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.
Ann Key
I followed every step in the directions for pound cake. I cooked it one hour and fifteen minutes. Checked to see if was done-which appeared to be. It looked beautiful until it was about half cooled and then it sarted sinking in the middle.—-it fall. What did I do wrong to cause this to happen?
Sam
Hi Ann, did you use a tube pan or a bundt pan to bake the cake?
Emily Ricke
Hi Sam, I used a bundt cake pan and the crust of the cake is very thick and dry.
The texture of the cake on the inside is just fine, but the outside of not good at all. Am I having this problem because I used the bundt cake pan instead of the tube pan?
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Emily. I don’t think the pan is the problem. My best guess would be that it was baked a little too long or your oven is running a little bit warm. The crust will always be a nice brown color but shouldn’t be dry. I hope that helps. 🙂
Emily Ricke
Thank you!!!
Ann Key
I used a tube pan and Gold Medal all-purpose plain flour.
I have tried several different pound cake receipts trying to find one that tasted (and looked) like the one my aunt made sixty years ago. This is the first time I had one to Fall. It really did not Fall in the middle of the cake, it Fell about 2 inches just below the top of the cake.
Sam
Hmm, my best guess then would be that it wasn’t baked thoroughly through, that’s the most likely culprit for it falling.
Stacy BAldwin
Hi Sam…..
I have 1 question before I embark on making this cake. (I’m excited FYI)
Here it is:: what about adding lemon or orange? Do I also use the juice from said fruit and if so… how much? Ok…..3 questions. Haha
Stacy
Sam
Hi Stacy! Hard to say as I haven’t tried these add-ins. I’d probably add lemon or orange zest, unfortunately the actual juice won’t lend much flavor unless you use a lot of it, and adding the juice could make the cake come out too dry. How much to add would be a personal choice and without having tried it I can’t say for sure, I probably wouldn’t start with more than 1-2 Tbsps as you run the risk of making the cake bitter. I hope that helps!
Sarah Thompson
It’s a perfect recipe. I did have to bake about 10 minutes longer but that’s probably my oven. My mom passed approval and pound cake is her favorite.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed, Sarah!! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how it turned out for you! <3
Laurie
Sooo I’m making a bridal shower cake soon and I prefer to use pound cake for tiers instead of regular cake because it doesn’t “squish” as easily (making it much easier to stack). I would like to try this recipe but I’m curious about a few things… 1. How many cups of batter does one recipe make I saw you mentioned it made a lot of batter just seeing how many batches I should make. 2. Does this cake rise much? 3. If making a large round should I cover the whole cake in foil while baking so it doesn’t dry out the outside before the inside cooks? I appreciate any advice or help you may have!
Sam
Hi, Laurie. I’m sorry, I don’t know how many cups of batter it makes, I made my in a 10″ tube pan. The cake does rise a little bit. If you put this in a regular pan, I’m not sure exactly how its going to bake. It is a very thick batter.
Shonyah S
Hello Sam! I absolutely loved this cake, I did substitute the vanilla flavoring for almond instead. But the overall recipe was a huge success. Thanks for sharing!!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it, Shonyah! 🙂
Andrea
Back again just to say the pound cake is so delicious. It got gone very quickly. Everybody loved it. So I definitely be making it again real soon.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this! Thanks for letting me know, Andrea! <3
Andrea
Hello Sam😀. Thank you, so much, for this AWESOME recipe. I baked it for my boyfriend’s birthday on tomorrow. We will go out to dinner with some of my family, and we will take this beautiful cake with us for our dessert. I love how heavy this pound cake is. I just took it out of the pan. It came out perfect. Simply beautiful. This truly is the best pound cake. Thanks for your generosity. Take care.
Sam
I am so thrilled to hear that it was such a hit for you, Andrea!! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how it turned out, I really appreciate it! Have a wonderful weekend! <3
Duarte
Hi Sam. Your recipe looks delicious. I haven’t tried it yet. Are you sure that this recipe has no need of baking powder? I didn´t see it in the “Ingredients” list.
Sam
Hi Duarte! Yes, I am certain. Traditional pound cakes don’t use baking powder and I didn’t want mine to either, it would take away from the signature tender density of this cake. Enjoy!
Salena
I just made your recipe tonight. The cake was done in one hour. The cake is so pretty😊
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Salena! 🙂
Sandra
I’ve made this recipe twice and it’s truly delicious!! I have an electric oven so the baking time for me took longer. The pound cake came out moist even though it had to bake longer than a hour and fifteen minutes. My family loves this pound cake!!! Thank you Sam for sharing your amazing recipe.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it, Sandra! 🙂
Lenora
Can I put lemon curd on the first half of batter I put in the pan and thenrest of the batter on top
Sam
Do you mean like a lemon curd layer? Unfortunately I’m not sure how that would work, but if you try it would you let me know how it turns out for you?
Michele
Unfortunately, I made this cake and I had to throw it out…. I followed instructions to the tea 😢… the egg did not cook…. and it was way to sweet…. very heavy….. but sure where I went wrong…
Sam
Hi Michele! If it was uncooked it sounds like it just needed more time in the oven. Could your oven be running colder than it says?
Danielle
Will loaf pan work and what if you only have salted butter.
Sam
Hi, Danielle! I don’t know what a baking time would be for a loaf pan. I don’t think all of the batter will fit in a loaf pan. It will still bake on the same temperature, and if you only have salted butter, omit the salt.
Solo
Can nutmeg be added and.currant?
Sam
I have not tried these additions, but they should work. 🙂 Let me know how it turns out if you try it.
Solo
Thanks Sam,, i shall.🤗
Carla
If i do not have unsalted butter, could i use salted butter?
Sam
Hi, Carla. Yes you can, just omit the butter. 🙂
June
Do you mean omit the salt?
Sam
Whoops! Sorry yes omit the salt. 🙂
Lisa
can you leave out the 6 egg yellows?
Sam
Hi, Lisa. The cake will not turn out if you do.
Lyra Cummings
Does it have to be 12 eggs?
Sam
6 large eggs and 6 large yolks. So yes, 12 total, but you will discard half of the whites.