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Buttermilk Pound Cake

Last Updated On: April 12, 2024 | Published: May 01, 2023 by Melissa Diamond | 11 Comments
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This buttermilk pound cake is a velvety soft vanilla cake with a fine crumb and melt-in-your-mouth texture.

It is such a quick and simple scratch pound cake, and tastes amazing all on its own, or topped with berries and cream.

Buttermilk Pound Cake resting on a glass glaze.

Why we Love It

There are so many reasons to love this buttermilk pound cake! Here are just a few reasons why this pound cake recipe belongs in your file of favorites!

  • Uses simple ingredients and can be whipped up in no time.
  • Ultra moist cake that tastes amazing on its own or topped with berries or a scoop of ice cream.
  • Creamy texture (which reminds me of our vanilla velvet cake).
  • This buttery cake has great vanilla flavor and a hint of tanginess from the buttermilk. The same is true for our Lemon Pound Cake- a very similar recipe!
  • Easy cake for potlucks, picnics, birthdays, or just because!

Recipe FAQs

Buttermilk's acidity not only adds a hint of tanginess, but it also breaks down gluten, creating a wonderfully soft and tender cake.

In our recipes, you can almost always find either sour cream, cream cheese, buttermilk, or even a splash of vinegar. These popular acidic ingredients truly take cakes to another level! (Just a few examples of other favorite buttermilk cakes are: Lemon Buttermilk Cake, Chocolate Buttermilk Cake, Yellow Cake, and our popular Vanilla Buttermilk Cake!

Like most of our cakes (from Coconut Pound Cake to Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake, Classic Pound Cake, Banana Pound Cake and more), this Buttermilk Pound Cake freezes beautifully. Whether you are baking in advance, or saving leftover cake for another time, simply wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap, followed by foil. You can free the cake for up to three months!

When baking in advance, we like to place the cake (still slightly warm) on a foil-wrapped cake cardboard, then cover in plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil.

To defrost, move the wrapped cake to the refrigerator overnight, and then continue to thaw the next morning on the kitchen counter for a few hours or until time to serve.

We like to remove the wrapping after the condensation has formed (after sitting about 40-45 minutes at room temperature).

Individual slices can be wrapped and frozen in the same way!

Cake flour has a lower protein content than all purpose, which means that less gluten is forms. The result is a softer, more tender crumb.

Many of our favorite cake recipes call for cake flour, including almond cake, strawberry cake, lemon cream cheese pound cake, and so many more!

We like to cool our pound cakes and bundt cakes in the pan, on a wire rack, for ten minutes before turning out.

Cooling the cake on a cooling rack (still in the pan) allows air to circulate all the way around the pan.

This delicious pound can can be topped with a simple sugar glaze, or topped with fresh berries, whipped cream, a scoop of ice cream, or a dusting a confectioners' sugar.

Whether you decide to dress it up with a decoration, or serve it just as it is. I can't think of anything nicer than a slice of warm buttermilk pound cake and a cup of tea!

However you choose to enjoy your pound cake, you are sure to fall in love with its dreamy texture and flavor. So good!

Slice of Buttermilk Pound Cake on Plate

How to Make Buttermilk Pound Cake

This cake recipe is a simple combination of unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla extract, buttermilk, a pinch of salt, and baking powder. We used cake flour, which is made from soft wheat, and has a lower protein content and makes for a softer texture.

You can find the full, printable recipe card further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

  • Grease and flour a bundt cake pan or tube pan, and preheat the oven to 325℉
Bundt pan that has been greased and floured
  • In a separate bowl whisk the cake flour, salt, and baking powder to combine, set aside for later.
Mixture of Dry Ingredients with whisk
  • Using an electric mixer (paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) and a large mixing bowl, cream the butter on medium speed until smooth. Next, gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy for 3 to 5 minutes.
Creaming the Butter and Sugar in mixing bowl
  • Add the eggs one at a time, blending after each until the yolk is incorporated.
Buttermilk Cake Batter in mixing bowl after adding eggs
  • Add the vanilla extract to the 1 cup of buttermilk.
Ingredients for Buttermilk Pound Cake
  • With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture in the mixing bowl. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. I do three additions of dry, alternating with two additions of wet.
  • Stop mixing as soon as ingredients are incorporated.
  • Scoop the buttermilk cake batter into the prepared pan.
Buttermilk Pound Cake batter in bundt pan

  • Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 5-10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Baking times may vary.
Freshly baked buttermilk pound cake, still in pan
  • Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes (preferably on a wire rack or cooling rack) before turning out.

Ahhh... the perfect pound cake!

Buttermilk Pound Cake, freshly baked

For the Easy Vanilla Glaze

We often use a simple vanilla glaze for cakes to dress up our bundt cakes and pound cakes.

This is a simple combination of confectioners sugar, milk, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.

It can be spooned over the cooled cake, or for more control, it can be piped on using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away. (You could also use a ziplock bag with a corner snipped away).

Storing the Buttermilk Pound Cake

Store the cooled, decorated cake in an airtight container or under a cake dome at room temperature.

Buttermilk Pound Cake, sliced, on a pedestal

More Pound Cakes

We hope that you love this easy buttermilk pound cake recipe!

We have many more pound cakes for you to try! In addition to today's cake, make sure some other popular favorites are our Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Sour Cream Pound Cake, and whipping cream pound cake recipes! We also have a great Oreo Pound Cake that is based on today's recipe.

Here are just a few more flavorful pound cakes to put on your must-bake list!

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Buttermilk Pound Cake, sliced, on a pedestal

Buttermilk Pound Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe
This ultra moist vanilla buttermilk pound cake has a velvety soft texture and is so decadent. Tastes amazing on its own, or topped with berries and cream!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15
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Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

  • 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened (339g)
  • 3 cups (600g) sugar
  • 5 large eggs, room temperature (place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes to speed up the process).
  • 3 cups (342 g) cake flour (Not self rising. We use Swan's Down, bleached)
  • ½ teaspoon (2)g baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • 1 cup (235 g) buttermilk
  • 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract

Easy Vanilla Glaze

  • 2 cups confectioners sugar (measure then sift)
  • 3 tablespoons milk (add additional as needed in small increments)
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Grease and flour a tube pan.
  • Preheat the oven to 325℉
  • In a separate bowl whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt to combine, set aside for later.
  • Using an electric mixer (paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), cream the butter on medium speed until smooth. Next, gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy for 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Add the eggs one at a time, blending after each until the yolk is incorporated.
  • Add the vanilla extract to the 1 cup of buttermilk.
  • With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the butter/sugar/egg mixture in the mixing bowl. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. I do three additions of dry, alternating with two additions of wet.
  • Scoop batter into prepared bundt pan.
  • Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 5-10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Baking times may vary.
  • This makes approximately 8 cups of batter.
  • Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out.

Vanilla Glaze

  • Combine ingredients, stirring until smooth. If it is too thick, add more. milk in small increments. If too thin, add additional confectioners sugar. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap until ready to use.

Decorating the Cake

  • Once the cake has cooled, you can spoon the glaze over the cake, or for more control, you can spoon it into a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.

Notes

Substitute for Buttermilk: No Buttermilk? Here is a substitution: Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar to a measuring cup. To that, add milk to the 1 cup mark. Stir and allow to sit for a minute or two to thicken.
Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend.
Bundt Pan: Our bundt pan has a baking capacity of 12 cups and measures about 10 inches. If you are working with a smaller pan, it will take longer to bake. Be careful not to overfill. (General rule of thumb: don't fill pan past ⅔ full)
Freezing: This cake can be frozen. If working in advance, we like to tightly wrap our freshly baked cake in a layer of plastic wrap and foil while the cake is still a bit warm and pop in the freezer. The cake can be frozen for up to three months.
Thawing: Bundt cakes take longer to thaw than cake layers. It is best to move the frozen, wrapped cake to the refrigerator the night before, and then move to the kitchen counter the next morning (still wrapped) to continue thawing for a few hours. If you'd like, you can remove the foil after a condensation has formed.
4.91 from 22 votes (21 ratings without comment)

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11 Comments

  2. This turned out beautifully! I made a lemon-orange glaze with zest. Absolutely delicious!

    Reply

    1. I'm so glad that you enjoyed the cake, Jennifer! Thanks for posting your photos- it looks beautiful!

      Reply

  6. 5 stars
    I’ve made this a few times! Absolutely moist! Can different flavors be substituted or combined for different tastes?

    Reply

    1. Hi Tammy, if you lightly spoon cake flour into a measuring cup and level it off, it is about 114g (which is 342g for 3 cups). We leave the gram weight to let you know exactly how much flour we used as there can be a lot of variation in how people are scooping/measuring their flour.

      Reply