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If you’re looking for a simple dessert that doesn’t require a lot of fussy ingredients but tastes like a million dollars, Easy Pound Cake is exactly what to make. Enjoy it plain, with a drizzle of chocolate sauce, or stacked with fresh berries and whipped cream to make shortcake.
Melt In Your Mouth Pound Cake
As a classically-trained chef, and perhaps in spite of my extensive baking experience, I believe in keeping dessert recipes simple, flavorful, and easy to follow whenever possible. The secret to this pound cake is the butter. While this pound cake doesn’t actually contain a full pound of butter, even a half pound gives this cake its signature buttery taste and melt-in-your-mouth texture.
While developing this classic pound cake recipe, I tested a few different methods including blending the butter and eggs in a food processor (an America’s Test Kitchen trick). However, at the end of the day, the cake I loved the most was mixed by hand in a couple of bowls, no fancy equipment required.
Serve this pound cake with fresh berries and whipped cream, chocolate sauce, or caramel sauce. Or, add your favorite extract or zest to change up the flavor. It also makes an ideal base for shortcake.
Table of Contents
Pound Cake Recipe Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Cake flour: This finely milled, bleached flour has a lower protein content (about 8%) than all-purpose flour. Making cakes with cake flour gives your desserts a soft, tender texture and an excellent crumb.
- Vanilla: Or substitute almond extract. See Recipe Tips and Variations for other flavor combinations to try.
How to Make Vanilla Pound Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In a second bowl or a large measuring cup, whisk together the sugar, melted butter (you can use unsalted butter if you prefer), eggs, and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl while mixing.
- Scrape into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 55 to 60 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and peel the parchment from the bottom of the cake. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Pound Cake Recipe Tips and Variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 loaf of Easy Pound Cake, enough for 8 slices or so depending on how you cut them.
- Mixer: If you prefer to use a stand mixer, start with your dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk your wet ingredients together separately, then add to the dry and combine on medium speed.
- Mini pound cakes: This recipe will also make 4 miniature pound cakes. Use four 2-cup mini loaf pans and reduce the baking time to 40 minutes.
- Lemon pound cake: Add 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest and 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice to the sugar before processing in Step 2.
- Orange pound cake: Add 1 tablespoon grated orange zest and 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice to the sugar before processing in Step 2.
- Ginger pound cake: Add 3 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger, 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger, and ½ teaspoon mace to the sugar before processing in Step 2.
- Bundt cake: For a similar cake made in a bundt pan, try my Hot Milk Cake. It also has a light yet tight crumb and a delicious vanilla flavor.
How to Store Pound Cake
Store wrapped at room temperature for up to 4 days.
To Freeze
Wrap in plastic wrap and transfer to a freezer bag. Label, date, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
How to Serve Pound Cake
Pound Cake is delicious plain, but it’s heavenly when served with a mound of whipped cream and a pile of fresh strawberries (the pound cake version of Strawberry Shortcake).
Frequently Asked Questions
The secret is the butter. While cakes don’t actually contain a full pound of butter anymore (they used to), they are still made a lot of it and it gives pound cakes their signature buttery taste.
To produce a properly risen pound cake that doesn’t fall, make sure your leavening agent is fresh, not expired. We use baking powder in this recipe, but the same would apply to baking soda. Do not over-mix the cake batter either. Over-mixing can incorporate too much air which gives an artificial lift to the batter while it’s baking but ultimately, it might fall. Last, be sure to keep the oven door closed until the baking time is up. No peaking!
This easy pound cake recipe is made in a standard loaf pan, approximately 8 ½ inches by 4 ½ inches by 2 ½ inches.
Serving suggestions for pound cake
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Easy Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour (see note 1)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup butter melted (2 sticks)
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (see note 2)
- powdered sugar for dusting, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In a second bowl or a large measuring cup, whisk together the sugar, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and slowly pour in the wet ingredients, whisking constantly until most of the lumps are gone. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 50 to 60 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and peel the parchment from the bottom of the cake. Cool completely before slicing. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Cake flour: This finely milled, bleached flour has a lower protein content (about 8%) than all-purpose flour. Making cakes with cake flour gives your desserts a soft, tender texture and an excellent crumb.
- Vanilla: Or see Recipe Tips and Variations for other flavor combinations to try.
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 loaf of Easy Pound Cake, enough for 8 slices or so depending on how you cut them.
- Storage: Store wrapped at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
I am an experienced baker and have made many pound cakes. I made this one exactly as written, but when I rotated it as directed, it fell in the middle. I’m sure it would have been delicious! If I make it again, I just won’t do that. I’ve never seen that direction before. These things happen! My husband and I will still eat it – maybe in a bowl with fruit and whipped cream!
Hi Joan, thank you so much for writing. I’m sorry it fell. For your cake and oven, it might have been a little too early to rotate it. The middle should have been set up some. Sorry about that! I hope your next one is perfect. – Meggan
Not sure what happened. Followed the recipe, but the top of my loaf exploded and formed a huge crackly dome in the middle. What did I do wrong? Itโs delicious though and will try to make again.
Hi Rose! I’m so sorry it exploded and cracked! Your heat may be too high. When the heat is too high, the top crust forms before the middle has a chance to bake and rise, and when it does, it forces itself out of the top, causing the loaf to explode and crack. I would check your oven temperature with a thermometer, and see if the temperature needs to be reduced some. I hope your next batch is perfect! – Meggan
Right now, the only thing that makes me happy is baking. I made this pound cake, with the ginger varition and it was absolutely delicious! Prfect taste! Perfect crumb! Just perfect!!! I cannot wait to make it again, using this and other variationos! Thank you!
You’re so welcome, Erlinda! I’m glad you enjoyed it! – Meggan