Ahhhh…..there’s nothing better than a slice of warm pound cake fresh from the oven. This easy and delicious cake has long been a southern staple and is one of my personal favorites!!
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.
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, haha.
Pound cake first originated in 18th century Europe as a delicious, easy, and huge cake recipe that called for a pound of each ingredient: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. That’s a LOT of pound cake loaves.
These days, pound cakes have been modified in a million different ways, often in favor of a lighter more buttery cake…
However, 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 no fuss go-to cake recipe. No frosting or decorating skills required!
In fact, I have a Pound Cake Recipe Board on my Pinterest page filled with pound cakes that I’m dying to try! Everything from rich chocolate pound cakes to Key Lime and Southern Pecan. If only there were more hours in the day…
The Pound Cake that I am sharing with you today is a family favorite! It is simple, has a nice even crumb, super moist, and the flavor is out of this world. We’ve been making this cake for years for special occasions or for no occasion at all!
This classic pound cake recipe is delicious on it’s own, or dressed up with strawberries & cream or a simple glaze. The flavor is wonderful, and if you like a hint of lemon, I highly recommend adding a little lemon extract. We always do!
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. Just have fun with it!
As an added bonus, pound 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!)
Pound Cake
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)
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
- 1 cup (235 g) whole milk
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) vanilla
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) lemon extract (optional)
Directions
- 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.
- **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 1/4 inches tall).
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.
We have a few delicious pound cake recipes in our Recipes section that you just have to try! Aside from this classic pound cake recipe, we also LOVE our Lemon Pound Cake. You can never have too many delicious pound cake recipes!
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.
And finally, we love this amazing southern Red Velvet Marble Pound Cake year-round, but especially at Christmas (with a peppermint glaze)! It is beautiful when sliced and is SO flavorful!
We hope that you’ll give this amazing classic pound cake recipe a try! Make sure to check out our Recipes Section for our entire collection of tried and true cake, filling, and frosting recipes!
You can also find our full collection of free cake and video tutorials here: Free Cake Tutorials
If you are interested in becoming a member of My Cake School, we would LOVE to have you!! You can find all of the details here: Join My Cake School
Thanks for stopping by! We hope you visit again soon!
Hello, so I’m making this cake with lots of dried fruits in it next week. Don’t have a Bundt pan, will it work in a 10″ pan that’s about 4″ deep or will it be better for me to bake it in layers?
Hi Fortune, If you do not have a Bundt or tube pan, I am not sure about baking this in 10×4 inch pan. Even with a heating core some bakers have a problem with the outside of the cake becoming too dark because of the long baking time. I have not tried this so I can’t say for sure. This pound cake recipe is rather dense. I have another pound cake recipe that is a bit less dense that you might like to try for cake layers. We used this recipe for a Lemon Raspberry Cake that Melissa will be posting in a few days. Here is a link
Pound Cake…..A less dense recipe
1 cup (116g) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened ( do not soften in microwave)
2 cups (400g) white sugar
3 cups (300g) cake flour (sift then measure) if you do not have cake flour see note below
4 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup (180g) milk
2 teaspoons ( 8g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ( 3g) salt
2 1/2 teaspoons (10g) lemon extract
3 Tablespoons (38g) lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
**If you do not have cake flour, you can make your own using the following method. For each cup of all purpose (plain in the UK) remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch. For this recipe, there is 3 cups of flour so measure out the flour and remove 6 Tablespoons, then replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend.
**For best results when using a tube or bundt cake pan, lower the oven rack. I lower mine to the next to lowest position in the oven.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Grease and flour an 8 or 10 cup tube or bundt cake pan, I used an 8 cup pan for a taller cake
In a separate bowl, add the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk at least 15 seconds to blend and set aside.
In the bowl of your mixer, cream butter for 2 minutes, gradually add sugar, continue creaming for 4 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy
Add eggs one at a time mixing after each egg until the yellow is blended into batter.
Add flour mixture alternately with the milk, at this time also add the extract,lemon juice and zest. Begin and end with dry ingredients (3 additions of dry, 2 of wet). Blend after each addition just until ingredient is blended in…..Do not over mix as this could dry the cake.
Pour into prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Time may vary for your oven. If you find the top of the cake is becoming too dark, cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
The cake is done when a toothpick inserted come out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
Cool in the pan 15 minutes on wire rack. Remove from pan and let the cake continue to cool.
Do you have the baking time if you use the 11×15 pan? Thank you!
Hi GuppyLove, In a 11×15 pan, bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes
HELLO MELISSA
CONGRATULATIONS I MADE IT WOO……. IS THE BEST THANKS FOR SHARING THE RECEPI.
LOVE
MARIA
Hi Maria, That’s great!! I glad you made it!! Thanks for posting!
Hi Maria,
So awesome your sheet poundcake came out nicely.Ive been searching for the perfect recipe for a sheet poundcake.Also did you have to double the recipe .How high was your cake please?Thanks for sharing!
Hi I am looking for a cake to make a trifle any suggestions.
Hi Claudia, You could use poundcake cut into small pieces. The White Almond Sour Cream (scratch or doctored mix) White Cake or Yellow Cake recipes. Almost any cake recipe can be used. Even brownies can be used with chocolate pudding and whipped cream, nuts etc. I don’t what kind of trifle you have in mind. For example if you were making a fall themed trifle, you could use a pumpkin cake with other caramel
or butterscotch flavors.
My husband’s grandmother asked for a pound cake for her birthday. I made her this one with a chocolate ganache glaze! She loved it and raved about it being the best pound cake she’d ever had! She has since asked me to make it again and again for her! Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Kristina, That is wonderful! It makes us happy to read that your grandmother liked the cake. Thanks so much for your post.
Can you make this in mini bundt cake pans? How long would it bake?
Hi Barb, We have not bake this in mini bundt pans but you can. Keep the temperature at 350 degrees. I am not sure what size your mini bundt pan is but the cakes should be lightly brown and a toothpick inserted will come out clean. Also when you lightly press it with a finger the cake will spring back.
Hello,
If I’m using a regular size bundt cake pan will the temperature to bake be the same as the recipe states??
Hi Nikki, First, lower your oven rack to the next to lowest position and set the oven to 325 degrees. Most bundt pans have varying shades of dark finishes and this will cause the cake to bake faster So just check on it a bit sooner with a toothpick or a long skewer. If you find the top to be getting too dark, cover the top loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
Thanks 👌🏽
How could you use this as a base for a spice pound cake with raisins and nuts?
Yes I would like to know what kind of flour do you use? snow or red brand ? I made a pound cake before and it did not come out good! When recipes are put on the web site they should say 2 cups flour (snow flake) . I feel like the name brand used makes a big difference. so do tell what kind of flour did you use on the pound or all the ingredients used? thanks. France
Hi Frances, We used Pillsbury all purpose flour (bleached) for the pound cake recipe. You could also use unbleached all purpose flour. This is the brand we always use for our cakes that use all purpose flour. We most often use cake flour for our layer cakes, Swansdown Cake Flour. Are these brands or something similar available in your area?
I only have a hand mixer I would like to know will that work to make the pound cake?
Hi Elvia, Yes, you can make the pound cake using an electric hand mixer. It will take just a bit longer mixing. When creaming the butter and sugar mix until it has lightened in color and has a fluffy look. Mix in the eggs until the yolk of the yellow disappears. When mixing the batter with the dry and wet ingredients mixing until the additions are blended in but don’t over mix. Hope all goes well.
Hi! Found this jem as I was searching for petit four and ❤ it!!! Would this be ok to bake as cupcakes? Any modifications needed??
Thanks!!
Breezy
Hi Breezy, We have never used the recipe to make cupcakes, but I think you could do so. The cupcakes will have a more dense texture just as a pound cake does. In the instructions I say to lower the oven rack to next to lowest position, no need to do this with cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees, when a toothpick pulls out clean or with just a few crumbs attached they are done. Check at 18 minutes.
Thanks so much!! I was asked to do 250+ cupcakes for a charity event!! I loved the texture and crumb in sheet cake form, so I was hoping it would convert well! I will post back how it goes 😊