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Pound Cake Recipe

Last Updated On: June 30, 2024 | Published: October 20, 2012 by Melissa Diamond | 170 Comments
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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!

Moist and Delicious Classic Pound Cake Recipe

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!

Deliciously Moist and Flavorful Classic Pound Cake Recipe by MyCakeSchool.com

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).

Simple Vanilla Glaze for Pound Cakes

Recipe FAQs

Yes! Just as with most of our cake recipes (from banana pound cake to maple pound cake, lemon cream cheese pound cake and more), this cake freezes perfectly!

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. (We like to wrap our cakes while they are still warm but room temperature is fine also!) The cake can be frozen for up to three months.

Pound cakes and bundt cakes take longer to thaw than layer cakes. For this reason, we move the wrapped, frozen cakes to the refrigerator the day before we need them. The next morning, place the cake on the kitchen counter.

This pound cake is fine to leave at room temperature for 2-3 days, preferably in an airtight container or cake dome.

Have you ever wondered where Pound Cake gets its name?

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. 

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 many of the same simple ingredients.

You can find pound cake recipes in just about every flavor, from Peach Pound Cake to Buttermilk Pound Cake, Brown Sugar Pound Cake and more.

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!

The BEST Classic Pound Cake Recipe by MyCakeSchool.com! This is a southern favorite! So simple to make, moist, and flavorful! MyCakeSchool.com Online Cake Tutorials, Cake Recipes, and More!

Pound Cake Recipe- A Classic Southern Favorite

BY Melissa and Bebe
This moist pound cake is SO delicious and easy to make! Serve it plain or topped with berries and cream!
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15
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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).
4.46 from 256 votes (255 ratings without comment)

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170 Comments

  2. Hi Vaishali, Lemon extract is a very concentrated flavor made with lemon oil. If you do not have lemon extract you can use the zest of a lemon. Use a fine grater to get the zest, you only want the yellow skin of the lemon not the white underneath the yellow lemon skin. Lemon juice will not give as much flavor plus you don't want to add a lot of extra liquid to the recipe. The zest of 2 lemons should give you a nice lemon flavor. The lemon flavor is optional in the recipe, you can use only vanilla

    Reply

  4. Hi Melissa,

    Can this be topped with the simple vanilla glaze? Or can you suggest another glaze that would work?

    Thanks, love the site!!
    Anngeev

    Reply

  5. Hi Anngeev, Yes, the simple vanilla glaze will be fine on the pound cake. Just wait until the cake has cooled to drizzle on the glaze. Thanks for your comment about the site:)

    Reply

  6. Hi, do you think this recipe would work well also for cupcakes? Just wondering if the cups may peel off if the cake is too moist?

    Reply

  7. Hi Karina, I'm sorry to say that I have never tried cupcakes with this recipe. The next time I make this I'll make a few cupcakes and post the results.

    Reply

  8. Thanks Bebe, I'll try it using soufle cups. That way the liners should not peel off. I think this cake will go well with vanilla buttercream!

    Reply

  10. Hi Amy, I have only made this as it is written, so I'm not sure how it will turn out if you quadruple it. I'm sorry my answer does not help you. If you decide to give it a try, let us know how it goes.

    Reply

  11. Hi Bebe
    when a cake calls for APF can Cake Flour be substituted ? in this case for the pound cake would it be okay to exchange it?
    thank you
    Stella

    Reply

  12. Hi Stella, Yes, you can substitute......for every 1 cup all purpose flour, substitute 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour

    Reply