Pound cake was one of my first baking exercises. For many years I had a basic cream cheese pound cake recipe that I made often, sometimes with added flavors. For most of this time, I honestly did not know that the name pound cake comes from the original ingredients – a pound of each.As I got more interested in cooking and learning about recipes and where they came from, I had to give the traditional pound cake a try. This is a distillation of all my experiments over the years – tips from friends, recipes old and new. So here is my breakdown on how to make a great pound cake.
Now, I know some of you are going to skip over this because of the weights, not the standard cups. But it really is the best way to get this right, and a kitchen scale is a great tool to have around anyway, a fancy digital version or a simple one you can buy at any store. Most serious bakers work only by weight, and scoff at us who use the old cup system. It gives you precision.
Lots of recipes tell you to use “best quality” ingredients, some specifying certain brands of high-dollar goods. Now I am a true believer that the best ingredients make the best food, but I sometimes find those exhortations a little annoying. I can’t always find the real high-end goods and sometimes I’m not in the mood to spend the extra dough. But in a recipe like this, with so few ingredients, I truly urge you to use the best butter you can get your hands on, because that is where the flavor is in this cake. Fortunately, there are a lot of high-quality butters available even at regular grocery stores these days. I like European-style higher fat content butters. Kerrygold Irish butter and Plugra are two readily available brands.
Weigh your eggs – yes, weigh them- in the shell. There is a great deal of variation in egg sizes, so this is important. I like to use fresh farm eggs that I get from the farmers market or specialty groceries. These tend to be medium eggs, so it usually takes 8 eggs. Larger grocery store eggs will be different. So I repeat – weigh them.
I use all-purpose flour in this recipe which works out beautifully. I have tried recipe suggestions for cake flour or specialty flours which also work, but at its essence, I think pound cake is a good, solid country recipe made from ingredients readily available to any cook. I don’t picture some old-time farm wife delineating between flours.
You can flavor your cake in a variety of ways, vanilla being the simplest. But this cake is good and buttery and sweet with nothing extra added.
There is no leavening added to this cake – no baking powder or baking soda. Beating the butter until it is light and fluffy and full of air is important, so do beat it for the full six minutes, though I know that sounds like a long time.
Start in a cold oven and raise the temperature so the center of the cake starts to cook before the crust gets thick and brown and chewy – or burnt. Watch carefully, and if the tops are getting too dark, cover the cakes loosely with foil.
I have read some theories that the traditional pound cake recipe went out of fashion because it made too much cake (no such thing, in my opinion). I do scoff at that idea, because a well wrapped pound cake keeps well on the counter for days, even improves. Lightly toasting a slice brings a drying cake to life. And a cake wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, then foil freezes beautifully. This recipe is also an amazing holiday helper – you can make it in smaller pans, wrap them up and give them as gifts. Just watch the cooking time. Or have one on hand in the freezer for giving or guests.
Traditional Pound Cake
1 pound butter (the best you can manage)
1 pound granulated sugar (about 2 cups)
1 pound eggs (about 8 medium or 7 large)
1 pound all-purpose flour (about 3 ¼ cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla or ¼ teaspoon almond extract, optional
Let the butter and the eggs come to room temperature.
Butter 2 loaf pans. I like the Pyrex or tempered glass version, because you get a lighter crust and you can see what’s going one. The wrappers that the butter softened in are a great tool for buttering the pans.
Put the butter into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium for one minute until it starts to look lighter. Weigh your sugar in a bowl and pour it slowly into the butter with the mixer running. Beat the butter and sugar together at medium for 6 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. The butter will become super light and fluffy and almost white.
Break the eggs into a small bowl and whisk lightly. Weight the flour in a small bowl (use the same one you used for the sugar). When the butter and sugar are beaten, turn the mixer to low and add the eggs and the flour alternately in 3 additions, beating well after each addition. Stop to scrape the bowl a few times. Add the vanilla or almond extract with the last addition of eggs if using.
Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Smooth the batter to fill the pan, but don’t worry about perfection. Place the pans on the middle rack of a cold oven, and turn it to 275 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the pans and turn the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake an additional 15 – 25 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out with a few clinging crumbs. If the tops of the cakes are getting too brown, loosely place a piece of tinfoil over the tops.
Cool the cakes on a wire rack in the pans for 15 minutes, then remove from the pans to the rack to finish cooling.
I’ve never made pound cake- this looks awesome!
This looks incredible! My great aunts made pound cake every week and I miss it and them. My favorite was warm, toasted slices of pound cake with fresh fruit and whipped cream for dessert. Outstanding!
Iv’e made Paula Deens recipe for pound cake(Mother Pauls). It makes one huge cake. I like this one because it sounds much more managable. I can’t wait to try it.
Beautiful story; so much here. I’m going to try it with Very Good Butter, and with weighing everything. Love your notes about home cooks agonizing over the type of flour (not likely!), and about whether this traditional pound cake fell from #1 spot because it made too much cake. Please! I’m betting on the seductions of easy leavening, of baking powder and baking soda, making sure that the cake will rise up no matter how you beat it or don’t. So glad you are celebrating the simplicity and accomplishment of this classic cake.
Wow not many recipes nowadays literally call for a pound of everything, as a pound cake should rightfully be about. I totally agree with using the best quality ingredients. It does make a world of difference!
So great to have a something like this to add to my “standards” – thanks Spoon.
I have made this and it was unbelievable both fir the ease and the taste. Can I modify to make a chocolate pound cake or a marble cake?
Thanks! I know you could add chocolate pieces. I would also think if you replace 1/4 cup of flour with cocoa powder it would work, though I haven’t tried it yet.
I love real pound cake. I make it with whole wheat flour. Gives it a nice tasty nut flavor. I tried the after thinking that bleached flour may not been readily availible when the first pound cakes were being bake. My husband only likes it when I make it that way.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on making pound cake. I’ve been wanting to make one for a while and your ideas are a big help.
why not you added baking powder or baking soda?
Doesn’t need it. Beating it thoroughly gives the lift.
Mmmm. Looks yummy. I’ve been trying to find a pound cake recipe that’s not got alot of this and that in it. Have you tried it in a tube/bundt pan at all? I’m no good at mathy things, not sure how it would affect cooking time…
Hello, I have made this pound cake and surprisingly turned beautiful, moist and delicious. I put 3 tablespoons of homemade orange marmalade in the batter and my pound cake smelled and tasted soooo great. Thank your for the recipe, I think cake without food additive is much, much better for us. ^_^
Great write-up on a classic cake. I’ll take your advice regarding the butter’s quality to heart – no doubt that makes a difference. I add about a dozen freshly crushed cardamom seeds to my batter – the effect is very subtle, but melds well with the sweet butter & vanila flavor of pound cake.
What size loaf pan did you use? I am using a standard 8 x 3…How full should the pans be when you put the batter in them? 2/3, 3/4, completely?
Got it in the oven now. I’ve been testing several recipes trying to find the method and recipe that gives me a bite of my deceased aunt’s pound cake. I hope this one takes me there!
Making this tomorrow morning for Easter Sunday. Will this recipe fit into a bundt pan? or are two loaf pans preferable?
I’ve never done it in a Bundt, but I worry that the outside would become to brown and thick before the center cooked through, so I’d stick to the loaf.
I made the cake following the recipie.turned out great!everybody loved the cake.
shouldn’t we preheat the oven first? and can i use granulated sugar?
No, start with a cold oven. And the recipe calls for granulated sugar.
I’ve just made this cake and i’m waiting for it to cool I hope its going to be ok ! if I was to make a much bigger cake how long would it need extra in cooking time and would the temp of oven have to be reduced ? please get back to me. Thanks Wendy 🙂
Hop you enjoy the cake. I don’t really recommend making it as a bigger cake, as you will end up with browned, hardened outsides and an undercooked center. I think you could probably use about 3/4 of the batter in a tube or bundt pan and make a smaller loaf as well. I don’t know what the cooking time on that would be, but I’d watch carefully and cover with foil of the top gets to brown.
This is the pound cake recipe I grew up with! To me, this is the REAL pound cake recipe! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Hi I live in the uk and wanted to know what all purpose flour is, we use either Plain flour or Self raising Flour here, can you advise please
Hi forget my last message I think I have found the answer on the Internet, it is plain flour I believe..
I am going to try this recipe soon to use to sculpt a car design for a birthday cake as it seems to be denser and I thought would be good for sculpting, do you think it is suitable to be used as a birthday please?
plain flour is your substitute. And I don’t think this cake would be good for sculpting because it is a little crumbly for that. But it is a delicious cake!
I’m going to make this for our Christmas dessert (along with a few homemade ice creams and sauces).
Real pound cake is my favourite of all cakes ever. So thanks so much for posting this as I can’t find my JOC after moving households.
Cheers and Merry Christmas!
We used your pound cake recipe and successfully sculpted a police car birthday cake.
I wanted to send you a photo of it but cannot see how to do so, anyway thanks for the recipe it was delicious xxx
Merry Christmas
I made this exactly as written, including starting with a cold oven and room temperature ingredients. I use an oven thermometer so I know it’s accurate. I baked it in two loaf pans at 275 for 30 minutes, followed by 350 for 25 minutes. It still was not done. Ten minutes later I took them out and put up with the gooey center-tops. Next time I’ll try traditional baking times and temperatures. Good flavor though. My grandkids thought I was nuts for weighing the eggs!
Sorry this didn’t work perfectly for you. I’ve made this more times than I can count to great results – ovens vary though, so I hope it works out for you in the future!
I just made this. I weighed my eggs. I used 9 I also measured them I had 1 3/4 cups eggs. I am wondering what your eggs measure? I also used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour mix. And I upped the vanilla to 1 TBSP baked them at 275 for 40 mins due to my ovens taking extra long time to come to temp and 20 minutes at 350. They are golden brown and look beautiful.
The recipe did not indicate salted or unsalted butter. I used unsalted and added 3/4-1 tsp salt I did not measure.
Oh my god!! Thank you sooooo much for posting this recipe!! I made a sphere cake with it, I’ve been trying others but they just boiled over in spectacular fashion! I baked it for 1 hour at 140 ( 275 ) and 40 mins at 180 (350) it is just perfect!! I covered it with foil when it was golden so that it didn’t burn, I’m thrilled to say the least. Thank you , thank you , thank you!!
I am so glad to learn that pound cake cake can be made without baking powder! I have chronic kidney disease, and must avoid anything leavened with baking powder since it is too high in phosphorus. Thank you so much or explaining how it can be done. It’s nice to discover another cake I can eat other than just angelfood cake.
Thank you for all the explanations with this traditional cake. I just compared your recipe with my chocolate version (that uses cups instead of weight). In addition to the cocoa, mine calls for baking powder, which, I recently read, is actually working to counteract the acidity of the cocoa, which would flatten the cake. Also, by the amount of each ingredient, including cream cheese, mine works out to a pound-and-a-half cake, with the same proportions as yours. Very fun to discover!
This is the only recipe I ever use for pound cake. I was almost in tears when I realized I had lost my paper copy and couldn’t remember where it was from! After quite a while searching online I finally found it again! This time it’s saved to Pinterest to never be lost again!
I can’t wait to taste this. They are in the oven as I write. There is a place call Stocks bakery in Philadelphia that has been making the best pound cake hands down, for as long as I can remember and I am looking to make my own tasty and rich pound cake treat for my family. Keeping my fingers crossed!!!! Thank you
I followed the instructions, but the first time I made it, I only had a small, hand held electric whisk so I could not beat it properly. The cake was very tasty, but somewhat dense. I went out and bought a stand mixer — yup, I bought a mixer for the cake. Well, what a difference the mixer made. The batter doubled in volume and the cake was a little like a heavy sponge. Both versions well liked. I think I like my pound cake slightly more dense so next time, I shall beat it a bit less. As an aside, the stand mixer is amazing; I bought a Cuisinart and love it.