The Best Pound Cake

The best Pound Cake recipe! Rich and flavorful with a light and buttery texture that simply melts in your mouth! This Pound Cake is delicious on its own, and is also a perfect base for an almost endless array of toppings! Love cake? Make sure to try this Lemon Bundt Cake and Coconut Pound Cake!

This post was created in partnership with Challenge Dairy.

The Best Pound Cake Recipe

Old Fashioned Pound Cake Recipe

When it comes to pound cake, I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like it. Pound cake is such a classic recipe. Actually, this easy pound cake recipe is one of the most traditional, old-fashioned, best-tasting cakes.

It’s simple but versatile enough that it can stand on its own or elevate other desserts to a whole new level of wow.

This pound cake is delicious on its own (with a nice cup of tea or coffee), and is also a perfect base for an almost endless array of toppings! Try adding some fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream to this pound cake recipe for the best strawberry shortcake of your life.

To make whipped cream:

1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

Whip cream in a cold mixing bowl until it begins to thicken. Slowly added powdered sugar, then vanilla and beat until stiff. Enjoy immediately, or refrigerate up to 3 hours before serving.

Butter Pound Cake

And it’s easy to make other delicious variations when you want to change things up such as Coconut Pound Cake or even Lemon Pound Cake Muffins!

Why Is It Called Pound Cake?

Oh, the theories abound, including that if you eat a slice you’ll gain a pound or because it’s so heavy and dense that it weighs a pound. Actually, the name comes from the fact that the original recipe for pound cake included a pound each of 4 simple ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, and eggs.

But for this recipe, I made a few very simple adjustments to lighten up the cake without sacrificing an ounce of flavor.

Ingredients For Pound Cake

This easy pound cake recipe is a treat you can likely make without a special trip to the store! Yay! You can find the full, printable recipe in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Let’s take a look at what you’ll need:

• Flour: This is a substantial cake and all purpose flour works well in this recipe. If you only have cake flour, you can use it in this recipe and you likely won’t notice much of a difference.
• Baking Powder: While the original pound cake recipe doesn’t include baking powder, it helps to add a little lift to the cake to prevent it from being overly dense.
• Salt: Balances the sweetness and adds balance to the cake.
• Butter: I prefer to use unsalted butter in my baking recipes so that I can control the flavor of the cake more effectively! 
• Sugar: Simple granulated sugar is all you need for this recipe.
• Eggs: I recommend using high-quality eggs since they are doing the heavy lifting in this recipe. 
• Vanilla Extract: Use the good stuff! This is the main flavor and makes a huge difference in the cake!
• Milk: I have found that adding milk to pound cake, although unusual, keeps it ultra moist and helps make it seem less dense.

How To Make a Pound Cake From Scratch

This cake is easy to make, but there is a bit of technique involved to get it just right. You can find the full, printable recipe at the end of this post.

This easy pound cake recipe needs to be cooked low and slow. Just be patient, and make sure the loaf is fully baked before removing it from the oven. Baking time will vary based on your loaf pan and oven.

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Take a 9″x 5″ loaf pan and lightly coat it with butter, then sprinkle with flour. Tap out any excess.
3. In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set this aside for a moment.
4. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter until it’s smooth.
5. Next, add the sugar and beat again for 2-3 minutes until it’s very light and fluffy. Don’t shortchange this step.
6. Add eggs, one at a time and blend for at least 10-15 seconds after adding each egg.
7. Add vanilla and blend.
8. Next, add the flour mixture, a little at a time, while mixing. Blend just until combined.
9. Once all the flour has been added, pour in the milk and blend just until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
10. Scoop the batter into your prepared pan, and smooth the top as needed.
11. Bake for 60-75 minutes, or until the loaf is deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
12. Cool loaf in the pan for 20 minutes, then gently remove it from the pan and allow it to cool fully.
13. Serve immediately or wrap up and keep well wrapped (or in a airtight container) at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Get Creative With Toppings

Feel free to play around with various toppings throughout the seasons… spiced apples and caramel sauce would be amazing, strawberries and chocolate sauce would be gorgeous, and tropical fruit with coconut would be delicious!

Pound Cake Recipe FAQs

Variation Ideas

I topped this cake with fresh whipped cream and fruit (strawberries, blueberries and peaches) for a beautiful dessert that’s perfect for summer entertaining.

Feel free to play around with various toppings throughout the seasons – the sky’s the limit when it comes to possibilities! You may want to try these ideas: 

• Sugar: try using light brown sugar in place of granulated sugar for a caramel flavor.
• Flavored extracts: replace the vanilla extract with lemon, orange, coconut, or almond extract.
• Add zest: if you’re going for a citrus version, try adding lemon or orange zest along with your flavored extract of choice.
• Baking chips: you can totally add your favorite baking chips: chocolate, white chocolate, or butterscotch.
• Nuts: If you love nuts, add some chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter.
• Toppings: This is where you can really go crazy. Top with any fruit, spiced apples, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, buttercream frosting, or sprinkles!

It truly is the best pound cake recipe I’ve ever tried! I know I’ll be using it again and again… and I hope you will too!

More Cake Recipes To Try

1. Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
2. Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake
3. Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
4. Caramel Apple Cake
5. Perfect Cheesecake

How to Make Pound Cake

The Best Pound Cake

The best Pound Cake recipe! Rich and flavorful with a light and buttery texture that simply melts in your mouth! This Pound Cake is delicious on its own, and is also a perfect base for an almost endless array of toppings!

5 from 6 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

cool 20 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Calories 494 kcal

Ingredients

 

• 2 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup milk

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325°F
• Prepare a 9″x 5″ loaf pan by lightly coating with butter, then sprinkle with flour, and tap out any excess.
• In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth.
• Add sugar and beat for a good 2-3 minutes until very light and fluffy.  Do not skimp on this step.
• Add eggs, one at a time, blending for at least 10-15 seconds between each egg.
• Add vanilla and blend.
• While slowly mixing, add the flour mixture. Blend just until combined.
• Once all the flour has been added, pour in the milk and blend just until all the ingredients are well incorporated.  The batter should be thick and smooth.
• Pour/scoop the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top as needed.
• Bake for 60-75 minutes, or until the loaf is deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Be patient, and make sure the loaf is fully baked. Baking time will vary based on your loaf pan and oven.
• Cool loaf in the pan for 20 minutes, then gently remove from pan and allow to cool fully.
• Serve immediately or wrap up and keep well wrapped (or in a tupperware type container) at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Video

Notes

This cake will remain fresh and delicious for several days (up to 5) stored wrapped, at room temperature.

The cake also freezes well. Wrap cake well and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature, while still wrapped.

This recipe can be doubled to fill a standard bundt cake pan. You will need to increase the baking time.

For the cake pictured, simply top with fresh whipped cream and summer fruit. I used strawberries, blueberries and peaches.

Whipped cream – 1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Whip cream in a cold mixing bowl until it begins to thicken. Slowly added powdered sugar, then vanilla and beat until stiff. Enjoy immediately, or refrigerate up to 3 hours before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 494kcalCarbohydrates: 62gProtein: 6gFat: 25gSaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 123mgSodium: 204mgPotassium: 76mgFiber: 1gSugar: 38gVitamin A: 815IUCalcium: 47mgIron: 2mg

Keyword pound cake, pound cake recipe

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Disclosure – I created this recipe as part of an ongoing partnership with Challenge Dairy.  Partnering with brands I love allows me to provide you high quality content at no cost to you.  I only work with brands I use and love.  All images, text and opinions are my own.

Originally published August 5, 2018.