BEST Pound Cake Recipe

Slices of pound cake on a plate with blackberries and whipped cream

5 from 1 vote

With a soft, buttery crumb that’s dense yet tender, this pound cake is rich with sweet vanilla flavor and comes together easily whenever a craving strikes.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 15

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: slices

Author: Grace Vallo

Equipment

9x5" baking pan

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened
½ cup full-fat sour cream at room temperature for 20 minutes
3 large eggs at room temperature for 20 minutes
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325℉. Well grease a 9x5” pan, then lightly flour it, shaking out any excess. Set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt on medium speed for 1 minute.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add eggs. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Mixture should be pale and frothy.
Add sour cream and mix on low speed until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
Add baking soda and mix on low speed. Then add flour, and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
Scoop batter into prepared pan, smoothing out into an even layer. Bake for 56-64 minutes until just set, and a toothpick inserted slightly off-center comes out with just butter and moist crumbs, not batter. The very center may look slightly underbaked due to the high butter content! The key is to not overbake.
Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before running a knife along the outside of the pan to invert onto a wire rack. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

I’ve tested pound cake with regular all-purpose flour and cake flour. Cake flour wins by a landslide, creating a much more tender, soft crumb, while maintaining traditional denseness from the butter and eggs.
Feel free to use 1 teaspoon vanilla extract + ½ teaspoon almond, lemon, orange, coconut, or maple extract for different flavors!
Tightly wrap pound cake and store at room temperature as soon as it fully cools. Enjoy it within 3 days, reheating (or even toasting in the toaster) to refresh!

Nutrition