I don’t know where pound cake rates in terms of your favorite cake recipes, but I’ll admit it’s never been a top contender for me. Humble and frosting-less, sure I would eat a slice or two but nobody in my house ever really got excited about pound cake.
Growing up, my mom would always make it as a way to use up her leftover egg yolks after making an angel food cake, AKA my favorite cake, so pound cake has always just been to me what Jon Snow was to Catelyn Stark (the book-version of Cat, I haven’t watched the series but I hear she’s nicer there). Easily overlooked for what I believed was something much better.
The Best Pound Cake Recipe
This is truly the BEST pound cake recipe, soft and dense with a wonderful flavor and made completely from scratch!
I recommend having a wooden skewer on hand to be able to check this recipe to see that it's finished baking.
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanKeyword: cake, classic cake recipe, pound cake Prep Time: 20 minutesCook Time: 1 hour 15 minutesTotal Time: 1 hour 35 minutes Servings: 12 slices Calories: 465kcal
Ingredients
2 cups unsalted butter softened (455g)
3 ½ cups granulated sugar (700g)
6 large eggs + 6 large yolks
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour* (438g)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350F (175C) and generously grease and flour a 10" tube pan. Shake out excess flour and set aside.
Place your butter in a large bowl (this recipe makes a lot of batter! I recommend using a stand mixer if you have one) and use an electric mixer to beat the butter until it is creamy and smooth.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sugar. Beat until the ingredients are well combined and light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).
In a separate, medium-sized bowl, combine your eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt.
Use a fork to lightly beat the eggs until egg yolks are broken up and salt and vanilla are incorporated.
With mixer on low speed, slowly pour egg mixture into your batter, allowing it to gradually become incorporated (don't pour all the egg mixture in at once, if you can't manage a steady stream then add the egg mixture in about 6 parts, allowing each part to become well incorporated before adding more). Once all of the egg mixture is incorporated, pause to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then increase speed to medium-high and beat for another 1-2 minutes.
Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually, about 1/4 cup at a time, add flour to the batter until all has been added.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl and stir again on medium speed until well-combined and beat for another minute.
Spread batter evenly into prepared tube pan, use a spatula to smooth the surface of the batter.
Transfer to 350F (175C) oven and bake for an hour and ten to an hour and fifteen minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the thickest part of the cake comes out clean or ideally with a few moist crumbs (do NOT over-bake this cake or it will be dry)
Allow cake to cool for at least 20 minutes then run a knife around the sides of the tube pan and the center.
Carefully invert pound cake onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving.