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This soft, buttery pound cake recipe is perfect by itself or topped with fresh fruit. It bakes up great in a bundt pan or loaf pan too!
Perfect for brunching or afternoon tea, this pound cake recipe is a great addition to your dessert rotation. It’s a classic and rivals other delicious favorites like our Fresh Strawberry Cake and Funfetti Sheet Cake.
Table of Contents
Why I Love Pound Cake Recipe
A great pound cake recipe is a must-have in your recipe box. It’s great to top with macerated berries, icing, or just eat plain. I chose to eat it with fresh berries and my kiddo added a little Reese’s spread to his.
With only 8 easy to find, easy to use pantry ingredients, this recipe is super simple. A pound cake is hard to mess up!
Ingredients
The ingredients are all common pantry ingredients used in most cake recipes. Something magical happens when you mix them up the right way, and the result is this moist, buttery, rich vanilla pound cake!
- Butter
- Granulated Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda
- Salt
- Milk
How to Make Pound Cake
We’ve got a great video for you to watch below with the printable recipe, but here are some general instructions for baking your cake.
See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Combine ingredients for the batter. Mix together butter and sugar, then add vanilla and eggs. Separately mix together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and salt and pour them into the bowl, alternating a few times with the milk.
Pour into the pan. Generously grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan, then pour in the batter.
Bake, rest, and release. Bake for about an hour, then remove from the oven and cool slightly before turning out onto a flat surface to release the cake from the pan.
FAQs
Store your cake at room temperature, in an airtight container. It should stay fresh for several days. Don’t refrigerate – it will dry out the cake.
As you might guess from the name, a pound cake is denser and heavier than a traditional cake. Because it’s so rich, it’s best served with light toppings, like berries and fresh whipped or a simple glaze.
What’s the Secret to a Good Pound Cake?
Bundt pans can make anything look pretty, no matter how plain it is. Though, there are a couple of important things to remember when using a bundt pan.
- Always grease generously and flour the pan. If you’re making a chocolate cake, you can use cocoa powder instead of flour too. I’ve tried the cooking spray with flour added and some of the sprays work and some don’t. My go-to is the Baker’s Joy baking spray.
- Let it cool. Let the freshly baked bundt cake cool for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a cake plate to give it a chance to release from the pan. After it’s turned upside down, let it rest for 5 minutes upside down in the pan before you start tapping the pan. If it comes out before the 5 minutes are up, that’s even better.
Recipe Variations
You can make different flavors of pound cake by adding extracts, zests, and fresh fruit.
- Lemon, lime, or orange – Instead of adding 1 tablespoon of vanilla, add 2 teaspoons of the flavored extract, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and the zest of 1 lemon, lime, or orange.
- Blueberry, blackberry, or raspberry – Add 1 to 2 cups of fresh berries into a bowl with 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir to coat the berries and fold into the mixed batter before baking.
- Rum, maple, or caramel – Substitute the 1 tablespoon of vanilla with 2 teaspoons of flavored extract and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Add more or less extract depending on how you prefer it.
How to Freeze Cake
Cakes hold up really well in the freezer for up to 6 months if properly stored. Cool the cake completely and slice into individual pieces. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap or parchment paper and place in a freezer bag or airtight container. Thaw overnight and enjoy.
To freeze the entire pound cake as a whole cake, you will still want to wrap it as tightly as possible and place in a large airtight container.
More Cake Recipes
- Lemon Bundt Cake
- Cinnamon Apple Monkey Bread
- Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Bundt Cake
- Tropical Hawaiian Monkey Bread
- Cinnamon Apple Bundt Cake
Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- fresh berries for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. Tap out any excess flour.
- In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat on medium with a hand mixer until creamed.
- Add the vanilla extract and the eggs one at a time. Beat each egg in before adding the next. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- In a separate bowl, add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Measure out the milk.
- Alternately add the flour and milk always starting and ending with the flour. I added the flour in 3 parts and the milk in 2 parts. Scrape down the sides and mix to combine.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Spread it out evenly in the pan using a spatula.
- Place into the oven and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool for 5 minutes and turn out onto a cake plate. Let it rest for another 5 minutes. Tap the bundt pan with a knife to help loosen the cake from the pan.
- Garnish with fresh berries.
I have been searching and trying and searching and trying pound cake recipe. Will try this one very soon . Just has to comment on the “cough a lung up when using Baker’s Joy. I thought it was just me that this had an affect on. LOL.
Light, beautiful, flavorful and savory. This cake is GREAT with fresh fruit or just by itself. I’m going to add some lemon zest the next time around for that hint of lemon. Yummmm
Thank you SandyB!
Folks, seriously Miranda’s Pound Cake is perfect!! Thank you for the recipe. : )
Thank you Michael!
Can i use arm and hammer baking soda for this cake
Whatever brand of baking soda you have on hand will be fine.
Great cake!!!!
Thank you Janet!
Lovely cake I thoroughly enjoyed it !!!!
Made this recipe for a work party and it was a huge hit! A coworker has Celiac’s disease, so I substituted King Arthur’s gluten free flour (same measurement), and it turned out great.
Thanks Lauren! I love that you were able to make it work for you!
This. Is. Amazing! Perfect flavor, perfect texture. Just made one for some friends for their Valentine’s dinner. Drizzled with dark chocolate ganache and garnished with strawberries. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you Julie!
Thanks so much I had to do this for school and it was so good! (^_^)
Thank you K&C!
excellent ! perfcake.ect receipe for a delicious
Love this! I replaced the Vanilla with Orange Extract and it was a big hit! It was just what my coffee needed. ?
I’m excited to make my first pound cake for my husband’s bday today. I looked at several recipes and picked yours because most of them required at least 6 eggs and I only have 4 in the house. It is -20 degrees outside in Chicago and I’m not about to go out to the store for more eggs, so happy to find this. Hope it turns out great!
It’s a perfect day for baking – stay warm!
Can I use cake flour to have a less dense texture?
Pound cake is naturally a dense cake. I haven’t tried this recipe with cake flour but I don’t see how it could ruin it.
Just made my 1st poundcake using this recipe
Nice! Thanks for stopping By Alisha!
I’m excited to try this, as a brand new baker. I so appreciate the tips for the bundt pan.
I’m wondering what you think of using substituting almond milk for the cow’s milk?
Easy swap!
Can I make this pound cake using a loaf pan?
Yes, you can make this in a loaf pan. Just watch the cooking time. (I haven’t tried this recipe in a loaf pan myself).
You have 1 T for vanilla extract does that mean tablespoon or 1 tbs
Ingredients
1 cup butter room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 T. vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
fresh berries for garnis
In baking, the abbreviations are T=tablespoon and tsp=teaspoon. I do try to make sure that the measurements are spelled out and missed this one.
Thanks a lot for showing me how to make my first pound cake and everyone who had some said this is a very good pound cake and now I am making 3 for my family .again thanks for all your help.
Thank you Robert! So happy that you and your family loved this recipe!
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. This was my first time making a pound cake from scratch, and it came out pretty good! I can’t wait to make my next homemade cake ?!
Great recipe!!!Must try.
I made this recipe and it was delicious. I sold it at an office silent auction bake sale and my office raved about how wonderful it was. The person that ‘won’ the auction called the cake ‘addictive’. Come to find out I misread the recipe and added a 1 pound of butter instead of 1 cup. Apparently it was a hit! Give it a try!
Thank you for sharing your review, Joe!