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 berries and whipped cream to make shortcake.
Pound cake has been around in one form or another since the 1700s. The traditional, old-fashioned pound cake recipe was made with a pound each of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. It produced a whopping four-pound cake that was dense and could easily turn out dry.
But over the years the recipe has been tweaked to make it a little lighter and a whole lot more moist.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
Ingredient 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.
Step-by-step instructions
- Whisk the cake flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl and set aside. In a food processor, combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Pulse until combined, about 10 seconds.
- While the machine is running, drizzle the melted butter through the feed tube of the food processor. Continue to process until the butter is fully incorporated. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Then slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry, whisking constantly until the lumps are mostly gone.
Recipe tips and variations
- 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: A 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.
Serving suggestions for pound cake
Easy Pound Cake
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 berries and whipped cream to make shortcake.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour (see note 1)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted and hot (2 sticks)
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. Set aside.
- In a food processor, combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Process until combined, about 10 seconds. With the machine running, pour the melted butter through the feed tube in a steady stream. Continue to process until the butter is fully incorporated into the batter.
- 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, wiping up any stray drops of batter.
- 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.
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.
- 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: A 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.
- Serving suggestions: Serve with fresh berries and whipped cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce or chocolate sauce, or dipped in chocolate fondue.
Nutrition
Serving: 1sliceCalories: 447kcalCarbohydrates: 49gProtein: 6gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 154mgSodium: 238mgPotassium: 67mgFiber: 1gSugar: 31gVitamin A: 845IUCalcium: 54mgIron: 1mg
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Very easy and delicious!!! I made the lemon version, and I cut the recipe in half. I baked it in 2 mini loaf pans and cooked it for 35 minutes. Used it in strawberry short cake much better than anything I could have bought.
Can I use all purpose flour for this cake?
Hi Leila, I don’t see why not! I have used this substitution in other cakes, I haven’t tested it in this one specifically, so I hope it works and your cake isn’t ruined.
Take 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Begin with 1 1/2 level cups of all-purpose flour. Then remove 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, and add the 3 tablespoons of either cornstarch or arrowroot powder to the flour. Sift together until well blended. (Note: using arrowroot powder may make the cake bake quicker, so keep an eye on the oven.) – Meggan
I am a vegan. Can you please tell me what I can use instead of eggs?
Hi Maliga, there is something called a “flax egg” which I have never baked with, but here’s what I found: “To make a flax egg, mix one tablespoon ground flaxseed meal with three tablespoons of water. Mix together, and let sit in your fridge for 15 minutes to set up and thicken.” This has NOT been tested with our recipe so I don’t know if it will work. It depends on how adventurous you feel and how upset you get when recipes fail. 🥴 I 100% don’t want to ruin your day. I do have a really great Lemon Olive Oil Cake which is vegan and I know it’s good, I love it! Here it is, if you want to try that. https://www.culinaryhill.com/lemon-olive-oil-cake/
Thanks! -Meggan
Simple yet too good and tasty excellent
So easy and good. The family loved it!
Can this be made in a square / round cake tin? If yes, what size?
Love love love your recipe by the way. I’ve made it a couple of times and it turns out perfect every time.
Hello from Australia.
This is a fabulously easy and fail safe recipe. I’m a mature mum who’s been cooking and baking for decades. I instinctively knew this was going to be great when I first found your recipe browsing online. I was raised on a Greek island before my family migrated to Oz, and I remember my beloved Grandma making a very similar no nonsense recipe on festive occassions. Fascinating how different cultures and times go for the simple way. This is a classic, all I do is to dust with icing sugar when cooled, and I’m back in my Grandma’s kitchen.
Your other recipes are fabulous too. I love that you keep things simple and authentic and not tricked up. Best wishes, Mary Vasilakakos
I have made this pound cake over and over again. I have tried the lemon and the orange also. We love the plain. this is an excellent recipe as it makes a wonderful gluten free pound cake. Good Job!
What ingredients do you use for a gluten free pound cake?