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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 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.
This is the easiest and best pound cake ever!
Thanks Susan! – Meggan
I am 11 years old and I made this myself. I really enjoyed the taste and texture of the pound cake. Delicious. 🙂
Hi Mia, that’s wonderful! I’m so glad you liked it! – Meggan
Hello i just love your recipe but i wanted to ask one thing i am a little confused that when we preheat the oven and when we are about to bake a cakes which option to click on the oven setting like for e.g convention setting, convention with fan on etc…….
Hi Mashaal, conventional is better for baking than convection because the even heat of a convection oven may cause baked goods to rise and cook too quickly.I hope this helps! – Meggan
Love this Recipe. Easy and Quick, very moist I double it and use Vanilla and lemon Extract. I also used my standard mixer. Turn out wonderful. Thanks for this delicious Recipe.
Hi Donna, I’m so glad you love it! You’re welcome! – Meggan
Sooo perfect, Thank You. I haven’t made pound cake since, um, they did use a pound of this and that 😂
I did not have cake flour so I looked up a substitute and found one by adjusting the flour and adding corn starch. IT WORKED! I divided it up into 5 mini pans and it cam out great. I tried three lining with the parchment paper and two only greasing and flouring. All came out well. Thank You for a wonderful recipe.
Thank you for sharing Mimi, so glad they all came out great! – Meggan
Good morning I love new recipe s . I going to try this recipe for my grandkids. Oh I just have salt butter. So with that being said. Thanks
Good luck Shelia, hope they like it! – Meggan
I’ve made this recipe so many times…I’ve lost count. It’s soooooo good. The first time I made it, my sister and I had trouble getting it out of the pan, and it all fell apart (I mean completely, it was just a plate full of crumbs). We ate it with a spoon and it was gone by the end of the day. Made it again the next day and remembered to spray the pan. I don’t remember how long ago that was, probably a couple of years ago by now. It’s a family favorite; we make it for every vacation (it travels well) or family event or just random days when we’re hungry. Thank you for making such a wonderful recipe!
Hi Erin, thank you! I’m so glad you tried again after that first time, it’s one of my favorites too! – Meggan
Like your no fuss pound cake recipe.
Thank you Esther! – Meggan
Is it ok to use salted butter or should you always use unsalted butter as most recipes require?
Hi Nelley, it is okay to use salted butter. I know the story around unsalted butter: “Every company uses a different amount of salt, and if you use unsalted butter, you can control the amount of salt in your recipe.” That is all technically true, but butter is a commodity and they are all pretty similar. I’ve never had a salted butter and said to myself WOW that’s really salty!!! It just doesn’t happen. So, personally I don’t worry about salted vs. unsalted unless there is some specific reason, and then we would call out unsalted butter. And we didn’t here because I don’t think it matters. That is just my personal, professional opinion.
Side note, if I do buy unsalted butter, I run out of salted butter first and end up using unsalted on my toast which makes me so sad.
I hope this helps! Thank you! -Meggan
Hello, can I use one cup of oil instead of butter?
Hi Ilham, I’m so sorry but we have never tested this variation so I cannot say for sure if it would work. The butter plays a big role in the taste of the cake and I worry that if you substitute with oil it would change the flavor. Sorry about that! – Meggan