (plain) flourยฒ
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 ยฝ cups (700 g) granulated sugar
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, combine your eggs, additional egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt.6 large whole eggsยน, 6 large egg yolksยน, 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 ยผ cup at a time, add flour to the batter until all has been added.3 ยฝ cups (438 g) all-purpose (plain) flourยฒ
- 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 fifteenย 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
ยนEggs
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).ยยฒCake 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. 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.
Amy
Hi Sam!
I am going to try your recipe out today and do a Strawberry tiramisu with it ๐คค For that Iโm going to need to bake it in 2-9โ loaf pans. Have you ever baked it in those and if so, do you have an approximate baking time?
Sam
Hi Amy! I have not baked it in two loaf pans, but I know others have with success. I am not sure how long it would need to bake so just keep an eye on it. ๐
SUZANNE PREVILLE
I baked until skewer came out clear but when I flipped it, it was still raw in the middle. Booo!
Sam
Hi Suzanne! I am so sorry that happened. It sounds like your skewer didn’t get deep enough in the cake when you tested it. I hope this helps. ๐
SUZANNE PREVILLE
I baked for over an hour and twenty minutes. The top was almost burnt. Disappointing that the recipe didnโt work.
Sam
Hmm I’m wondering if your oven temperature might be running hotter than it is letting on, that might explain why the outside is being burned while the inside is still raw. Also you will want to make sure you are baking in the center of your oven and not too near the heating element. The recipe certainly works, you can see me make it on video in the post, and I’m disappointed you didn’t have the same outcome that so many others have had.
Jeel
Hi – can I make half the recipe?
Sam
That should work just fine. ๐
Monica
I made the pound cake and it was delicious. I made only 1/2 of the recipe in a loan pan. It still took an hour and 15 minutes. Absolute perfection.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Monica! ๐
Kristen
Hi! Do you have any recommendations on how to serve? i.e. with whipped cream and fruit or a glaze? Iโm making this for my Dadโs birthday on Friday and feel like I should add a little something.
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Kristen! You can serve it plain if you’d like but my favorite way to eat it is with some homemade whipped cream and fresh berries on top, just like it’s pictured. ๐
Nezmo
Excellent recipe but a few tidbits. The baking time was not more than 1 hour and it was fully baked and dark. I’m wondering if there’s something that would make it more moist. Excellent flavor, but a bit dry.
Sam
Does your oven happen to run a little warm? You want to make sure to bake it on the center rack as well. It sounds like the cake may have been over baked if it was a little dry. I hope this helps. ๐
Divya
Hi whats the time for baking if we use a 9 inch round cake pan instead or a loaf pan ?
Sam
Hi Divya! I haven’t made it in a 9 inch pan so I am not sure. You will want to make sure to not overfill your pan and keep an eye on it so you can make sure it doesn’t over-bake. ๐
Carole
Will this work in a 9×13 pan?
Sam
Hi Carole! It would probably work but you will want to make sure to not overfill the pan, and I’m not quite sure what the baking time would be. ๐
Jen
Another question! I have 2 cups only of cake flour and 2 cups AP flour ๐ I live with a big family and someone is always baking! Could I combine the two in equal parts??
Sam
Hi Jen! That will work fine here. ๐
Jen
Hello! I am making this today for a family members birthday. Two questions:
I have these cute little miniature bundt cake pans I recently used for a chilled cucumber salad. Do you think this recipe would bake ok on mini form? Each one is about 6โ diameter.
Secondly – all out of AP flour, someone used it up for cookies late last night! I will be using cake flour if that has any affect on the minis turning out!
Sam
Hi Jen! You could make them in mini pans, but your baking time will be different. You can also use cake flour here. Enjoy! ๐
Joanna
If I half the recipe and cook in a 6-cup bundt, what do you think the cook time will be? 40/45 mins?
Thanks.
Sam
Hi Joanna! I haven’t tried it so I can’t honestly say what the baking time would be here. If you try it I would love to know how it turns out. ๐
Monica
Hi ! Did you 1/2 The recipe? What was the cooking time? How did it turn out? I want to half the recipe too.
Shivani
How do you store it after baking?
Sam
Hi Shivani! Wrap in plastic wrap or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days ๐
Racheal Jackson
Can I make into cupcakes?
Sam
That should be fine, it will make quite a few. Fill the cupcake liners only about 2/3 of the way full and the baking time will be reduced (I’d start checking around 18 minutes or so). Enjoy!
Denise Armstead
Great recipe like my grandmother used to bake! Thank you so much for this delicious cake! Amzinh
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Denise! ๐
Amara
I want to add Nutella to form a marble cake. Do you think it will turn out well?
Sam
Hi Amara! I honestly haven’t tried it, but it sounds delicious and I think it would work! Would you let me know how it turns out for you?