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.
Disa
hi I made the mistake of putting 6 egg whites instead of the egg yolks as a add on ???? how will it change the cake
Sam
Hi Disa! Oh no, unfortunately I would recommend starting over 🙁
Maria
This is amazing! Despite some comments saying their cakes were raw in the middle or the top browned too quickly, mine came out perfectly! This is was just my second time using a bundt pan, too. I love how this recipe used a pound of butter, it gives such a rich and decadent flavor. The cake had the perfect amount of sweetness, not too sweet even though the recipe calls for 700 grams of sugar. I used cake flour, and my cake baked perfectly in 70 minutes. Will definitely be making this again!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Maria! 🙂
Maria
Was wondering how long it would take to bake if I would bake this in a 9×5 loaf pan? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Maria! This will fill 2 9 x 5 loaf pans. While I haven’t tried it myself, I have had others report about an hour bake time, but just keep an eye on it. 🙂
Mary
I am sorry to say this recipe did not come out good top browned but batter did not cook. What went wrong? I followed the recipe to the T
Sam
Hi Mary! I’m sorry to hear this, unfortunately it sounds like your oven is running hotter than it lets on, resulting on the outside baking quickly and the inside not baking properly. I keep two oven thermometers in my oven to make sure it is running at the correct temperature because honestly many ovens do not run at the temperature they claim to 🙁
Chandra
Hi Mary how long did you let it bake? At the hour I could tell mine was not ready. I had to bake mine for 1hr and 45 mins.
Jean
I can’t wait to make this recipe but as a chocolate pound cake. What do you recommend I change in the ingredients? Should I decrease the flour and add ditched cocoa? Please advise. Thank you. Jean K. in Delaware
Sam
Hi Jean! I haven’t made this cake chocolate, but I do have a chocolate bundt cake you could use. 🙂
Melissa
I love this cake!!! The recipe is easy to follow and taste great!!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Melissa! 🙂
Katie
Hi! If I only want to make this in one, 9″ x 5″ loaf pan, would I just halve the recipe? So excited to make it.
Sam
Hi Katie! Yes you can just cut the recipe in half. I hope you love it! 🙂
Alice Dennis
When making pound cake that calls for unsalted butter but you only have salted do I just leave out the teaspoon of salt .
Sugar Spun Run
Yes, you will omit the additional teaspoon of salt. 🙂
Danielle
This is my second time in two weeks to make this cake! The first was perfect. I followed instructions. This time I worked from memory and used butter that was still a bit cold when I started. I also forgot to set the oven to 350 and baked the cake at 325 for the first 45 minutes before turning it up to 350. It isn’t pretty, but I’m still confident it will be delicious! For this, my second time, I’m baking with my best friend’s 10 year old in an oven with which I’m not familiar and a pan that doesn’t have straight sides. We’re waiting for it to cool. The top has a bubble and I’m concerned the pan won’t release the cake. 😅
Sam
I’m glad it turned out the first time! I hope the second one was still delicious as well. 🙂
Danielle
It wasn’t done, but we didn’t seem to mind at first. Then I remembered there were 12 egg yolks and put it back into the oven. Not the right call. Ended up overcooking it. Lesson learned. 🤷🏾♀️ Following directions from now on! 😅❤
Linda
Thank you for this recipe, this is the 2nd time I’m trying it. The first time it turned out exactly how I wanted it😁. It did take extra long (~1.5hrs) for my skewer to come out clean though (it was a loaf pan, recipe divided in half) but it was well worth the wait. Having baked for many years I thought it odd to bake a cake without baking powder (I thought may be you forgot) so I did add 1teaspoon of baking powder. I kept skimming through your recipe as to why baking powder was left out but I don’t see anything (except a comment from someone asking about it).
Sam
Hi Linda! I’m glad you enjoyed it. This is a traditional pound cake which is why baking powder isn’t used here. 🙂
Linda
Okay, thanks Sam! Next time I’ll be brave enough to try it without the baking powder😊
Angelina
I baked the cake for an hour and 10. It was delicious but I noticed the inside top part was not fully cooked although the edges were getting almost burnt (which is why I took it out). Do you know what was my issue? Was it my butter not being creamy? It’s quite cold here, maybe I should have microwaved it after letting it come to room temp?
Sam
Hi Angelina! If the outside of your cake was burning and the center wasn’t quite cooked, my best guess would be that your oven temperature is actually a little bit higher than it says it is. The cake should be able to bake all the way through without burning. I hope this helps. 🙂
Rebecca
So no baking powder required for pound cake?
Sam
Correct. Not in this recipe. It might be helpful to read the post, I explain my ingredient choices there 🙂
Tanie
Could you use a muffin tin or a large hamburger bun pan to make individual servings?
Sam
Sure thing. The bake time will definitely be different though. 🙂
Mici
Looks nice!
Melissa
Can this be made in a 9×13 pan?
Sam
Hi Melissa! It should work in a 9 x 13. It will make too much batter for the pan though so make sure to not overfill it. 🙂
David Hogan
Can you add dried fruits and nuts to this recipe
Sam
Hi David! That will work fine. Take care not to overflow the pan. You may want to remove some of the batter just to be safe. 🙂
Annemarie
I’m really surprised there is no milk in this recipe! Correct?
Sam
Hi Annemarie! That is correct :). Milk would make the crumb lighter, traditionally pound cake is nice and dense and that’s what I aim for here.
Carol Boehm
Thank you, I was wondering that myself.
Karen
I am wondering if you think this would make a good wedding cake. Seems to me years ago wedding cakes were made from pound cakes. I would still dowel it, but I think a pound cake will hold its shape. I have baked this cake many times, love it! I would give it 10 stars.
Sam
Hi Karen! This is a very sturdy cake so it will hold up nicely. I hope it turns out nicely. 🙂
Marvel Haynes
Marvel
Can I use baking powder and how much I am using all purpose flour
Sam
Hi Marvel, you do not want to use baking powder with this recipe.