Easy Homemade Pound Cake

This Easy Homemade Pound Cake is a recipe that you'll want to keep! It's an easy pound cake loaf made with all butter. Learn how to make this easy pound cake from scratch. 

Did you know that pound cake is easy to make from scratch? This simple butter pound cake loaf is moist and rich, with a beautiful crumb.

This is an Easy Homemade Pound Cake Recipe you can make from scratch

I love making this easy homemade pound cake recipe from scratch because it tastes so good, and it impresses everyone. I've been told it's the best pound cake recipe, and I'm biased, but I wholeheartedly agree.

Because all butter pound cakes have such simple flavor, I always bake them from scratch so I can use the best ingredients. Grab the best butter, the best eggs, and the best vanilla extract you can find for this easy pound cake.

To bake the best pound cake, use quality ingredients in this easy recipe

The recipe itself is so easy. But if you use quality ingredients, everyone who tries it will tell you that you bake the best pound cake!

What does a pound cake taste like?

Buttery and decadent! All butter pound cake is a moist and rich cake that is packed full of simple flavors. Close your eyes when you take a bite, and you will taste a bit of butter, vanilla, eggs and sugar. There's nothing complicated about its delicate taste.

Texture wise, all butter pound cake is a dense cake with a sturdy crumb structure. It is buttery and moist, with a touch of velvety feel. You should be able to easily pick up a slice, place it on a napkin, and break off pieces with your fingers to pop straight in your mouth.

Try this Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake for a different variety.

What are the ingredients for pound cake?

The main ingredients in butter pound cakes are:

• Butter
• Flour
• Eggs
• Sugar

Every classic pound cake starts with those ingredients. I've added a few ingredients to that list to make this butter pound cake easier to make than traditional recipes. The ingredients also give it a richer flavor and makes it consistently moist.

In this Easy Homemade Pound Cake recipe, you'll also find:

• Evaporated Milk
• Vanilla
• Baking Powder
• Salt

The evaporated milk and vanilla give each bite of this easy pound cake an intense and addicting flavor.

This is my favorite quality vanilla extract, made from Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla. It adds such depth of flavor to any baked goods, especially this homemade pound cake.

This easy pound cake recipe has baking powder added to give it more rise

And while traditional butter pound cake recipes don't include any raising agents such as baking powder, I've added a bit of into this recipe. Why?

First and foremost, this is an easy homemade pound cake recipe. Adding baking powder to a butter pound cake recipe makes it easier to make from scratch.

Traditional pound cake recipes get all the rise and lift from perfectly creamed butter and sugar. It's a delicate process which I describe in detail below.

But to get your butter and sugar creamed spot on, there are so many factors that are hard to control in a home kitchen - temperature, bowl size, and timing, to name a few.

Baking powder gives you wiggle room because it will help the easy pound cake rise.

Cream the butter and sugar together the best you can, but don't fret if you don't have professional kitchen tools, your kitchen is too hot, or you get distracted halfway through baking this cake.

Remember? This is an easy pound cake, so I give you the ingredients to make that true.

How do you make a pound cake from scratch?

So, let's get to it. How do you make this easy pound cake from scratch?

Because homemade pound cakes are such a simple creatures with simple ingredients, it's important to pay attention to the ingredients you use, as well as the technique when making it.

To avoid dense pound cake, cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy

The first step in this recipe is to cream together the butter and the sugar, and this is important. The purpose of this step is add air to the batter, which will give you a lighter cake.

Traditional homemade pound cake recipes rely on this step to give all the lift in a cake. But here it is again: this recipe is for easy pound cake (that's also foul-proof). So creaming the butter and sugar correctly is important, but you have the baking powder to give you an extra hand.

I like to use my stand mixer for this step, but you can also use a hand mixer.

This is what you need to remember when making this easy homemade pound cake:
1. Cream butter and sugar together on medium speed
2. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl partway through the process
3. Cream until light and fluffy

Just follow those three steps and you're well on your way to making a delicious easy pound cake.

You can skip the next few paragraphs if you aren't interested in why that method above will give you the perfect moist pound cake. But if you are, let's be geeky together.

Cream together the butter and the sugar on medium speed for the best texture

When creaming butter and sugar together, you don't want to your mixer to go any faster than medium speed. Otherwise, you risk "over creaming" parts of the butter, and having uneven air pockets.

This article on preventing dense streaks in your cake gives you a good picture comparison on what you don't want to happen to your homemade pound cake from scratch.

Always stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl when creaming butter and sugar for this easy pound cake loaf

Second, always stop and scrape down the side of the bowl while you are creaming the butter and sugar together. The same reasoning applies -- you want your butter to cream evenly to give you the best pound cake.

Here's a great article that that describes in details what is happening when you cream butter and sugar together. It's specific to cookies, but the same principles apply when making this easy pound cake.

Don't over mix this butter pound cake loaf, so it stays moist and fluffy

Once you've creamed together the butter and sugar, the rest of the recipe is easy.

First you slowly beat in the eggs. Next, you alternate and add in the dry and liquid ingredients, being careful not to over mix. Basically, just stop mixing when everything has come together into a smooth batter.

The hardest part about making this easy pound cake loaf is waiting for it to bake in the oven. It bakes for 55-60 minutes, so for that entire time, your kitchen will be filled with the most delicious sweet buttery scent, but you can't take a bite of it yet.

I love this Easy Pound Cake as is - plain and simple

This Easy Homemade Pound Cake is rich and buttery, with hint of vanilla. The flavor develops if you let it sit overnight, and I tend to like it best the second and third day.

There's no need to add anything on top of it. But if you are so inclined, here are a few toppings you can serve with pound cake:

• Easy Blueberry Jam (quick enough to make while the pound cake is in the oven)
• Cranberry Orange Jam (this would pair so nicely as a hostess gift)
• Chestnut Chocolate Spread (also would pair for a hostess gift)
• Honey Sweetened Lemon Curd (use this to brighten up any pound cake)
• Easy Banana Whipped Cream (so easy!)

Easy Homemade Pound Cake

4.58 from 70 votes

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Serves: 12 slices

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 55 mins

Total: 1 hr 10 mins

This Easy Homemade Pound Cake is a recipe that you'll want to keep! It's an easy pound cake loaf made with all butter. Learn how to make this easy pound cake from scratch. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter - slightly cooler than room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs - slightly cooler than room temperature
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup evaporated milk
• 2 teaspoon quality vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line a 10-in x 5-in loaf pan with parchment paper. 
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• In a small cup, mix together the evaporated milk and vanilla. Set aside.
• Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and cream together on medium speed until very pale and fluffy. Stop and scrap down the bowl as necessary. It should take about 5 minutes.
• Slowly add in the eggs, one at a time. Beat each egg into the butter mixture before adding the next one.
• Alternate and mix in the dry and wet ingredients, starting and finishing with the dry ingredients. In other words: 

  - Add in ⅓ of the flour mixture and beat until just combined. 

  - Pour in ½ of the evaporated milk mixture and beat until just combined. 

  - Add in ½ of the remaining flour mixture and beat until just combined. 

  - Pour in the remaining evaporated milk mixture and beat until just combined.

  - Add in the remaining flour mixture and beat until just combined. 
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Smooth the top with a spatula so the batter is even. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out with just a few crumbs.
• Remove from oven and allow the homemade pound cake to cool in the pan on a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes. You can allow the pound cake to finish cooling in the loaf pan completely. Or to speed it up, transfer the pound cake to the cooling rack to completely cool.
• You can enjoy this easy homemade pound cake the day it is baked, but for the best flavor, allow it to sit overnight. 

Course: Brunch, Cake

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Easy Homemade Pound Cake

Special Diet: Vegetarian

Author: The Worktop

Cal : 316kcal

Note: Nutrition information is a rough estimate.

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