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.
sz
Hi Sam, Thank you for this recipe and especially for teaching the crucial steps to do w ingredients, I can always count on you and your recipes to make anything and it comes out delicious!
Sam
You’re very welcome, I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes! 🙂
Shirley
I was surprised to see that you do not need milk. Probably because of all the extra eggs. I use a very old recipe from a college classmate’s grandmother (I graduated in 1972) and love it. Very moist and buttery. I will try your recipe to compare.
Sam
I can’t wait to hear how you enjoy this one, Shirley! 🙂
Amy Grant
I was wondering if this recipe can be done using mini loaf pans and, if so, what the cooking time should be. Also, if there’s so much batter, can the recipe be reduced in half.
Sam
Hi Amy! I know others have done it with success but I’m not sure on the bake time. I would be sure to keep an eye on them. 🙂
Audrey
Hi, In the pound cake you don’t have to
use baking powder? You are using all purpose flour not cake flour or self rising this is why I am asking.
Thank you!
Sam
No baking powder and no self-rising flour, pound cake should be dense so you do not want to use either of those ingredients which would make the texture lighter (and would overflow the pan). I hope that helps!
Audrey
Thank you Sam!
Beth Anne
How can I print this recipe to make? I’m following but this site will not allow me to save on Pinterest where I saw this or print it out! I would love to bake this wonderful cake recipe?
Sam
Hi Beth! There is a “Print” button and a “Pin it” button in the recipe card. I hope that helps, and I hope that you love the pound cake! 🙂
Lilly Bouzide
I have a question about the leftover egg whites; Can they be frozen for later use? Also for how long can they be frozen?
Sam
Hi Lilly! You can freeze your leftover egg whites. I know many people like to do this by placing them in a freezer bag. They should be good for several months in the freezer. 🙂
Jamie S Gunning
If I use loaf pans, how much batter should be in each? I just don’t want to overfill.
Sam
Hi Jamie! You should be able to just split the batter in half into the two loaf pans. 🙂
Julie
We made your pound cake in 2020. My 12 year old said tonight “mom remember that yummy strawberry cake we made, let’s make it again…” so we did! It’s in the oven now, so yummy it’s worth heating up the house on a hot August day. Can’t wait to eat it with some strawberry sauce and vanilla ice cream. Thanks for the great recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Julie! 🙂
Kathy Gainey
Hey Sam, Kathy here again, my stove is not calibrated correctly. I had to turn it to 350 to get it to 325. so there in lays one of my problems fixed, also I think I think I put to much batter in my pan and I bought a new pound cake pan that works great. but I want to share this cake with some friends so I think I will try loaves this time. I am looking forward to trying this again. thank you for the recipe.
Erin Toth
My cake turned out completely gooey in the middle. The outer portion that was cooked was delicious abs I’ll be resting this recipe again. I can’t figure out what went wrong because the recipe is pretty simple!
Kathy Gainey
Sam, it fell and was such a mess in the oven, I took it out 1 hour and 15 mins, I think I put to much batter in my pan and that pound cake pan has never given me a nice cake, so I am ordering a new one, do you think I could make loaves with this recipe? I may try it just watch my time.
Sam
You can make it in a loaf pan but you will need 2. Others have reported around anywhere from an hour to an hour and 15 minute bake times. 🙂
Aiza
Hi Sam,
Can i use a loaf bread pan instead?
Sam
It will work in a loaf pan but you will need 2 of them. I’m not sure on a bake time. 🙂
Rhonda Jackson
My whole family loves this pound cake! But a few times mines was like others had said – overflowed, or a hole around the top right under the crust. I just made it again tonight and it’s perfect. I realized those other times I mistakenly used self-rising flour. Duh me! Thanks for a great recipe! 😀
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for letting us know how you liked this one, Rhonda! We’re pleased to hear that you were able to troubleshoot those issues. Enjoy! ❤️
Teddy w
Had a buttery cornbread type texture when I made it..wasn’t a fan of the texture.
Sam
Hi Teddy! A cornbread texture is indicative that the cake was accidentally over-baked. I would try double-checking your oven temperature and maybe shaving a few minutes off the time and you should have better results. I hope that helps!
Anthony
Does it matter if I use a convection oven or should it be regular oven? Convection seems to cook much faster!
Sam
Hi Anthony! I have not used a convection oven so I’m not sure how it would bake. If you try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Brent
Ha agree this is a wonderful moist and tasty pound cake. 5 stars.
However when I cut into it. It has a hole all the way around it right under the top crust layer.
What would cause that? What did I do wrong?
Nothing wrong with taste at all though. Ha!
Sam
So glad to hear you enjoyed, Brent! Was any of the cake a bit under-done? Typically if this happens (the space at the top) the cake may be slightly underbaked.
Jeannie Moore
Hi! Sam I am 78 years old now, and I have been making pound cakes for so long, but not one of them is exactly like yours. I have got to make this one may be today, you can take all the cakes out of the world except pound cake. Thank you and God bless you and yours.
Sam
I hope you love it, Jeannie! 🙂
Justine
have you ever added chocolate chips? I have made your recipe many times now and love and now a friend requested chocolate chip pound cake. Any suggestions?
Sam
Hi Justine! I haven’t tried it, but it’s a thick batter so the chips should stay suspended in it. This recipe does make a lot of batter so if you need to I would discard a little bit of the batter so your pan doesn’t overflow. 🙂
Kathy Gainey
Hi, Sam I have always tried my grandma’s pound cake recipe, it’s different from yours, but mine always comes out dry. I just have to try yours and I think I have been cooking mine to long too. Thank you.
Sam
I hope this one turns out to be perfect! 🙂
Kathy Gainey
Sam, my cake fell and it was not done, it had a delicious taste but it was sliceable but like pound cake dough. What could have happened.
Sam
O no! I’m so sorry this happened! Sounds like it needed to bake a bit longer. Since this is a thicker cake I like to check if it’s done with a wooden skewer. I hope it turns out better next time. 🙂