Ahhhh…..there’s nothing better than a slice of warm pound cake fresh from the oven.

This easy and delicious pound cake recipe has long been a southern staple and is one of my personal favorites!! If you're looking for the best homemade pound cake, you've come to the right place!

Whether you are new to baking, or have been baking up sweets for years, you are going to fall in love with this simple, flavorful pound cake.

Why is Pound Cake Called a Pound Cake?

Have you ever wondered where Pound Cake gets it’s name? I’m going to give you some fun trivia. You never know when this information might come in handy ;0)

Pound cake first originated in 18th century Europe. The original classic recipe was a delicious, easy cake recipe that called for a pound of each ingredient: a pound of flour, a pound of butter, a pound of eggs, and a pound of sugar.

Pound Cake Variations

These days, pound cakes have been modified from the original recipe proportions, often in favor of a lighter more buttery cake. However, they still incorporate all of the same simple ingredients (plus a few extras here and there).

You can find pound cake in just about every flavor, from lemon to chocolate and everything in between.

The simplicity of these classic pound cake recipes (not to mention the amazing flavor) will ensure their popularity for years to come. Everyone loves a good pound cake–and as an added bonus, no frosting or cake decorating skills are required!

The Pound Cake recipe that I am sharing with you today was my grandmother’s recipe, and is our long time go-to recipe for our pound cake cravings.

It is simple, has a nice even crumb, is super moist, and it has so much flavor!

We’ve been making this cake for years for special occasions or for no occasion at all. This easy pound cake recipe is sure to become a favorite- sometimes the simplest recipes are best!

Enjoy your slice of pound cake just as it is, or dressed up with fresh berries and ice cream or a simple glaze. If you like a hint of lemon, I highly recommend adding a little lemon extract. We always do!

how to make a pound cake from scratch

*You can find our full, printable recipe card for this Pound Cake Recipe- but here is a quick rundown of the steps!

Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan.

Lower the oven rack to the next to lowest position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a separate bowl whisk the all purpose flour and baking powder to combine, set aside for later.

Cream the softened unsalted butter in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer (using a paddle attachment). Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes. Add the room temperature eggs one at a time blending after each to incorporate.

Add the vanilla extract and lemon extract to the 1 cup of milk. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. I add the dry 3 times and milk twice.

Pour the cake batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the pound cake to cool for about 10 minutes or so before carefully flipping out onto a wire rack.

Adding an easy vanilla glaze to the pound cake

After baking our pound cake, we drizzled it with a Simple Vanilla Glaze.

This quick glaze can be whipped up in minutes, and I just love the look!

You can drizzle it by the spoonful, or pipe it through a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away. (The piping bag will give you a little more control).

Can Pound Cake be Frozen?

Yes! Not only is a slice of buttery pound cake amazing fresh from the oven, these cakes can be wrapped and frozen for weeks or even months at a time!

Perfect for those days when unexpected guests pop in, or when you just need a little something sweet to go with your coffee or tea (or a giant slice for breakfast..I won't tell!)

How to Freeze Pound Cake: *In order to freeze your pound cakes, flip out the cake onto your cake board, wrap in plastic wrap and follow with a tightly wrapped layer of foil. Freeze. (By the way, I like to wrap my cakes while they are still warm.)

When you are ready to thaw the cake, keep the pound cake wrapped and place on the countertop until condensation forms on the foil. Then unwrap and continue to thaw.

This is a really versatile recipe. We've baked this pound cake recipe into sheet cakes & sliced into squares for our Petit Four Video Tutorial.

Other Favorite Pound Cake Recipes!

We happen to love pound cakes around here and have a few delicious pound cake recipes in our Recipes section that you just have to try!

In addition to today's Classic Pound Cake recipe, we hope you'll put these other favorites on your list of "must-try" recipes too!

First up, we LOVE this Lemon Pound Cake.

If you're a fan of the flavor combination of Lemon AND Raspberry, you must put our moist & fruity Lemon Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake onto your list of cake recipes to try! The flavor is amazing! You can find it here: Lemon Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake.

This amazing southern Red Velvet Marble Pound Cake is a fantastic choice year-round, but especially at Christmas (with a peppermint glaze)! It is beautiful when sliced and is SO flavorful!

and don't miss our Double Chocolate Pound Cake recipe --it's always a crowd pleaser!

Finally, our colorful Rainbow Pound Cake recipe is based on this recipe, only with rainbows on the inside!! This is a fun way to change things up for rainbow-themed parties, St. Patrick's Day, or just because!

Other Classic Cake Recipes to Try!

In addition to pound cake, there are several more classic cake recipes that belong on your "must-bake" list! Don't miss these amazing traditional cake recipes that are considered old fashioned favorites for good reason.

Italian Cream Cake

Red Velvet Cake

German Chocolate Cake

Carrot Cake

Hummingbird Cake

Black Forest Cake

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you give this pound cake recipe a try, we would love for you to leave a comment and photo below!

Pound Cake Recipe- A Classic Southern Favorite

This moist pound cake is SO delicious and easy to make! Serve it plain or topped with berries and cream!

Ingredients

3 sticks (339 g) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups (600 g) sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour, (not self-rising)
½ teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
1 cup (235 g) whole milk
2 teaspoons (8 g) vanilla
1 teaspoon (4 g) lemon extract (optional)

Instructions

Grease and flour a tube pan.

Lower the oven rack to the next to lowest position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a separate bowl whisk the flour and baking powder to combine, set aside for later.

Cream the butter with the paddle attachment in your mixer, gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time blending after each to incorporate.

Add the vanilla and lemon extract to the l cup of milk. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. I add the dry 3 times and milk twice.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This makes approximately 8 cups of batter.

Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before flipping out onto wire rack.

**This is also the recipe that we use in our petit fours video! For petit fours, we pour into an 11x15 inch pan so that they are nice and short (approximately 1 ¼ inches tall).

My Cake School Cake Recipes, Cake Tutorials, and More

We have an ever-growing collection of favorite cake and frosting recipes in our Recipes Section! We'd love for you to scroll through.

Also, if you're interested in cake decorating, we've made tons of cake decorating video tutorials since our site started over ten years ago! We have a free tutorials section which includes hundreds of videos!