With 1 pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour and no salt, baking powder, or flavoring, this traditional pound cake recipe has been around for more than a century. If desired, vanilla or almond extract can be included.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Servings: | 30 |
| Yield: | 3 8×4-inch loaves |
Ingredients
- 3 cups white sugar
- 2 cups butter, softened
- 6 large eggs
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease three 8×4-inch loaf pans, then line with parchment paper.
- Cream together sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in flour alternately with milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter evenly into the prepared loaf pans.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 70 minutes.
- Run a small knife around the edges of each pan. Allow cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then invert, peel off the parchment, and cool completely on wire racks.
- The magazine version of this recipe bakes two 9×5-inch loaves at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 264 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 70 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 104 mg |
| Sugars | 20 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Excellent tea cake, just like my mother’s. I have used fresh blueberries, raspberries and whipped cream with it. Perfect cake for trifle. Easy!
Easy recipe. I’d never really had or made pound cake before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I made it to go in a trifle and had a few bites before I put it in the trifle. Good, not too sweet. I cooked them for 60 minutes and that seemed almost too long, as it seemed a little dry (but maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be?)
Half recipe made one loaf and 7 muffins, the latter to which some chocolate chips were added. The muffins were done in 25. JNice texture, and flavor with a tad of vanilla added. Might cut back on sugar next time.
Baked in a cast iron bunt pan. Made as directed, just added a splash of vanilla. Very good! Tip: when baking, always use room temp butter and eggs! 🙂
Awesome recipe. I made it as told. Beautiful. Made a little apple brown sugar simple syrup for the top. Heavenly
Added extra ingredients came out great
I’ve made this many times. It is always a favorite, and asked for by friends and family at every visit.
Great pound cake!! Very buttery!! I did as the reviewers stated and mixed the butter and sugar for 10 minutes, then each egg for 1 minute each, added a Tbs of vanilla after the eggs, substituted heavy cream for the milk and only beat the alternating flour/cream just until combined.
I have made this 4 times in the past 2 months. Family keeps requesting it. Fabulous recipe. Try adding a little lemon or orange zest!
My family is madly in love with this cake!! It’s divine! Thank you to the other commenters for your helpful advice! I made this with the following additions/changes: 1. I added 2+ Tbsp vanilla. 2. I used freshly milled flour = soft, white wheat, ground on the pastry setting. The cakes were light and delicious!
I beat the heck out of this at each addition as recommended, thinking this would lighten the end result… however, though it was tasty, certainly heavy… I served it with homemade coffee yogurt with Frangelica & whipped cream…yum
This makes a perfect, classic American pound cake: no pizzazz, just cake. The texture is dense, the flavor buttery, and it is ideal to be eaten with macerated berries and whipped cream. This is one of the literal simplest recipes any baker could make; I had my 11 year old follow it, with my 4 year old making the measurements, and loosely supervised/directed. I even baked it in different loaf pans, one glass, one nonstick, one stoneware. All still came out perfect. I don’t know what the people are doing who are having trouble, but I applaud their effort.
Made this last night. Came it beautifully. Was delicious and moist! I did add a teaspoon of vanilla and a teaspoon of lemon extract, then topped with a lemon glaze. I have a lemon poundcake addiction. Only issue is I would have preferred a softer, moister bake around the edges.
This turned out really well for me! I added 1 tbsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp almond extracts, sprinkled a little cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Sifted the flour and beat the out of the butter and sugar, until light and fluffy. Initially baked at 350, but noticed it turning dark, so I lowered the temp. It burned a little on top, but that could also be due to baking it in my toaster oven. This will be my go-to recipe for sure!!
came out PERFECT! Was fantastic.
Made it as directed. Put it in a Bundt pan and cooked it until a knife came out clean. Don’t ask what temp or time cause I forgot. I didn’t have any loaf pans. However, my family loved it!!! Awesome awesome awesome thanks for sharing.
great pound cake! i made it for my mom and she loved it. the only changes i made were adding an extra 1/2 cup milk, and i only baked it for about an hour. the loaves came out great and it was a good density!
It was horrible, just baked custard Didn’t form the shape, it was just sweetened egg that was baked
Wonderful we loved it
This is a classic perfect recipe as is. I used (2) 9×5 loaf pans and baked for 1 hour and 10 minutes. So delicious with a golden crust and a fluff texture inside.
OMG – Absolutely delicious! The only changes I made was to halve the recipe and then add 2 tsp lemon extract (3-4 tsp would be even better) between the egg and flour step. I used a 9×6 loaf pan that turned out to be too small! I assumed that without baking soda this wouldn’t rise much but it surprisingly did. I cooked at 325° for 80 minutes. Next time I’ll bake at 350° in a larger pan and that should reduce the baking time. Because of the high butter content the toothpick test isn’t very effective, I removed from oven when center was no longer jiggly and had firmed up. Definitely beat the butter and sugar for at least 10 minutes, an additional 2 minutes with each egg addition and then the bare minimum after you add your flour and milk. So buttery with a light lemon flavor and a nice sweet crust. It didn’t even need a glaze!