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!

Moist and Delicious Classic Pound Cake Recipe

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!

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).

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).

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170 Comments

Is it only 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder? Most other recipes say 3 teaspoons.
Is All purpose flour the same as plain flour?

Hi Caz, Yes this recipe has only 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. In Australia plain flour is equal to all purpose flour

Hi Melissa or Bebe! I can't wait to try this recipe because your Red Velvet Cake recipe was soooo good! I loved it (and I think I finished half of it). My question is about the proper way to measure the flour in your Pound Cake recipe. Do we sift the flour first and then measure 375 grams, OR do we measure 375grams and then sift?

Hi Jo, I actually did not sift the flour in this recipe. This is what I typically do..... open the container I keep flour in and using the hand whisk, give the flour a few turns with the whisk. Then I weigh out 375 grams. If you do not have a scale, spoon into a measuring cup and level off the excess.

hi bebe.....just love ur site, your videos, ur recipes.....love them all....and melissa.....shes just awesome.....thanks a ton!!!!

HI Manita, Thank you so much for your nice comments, that makes our day!!

Hello Bebe just wanted to say this is an amazing website just loved reading all the comments and a lot of the comments you have answered .... ? I also wanted to ask can I use the lemon pound cake for wedding cakes and if so can I bake this a week early and freeze it till it's time to fill, cover, and decorate and what would you use to fill the lemon pound cake if this is to used for a wedding cake.

Thank you Bebe look forward to hearing from you.

Joyce

Hi Joyce, Thank you for your nice comments about the site. Yes, a lemon pound cake would be fine for a wedding cake. It will be fine to bake in advance and freeze until you are ready to fill and decorate. Cake layers can be frozen 2 months (often longer) if they are wrapped with plastic wrap and aluminum foil so they will be air tight. To defrost, take out and leave wrapped until condensation forms on the aluminum foil, then unwrap and allow to thaw completely. Some bakers leave wrapped until completely thawed and that is fine too. If you are frosting with a crusting buttercream, the cake will need to be completely thawed or the buttercream will take forever to crust. A raspberry filling is good with lemon cake. Here is a link to a good recipe Seedless Raspberry Filling from CakeBoss.com http://www.cakeboss.com/Cake-Stuff/Recipes/Raspberry-Filling You could spread between the layers or mix some into buttercream for a filling or do both. You could add lemon extract as well as lemon zest into buttercream for a filling, lemon curd would also be good (refrigeration could be an issue. This pound cake bakes up with a crusty top, which you would just trim off for wedding cake layers. Our White Almond Sour Cream (scratch) recipe (just substitute lemon extract for the almond) is also good for a wedding cake. Also the White Almond Sour Cream (doctored) recipe. Hope all goes well.

This is the best 30 bucks I have spent in a long time!! I'm so excited to try this recipe. I want to do everything all at once ;-) Thank you for such excellent quality filming and instructions. Also, your voice is soothing to listen to ;-) I'm from Texas , but stuck in Wisconsin .. i miss the south. Have a great day!!

forgot to ask my question.. How long do the petit fours stay good after they have been fully prepared?

Hi Brandy! Thanks so much for your kind words! xoxo

The petit fours should be fine at room temp for 2 days. We also tested petit fours in an airtight container in the refrigerator. We had no issues with the royal icing decorations softening too much but if you would like to try refrigerating, I would definitely do a trial run with just one petit four before refrigerating them all. Your refrigerator may have more moisture than mine and so to be one the safe side, a trial run is best! Hope this helps!

I have an order for petit fours for a 50th Wedding Anniversary, and I have just finished watching your video on making the petit fours. Loved it! I now have to practice making these, and I am sure my family will be sick of petit fours before I feel comfortable with making them. If I use your pound cake recipe and the 11 x 15 pan, do I pour all of the batter into the pan? I would also love any suggestions on ways to decorate them for the event.

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