Pound Cake Recipe
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 a wonderful go-to pound cake, you've come to the right place!
Table of Contents
Why we Love It
There are so many reasons to love this classic pound cake recipe. Here are just a few:
- Quick and easy scratch pound cake to make
- Buttery flavor and moist, fine crumb
- Perfect cake for any occasion, whether a birthday cake recipe, holiday cake, potluck dessert, and more!
- Perfect served just as it is or topped with berries and ice cream!
- Versatile! We've used this as a layered cake (as with our Strawberry Shortcake Cake as well as for our Petit Fours).
We have so many delicious variations as well, from Cream Cheese Pound Cake to Lemon Pound Cake, Strawberry Pound Cake and so many more!
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!
How to Make a Pound Cake
*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.
Easy Vanilla Glaze
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).
Recipe FAQs
Other Favorite Pound Cake Recipes!
We love pound cakes, and have many more pound cake recipes for you to put on your must bake list! Don't miss our Bundt Cakes and Pound Cakes section of recipes as well!
Some of our most popular are Lemon Pound Cake, Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake, Strawberry Pound Cake, and Coconut Pound Cake.
More Classic Cakes
In addition to this pound cake recipe, there are several more classic cakes that belong on your "must-bake" list! You'll find German Chocolate Cake, Hummingbird Cake, Black Forest Cake, and so many 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!
Pound Cake Recipe- A Classic Southern Favorite
Ingredients
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened (339g)
- 3 cups sugar (600g)
- 5 large eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)
- 3 cups all purpose flour, (not self-rising) (375g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder (2g)
- 1 cup whole milk (235g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract (optional) (4g)
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).
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 baked 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?