Caramel Eggnog Pound Cake
This moist, delicious caramel eggnog cake is perfect for the holidays! It is flavored with eggnog, warm spices, and brown sugar and topped with a simple caramel glaze. Heavenly!
Table of Contents
Why we Love It
There are so many reasons to love this recipe. Here are just a few!
- Ultra moist pound cake with a fine crumb
- SO easy to make (as with most of our pound cake recipes)!
- A unique yet festive option for Christmas and winter gatherings
- We are big fans of Eggnog and Eggnog Desserts, like our Eggnog Rum Cake, Eggnog Layer Cake, Eggnog Latte Cake, and more!
- Caramel and Spices (nutmeg and cinnamon) are the perfect combination.
Ingredients
Here is a quick look at the star ingredients for our recipe. You can find the full listing in the recipe card at the bottom of this post!
Eggnog (full fat)- adds wonderful richness to the cake!
Light Brown Sugar- A big difference between our original eggnog pound cake and today's caramel version is the use of brown sugar (along with white sugar) in the recipe. It not only adds another layer of flavor, but also adds additional moisture.
Nutmeg and Cinnamon- are warm spices that are commonly used in eggnog. We added a bit more to our pound cake recipe for an added boost of spiced flavor.
Unsalted Butter- We like to use unsalted butter in our cakes as it gives us more control over the amount of salt in the recipe. (Different brands of salted butter do not always use the same amount of salt). If you are using salted butter, you can omit the salt called for in the recipe.
How to Make Caramel Eggnog Pound Cake
You can find the full, printable cake recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!
- Grease and flour a bundt pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- In a separate bowl whisk the cake flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon to combine. Set aside for later.
- Using an electric mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) mix the butter on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the white sugar and brown sugar and mix until lightened in color and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk is blended.
- Add the vanilla extract to the cup of eggnog and set aside.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the eggnog. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients three times and the eggnog twice. Mix just until blended. Scoop the batter into a prepared bundt pan or tube pan.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for one hour or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Baking times can vary and so peek in as the end time approached and add on a few more minutes or so if needed.
- Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning out onto serving plate. Allow the cake to cool before glazing.
Simple Caramel Glaze
We love the combination of caramel and warm spices and today's cake is no exception!
The recipe for this easy and delicious caramel glaze involves heating butter, light brown sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract, and a bit of light corn syrup in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer for 6 minutes. It will thicken as it cools.
We've used this recipe on our Butter Pecan Pound Cake, Maple Pound Cake, Gingerbread Bundt Cake, and many more!
Applying the Glaze to the Cake
The glaze can be applied by spooning the thickened caramel sauce over the cooled pound cake, or for more control, it can be applied through a disposable piping bag (or ziplock bag) with the tip snipped away.
Here's a peek inside. We hope that you enjoy this caramel eggnog pound cake recipe as much as we have!
Recipe FAQs
More Cakes with Caramel
Not only have we made many eggnog cakes (as mentioned early in our post), we've also made lots of caramel cake recipes as well!
Some of our most popular are our layered Caramel Cake, Caramel Italian Cream Cake, and Chocolate Caramel Cake!
Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy the recipe. Make sure to check out our full collection of cake recipes which includes cake recipes from scratch as well as cake mix recipes!
We have many more holiday cake recipes to share with you, from red velvet cake to spice cake, carrot cake, and more!
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!
Caramel Eggnog Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups (400g) sugar
- 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar
- 5 large eggs, room temperature (place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes if in a hurry)
- 3 cups (342g) Cake Flour
- ½ teaspoon (2g) salt
- ½ teaspoon (2g) baking powder
- 2 teaspoons (6g) cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon (3g) nutmeg
- 1 cup (235g) Eggnog
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
Caramel Glaze
- ½ stick unsalted butter (57g)
- cup light brown sugar, packed into measuring cup (217g)
- ½ cup heavy cream (126g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup (18g)
Instructions
- Grease and flour a bundt pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- In a separate bowl whisk the cake flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon to combine. Set aside for later.
- Using an electric mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) mix the butter on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the white sugar and brown sugar and mix until lightened in color and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk is blended.
- Add the vanilla extract to the cup of eggnog and set aside.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the eggnog. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients three times and the eggnog twice. Mix just until blended.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Baking times can vary and so peek in as it approaches the 1 hour mark. If the top of the cake begins to get too dark, cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
- This recipe makes approximately 8 cups of batter.
- Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning out onto serving plate. All the cake to cool before glazing.
Caramel Glaze
- Using a medium size saucepan (deep enough to prevent boil over) melt the butter over medium heat.
- Add the brown sugar and the remaining ingredients and heat on medium high heat.
- Stir to blend, try to keep mixture off the sides of the pan. Once the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat to low.
- Simmer for 6 minutes, checking often to make sure that it is not going to boil over. It should still be bubbling. After 6 minutes, remove from heat.
- Keep in mind that the caramel with thicken up a bit as it cools. You can pour it into a long glass casserole dish if you want it to cool more quickly. We often refrigerate to cool it off as well.
- Apply the thickened glaze to the cooled cake either with a spoon, or for more control, spoon it into a disposable piping bag (or ziplock bag) with the tip snipped away.
- Makes about 1 cup caramel sauce. It can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.
Looks and sounds yummy! :-)
I made the caramel eggnog pound cake in January 2024 with the need to use leftover eggnog that was in the refrigerator. After baking, I wrapped the pound cake securely and placed in the freezer for 2 1/2 months. I made the caramel glaze 2 days before serving the cake. The cake and glaze is delicious! The crumb was moist and very tender. My guests, which included children, also thought it was scrumptious. Thank you, ladies, for another trustworthy recipe.