Homemade Southern Pound Cake

The perfect pound cake recipe for any occasion. This recipe is easy to make, and will be a lasting favorite for your family.

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Pound cake is the perfect dessert for any occasion. It’s stands perfectly on its own, or goes great paired with fruit, whipped cream, or chocolate syrup. You can make a large bundt cake to feed a crowd, or individual loaves to share with friends. It’s the cake that will inevitably show up for any occasion here in the south.

I love a good, easy to make, dense cake that goes well with coffee or an after dinner dessert. Many of the cakes I enjoy seem to be a take on the old fashioned pound cake. Check out my old fashioned Fig Preserve Cake!

Why is it called A “Pound Cake”?

Pound Cake recipes date back several hundred years. The cake originally had a pound of each ingredient. A pound of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. The recipe has changed over the years using different ratios of the ingredients, but the basics are still the same. Flour, eggs, butter, and sugar make up a true pound cake. What’s Cooking America has a great article on the history of pound cake you should check out.

Pound Cake Ingredients

Like biscuits, any good southern wife will know how to make a pound cake. This recipe is simple, and can be modified to your taste. I’ve tweaked this recipe over the years. Mainly to suit my husband’s taste. You can easily modify it to make it your own. To make this pound cake you will need:

• Butter (lots of it)
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Nutmeg
• Milk
• Pure vanilla extract
• Almond extract

Pound Cake Variations

This recipe is a great baseline for any pound cake. However, my favorite way to make a pound cake is using cream cheese. Simply substitute the milk in the recipe for 8 ounces of softened cream cheese. Cream Cheese Pound Cake is dense, rich, and will knock your socks off!

Chocolate Pound Cake is another delicious variation. Substitute buttermilk for the whole milk in the recipe. Omit the nutmeg, and almond extract. Add 3/4 cup cocoa powder to the flour mixture, and 3 tablespoons of coffee to the batter once it is mixed. This is also a favorite recipe for chocolate lovers in my house.

Add 8 ounces of cream cheese, and the buttermilk, cocoa powder and coffee for a Cream Cheese Chocolate Pound Cake. A truly decadent dessert that will be a crowd pleaser.

Making A pound Cake

1. This homemade pound cake recipe is very easy to whip up. Start by creaming together the softened butter and sugar in a stand mixer. Beat on medium to high speed for 2-3 minutes until the the mixture is light and fluffy.

2. Meanwhile, sift the flour, salt, and nutmeg together in a separate bowl.

3. After the butter and sugar are creamed together, turn the mixer to low and add the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding another one.

4. While continuing to mix on low add the vanilla extract and almond extract.

5. Next, add half the flour mixture, and half the milk. Make sure it gets completely incorporated.

6. Add the remainder of the milk and flour and mix until it just comes together.

7. Pour the batter into two prepared loaf pans, or one prepared bundt pan.

8. Bake on low at 325° for one hour and 30 minutes.

Check to see if the cake is done by sticking a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready.

9. Let it cool on the counter for 5 minutes prior to removing it from the pan to finish cooling.

Pound Cake Serving Ideas

Slice the loaves, spread with butter and put the slices onto a pan in the oven. Set the oven to broil for a few seconds until the cake is toasted.

Slice the pound cake and top with strawberries and whipped cream for a simple short cake.

Lightly toast the pound cake with butter under broil, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with caramel syrup. Lightly dust with cinnamon and serve warm. This version is heavenly!

Pound Cake Tips

• Allow all the ingredients to come to room temperature prior to preparing the cake. This helps everything blend better.
• My friend swears by using salted butter, and her pound cake is divine. If you’re using salted butter, eliminate the additional salt from the recipe.
• Use buttermilk in the pound cake in place of whole milk. This will make for a richer batter.
• Decrease the milk in this recipe to 1/4 cup for a more dense cake. The version of pound cake with I’m sharing here has more of a fluffy consistency.

Pound Cake Storage

Store the pound cake in an air tight container for up to one week. It will start to dry out after a couple of days. Don’t store your pound cake in the refrigerator. It will cause the cake to dry out more quickly.

You can also store the cake in the freezer for up to 3 months. Wrap the cooked and cooled cake tightly in plastic wrap and store it in air tight freezer bags. Remove the cake and thaw it before serving.

Closing

Having a good pound cake recipe in your rotation will make dessert a breeze. With so many different variations, this cake will never be boring.

Thank you for visiting my little farm!

Other Recipes to Try

Amazing Fig Preserve Cake

Thumbprint Cookies