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.
Aimee
Does this freeze well? Making macarons and looking for a home for some egg yolks.
Sam
Yes it does! Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and it will keep for at least several months. Enjoy!
Meldora Meldora
do I have to put the egg yolks in ? It seems like such a waste of the white portion.
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Meldora! Yes, you will need the egg yolks. You can try my meringue cookies using the remaining egg whites. 🙂
Kit
How many cups of batter does this make? My cake pan (shape of 3D car) says it needs 6.5 cups. Should i halve the recipe or would that make enough?
Sam
It should make about 12 cups of batter.
Hannah
Hi! Can this recipe be halved? I want to make for fondue, bunt don’t need how much it will make.
Sam
Hi Hannah! You can certainly cut it in half but you may want to put it in a smaller pan. If you don’t have one definitely cut back on the baking time. 🙂
Hannah
Yay! Thank you for a quick response! I will definitely do a bread pan instead
Dean
Would reducing the whole recipe in half yield the same results? I don’t want to make a lot. Thanks!
Sam
Hi Dean! The cake should still be delicious if you cut it in half, but you may want to use a different pan, and definitely keep an eye on it as it won’t need to bake nearly as long. 🙂
Lindsay
Think it would work to add chocolate chips to the cake? Would that affect baking time?
Sam
Hi Lindsay! I’m not sure if the chocolate chips will fall to the bottom, but it’s worth a shot. It will still be tasty. It won’t change the baking time. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Joseph
The batter is quite heavy and smooth. I used 2 bread pans.
JOAN M CARROW
Hi there , Sam , ABSOLUTELY DELISH !!! YOU are so right , I’m going to call this the best pound cake recipe ,EVER. I’ve tried many recipes and I have a baking and catering business. It’s my job to find the best ! I have ! Thank you , Joan
One question ,my top was very crackly , fell apart. It was fine for my family. But for the customer I have a problem with it , any suggestions.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Joan! I’m sorry to hear about the top. Is it possible it was over-baked, or was the pan greased well enough?
Margie Rapisarda
Can this be done in two 8 inch round pans?
Sam
Hi Margie! This will make more batter than will fit into 2 8 inch pans. I think it should still bake fine in a cake pan like that but you may get 3 out of them. I’m not sure of a bake time on them. 🙂
Teri
Hi Sam
Do you think it’s possible to add cherries to this recipe?
Sam
Hi Teri! That should work just fine. 🙂
Teri
Just took it out of oven an 1hr. ago. Couldn’t wait just had a slice and it was tremendous. Thanks
Sam
I’m so glad it turned out! 🙂
Ana
Hi Sam! Can I use this recipe in mini Bundt cake molds? If so how long would the cook time be?
Sam
Hi Ana! You can bake it in mini bundt cake molds, but I’m not sure what the bake time would be. Make sure you don’t overfill them. 🙂
Eme
Made this in mini loaf pans. Baked them for 26 mins. and it went perfect!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Kirk Clark
I tried another pound cake recipe to make chocolate pound cake, it came out very dry and this after only baking for 1 hour.
The recipe called for 1/4 cup dark cocoa and 1/4 cup regular cocoa, and to add up to 1/3 cup chocolate chips if desired. The amount of ingredients was for one baking pan only, I wonder if the chocolate needs to be increased for this recipe? I look forward to how this turns out!
Trying to replicate Starbucks dark chocolate pound cake, which was magnificent, and also had a dark chocolate icing as well.
Sam
Hi Kirk! Without having tried it I’m not sure how it would go, especially no knowing the other recipe. Making this chocolate is going to be a little trickier than just adding cocoa powder or chocolate. You are introducing more dryness to the cake. You would probably need to lessen the flour, but again I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure how it will work.
ciara
Can I make this in bread pans?
Sam
Hi Ciara! I know others have with success. I believe it fills 2 9 x 5 bread pans, but make sure not to overfill them. 🙂
Alex
Thanks Sam! What cooking time and temperature would you recommend in bread pans?
Sam
The temperature would be the same, but I’m not sure how long it would need to bake. Just be sure to keep an eye on it. 🙂
Niha
You don’t have to add baking powder in this cake?
Sam
Nope. 🙂
Ralph Maietti
Hi Sam, I will be making your pound cake recipe it sounds good , I hope it comes out like my 7 up cake. Lol
Sam
I hope you love it, Ralph! 🙂
Vickie
Absolutely the most wonderful poundcake ever !!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Vickie! 🙂
Nina
Hi, this is possibly the best thing I have ever baked. The next time I want to make it with almond extract instead of vanilla. I love marzipan and would like to play off that flavor. What would you recommend?
Sam
Hi Nina! I haven’t tried it with this recipe, but that should be fine. Typically I will leave in a little bit of the vanilla flavor. I would probably reduce the vanilla to 1 teaspoon. The almond flavor is tricky because it is more potent. I would probably start with 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon and then increase it as needed. 🙂