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.
Jeanette Helmns
Hi Sam~
I have a problem with this Best Pound Cake! My family loves it so much, I get requests quite often to make another pound cake; Please.
I am wondering would I be able to bake two pound cakes at the same time?
Thank you!
Sam
🤣 I’m so glad everyone enjoys it so much, Jeanette! The only thing that could change here is a bake time. They may need more time in the oven if you cook them at the same time. 🙂
LAGS
I have been a professional chef and business owner. I followed this recipe to the letter and here is my result….way too much batter for one large loaf pan and had massive spill over in oven.
So far it has taken almost two hours to bake at 350 (and my professional oven is extremely accurate and checked weekly) and still liquid batter in bottom of pan while top is burning. Covered with foil loosely but still raw batter after 1 hour 50 minutes.
The taste is wonderful but will need to make major adjustments if I use this again.
Sam
Hi lags, this is because you used a loaf pan, which is much too small. I would recommend making it using the pan recommended in the recipe and following the instructions there and I think you’ll have much better results.
Celina Pulcher
Made the cake yesterday and it looks beautiful! I made because I had left over yolks. I am wondering can I freeze it and it have it dry out?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad it turned out so nicely for you Celina! Yes, you can freeze the cake. Make sure to wrap it well and store in an airtight container 😊
Izzi Mario
So good
Lisa
Is there a reason that the he middle would sink? The outside edges were very done but the middle collapsed. I used a tube pan and followed the directions to a T
Sam
Hi Lisa! It sounds like the cake may have needed an extra few minutes in the oven. 🙁 Is it possible that your oven could be running hot causing the outside to finish before the inside?
ME Hollett
Made this yesterday. It came together wonderfully, I did follow the instructions perfectly! Tasted great. I noticed that today it was actually even better! I served it with strawberries. Yummmmm
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We love serving our poundcake with strawberries too, particularly macerated strawberries! So glad you enjoyed it ❤️
Jane
Not sure what went wrong. I followed the instructions to the letter. I baked the cake in a Bundt pan for 70 minutes. It was a gluey awful mess. The whole cake was sticky and thick. What went wrong?
Sam
Hi Jane! Unfortunately the cake was not baked completely. 70 minutes is the lower end to begin checking the cake, it could take longer especially if your oven temperature isn’t 100% accurate. I would bake it longer next time and check if it is done using the wooden skewer test.
Lakshmi
Hi Sam,
Thank you so much for sharing this Amazing recipe!! I love the fact that it has only 6 ingredients and that its so easy to make. Kudos to you for posting all the step-by-step instructions and the video!! My family loved the pound cake 🙂
Sam
I’m so happy everyone enjoyed, Lakshmi! Thank you so much for commenting!
Victor
Thanks for this recipe! I noticed the recipe calls for 700g of sugar! (59g per slice!) That seems like a lot! Can I reduce the sugar by half? Will it affect the texture or consistency of the cake?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Victor! You can reduce the sugar, but we wouldn’t recommend reducing it more than 1- 1 1/2 cups.
GA Peach
The cake is very delicious. Any suggestions to make it lighter? Secondly, any one tried not adding the 6 extra yolks?
I’m trying to find a way to make it less dense.
Thx for any suggestions. (I used a recipe with whole milk and it was very light and moist. I’m looking a cross between the two.)
Sam
Hi! This cake is very carefully designed to be quite dense and moist. You could try my bundt cake recipe, which is a bit lighter. I hope that helps!
Juanita
Two thumbs up. The best ever. Thank you!
Carolyn Briggs
Made this for my Rumtoph and it was great for that. The texture is great- nice and dense and sweet. Yum
Deb
OMG, I have tried many, many pound cake recipes within the last few years and this recipe is, without a doubt, the best pound cake I have ever made. I liken it to the frozen Sarah Lee pound cake we used to buy but honestly, this recipe is way better than the Sarah Lee version. Please don’t be put off by the amount of eggs and don’t skimp either on the 12 required for this recipe. The only difference I made when I made this pound cake was I added cherries to the batter and with or without the cherries, it is excellent! The inside texture or crumb of the cake is bang on to what a pound cake should be. I used a bundt pan but think I’d prefer loaf size cakes so that I can freeze one for later.
So, in as much as you can say this is not a cheap pound cake to make, we Canadians are well aware that a good pound cake at 1/3 of the size of a loaf pan is easily $6.00 at the grocery store. For my money I’d rather spend the extra on fresh ingredients that I use and make a lot more quantity!
Rachel
I am wanting to make this for Christmas and am wondering if I can make it a day or two before hand if it will still be as good for Christmas day?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Rachel! That should work just fine 😊
Raymond H
My wife and I have our own recipes for pound cake. Each of us have won several ribbons at county fairs over the years. I tried this recipe to the letter. I could not find my, or her, recipes since we moved. Sam, let me say that we both agree hands down that your pound cake is better than ours. And we have been told numerous times that our cakes are the best they have eaten. This is our go to cake from now on. No need to find those recipes now. Thank you!!!!!