How to Make a Pound Cake with Video
Do you know why a pound cake is called a pound cake? When people first started making them they used a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of flour and an pound of eggs. There were a few more ingredients added, but a pound of each of those key cake ingredients was the base for this classic pound cake recipe.
I know a pound cake recipe isn’t on everyone’s ‘must have recipe list,’ but I want to make sure you have access to one, because as we dive into the wonderful world of cake decorating you’re going to need a good dense cake recipe. If you want to learn how to stack or carve cakes, this is the recipe for you. My house smells like a bakery and I wish you could enjoy this delicious aroma with me! It smells so good it makes me want to open a cake decorating business so I can smell this wonderful fragrance all day every day. I think I like decorating cookies a little too much to make that move, but I am going to enjoy decorating cakes as much as I can in the future.
Supplies for Pound Cake Recipe:
2 cups of unsalted butter at room temperature
8 eggs at room temperature
2 cups of whole fat milk at room temperature
5 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
4 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
Cake Release Recipe
2-8″ round cake pans
Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups of unsalted butter at room temperature
- 8 eggs at room temperature
- 2 cups of whole fat milk at room temperature
- 5 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 4 cups of sugar
- 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
Instructions
- Before you begin, make sure your butter, milk and eggs are room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla for about 5 minutes with the paddle attachment on medium high speed.
- Break all the eggs into a bowl and set aside.
- Measure the flour in a bowl and add baking powder and salt. Whisk and sift at least twice and set it aside.
- Add the eggs 2 at a time on low speed and scrape the bowl at least once during this process.
- Mix the eggs just until incorporated. Be careful not to over mix.
- Once the eggs are added scrape the bowl and start adding the flour mixture and milk a little at a time by alternating. Begin and end with the flour mixture.
- Scrape the bowl and paddle one more time and mix until you don’t see flour.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.
- Before you begin you need to bring the milk, butter and eggs to room temperature and preheat your oven to 350°.
- Place the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix well. I normally don’t sift my flour but I want to make sure the baking powder, salt and flour are mixed well so for this recipe, I sift them two or three times to make sure they are well combined. Set the bowl aside.
- Begin by creaming the butter, sugar and vanilla together for 5 to 7 minutes using the paddle attachment. I know mixing for 5 minutes sounds like a lot but beating the mixture will add air. The air acts as a levening agent which means when the cake goes into the oven the added air will expand and cause the cake to rise as it bakes.
- If you don’t have a Kitchenaid mixer, you can use a hand mixer, but I would suggest cutting the recipe in half and making two batches instead of one. You really need to make sure the butter, sugar and vanilla are blended together very well and making half a batch will really help you with the creaming process and adding air to the butter and sugar mixture.
- You’ll need to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times during this process.
- Look at that light and creamy the butter, sugar and vanilla. That is what you are looking for.
- Scrape down the bowl one more time before you start adding the eggs.
- Add the eggs two at a time and mix just until they are combined.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl after you add 4 eggs.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl after you have added all of the eggs.
- Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the wet ingredient which is the milk.
- Begin and end with the flour mixture.
- With the mixture on low speed, start adding a little of the flour mixture and mixing until combined and then add some milk. Repeat until you have added all the milk and flour.
- By adding the flour mixture first it will help the batter absorb the milk into the fat based batter. If you don’t add the flour first, the milk will just splash around and not mix well.
- Grease your cake pans with this Cake Release Recipe. I have never had a cake stick to the pan since I started using it. No need to flour the pans because the flour is in the recipe. It’s super easy and I am all about that! You really should try it!
- Bake at 350° for about an hour.
- Let the cakes cool for a few minutes and remove them from the pans.
- Wrap them in a layer of plastic wrap and then in tin foil and place in the freezer for about 10 minutes. This will help your cakes be nice and moist.
You know how I like to make videos for you so enjoy!If you really want to experience something delicious, top a piece of this cake with some of your favorite fresh berries. Oh my stars it’s good!
Bear hugs,
Hi Lisa, Thanks for sharing as always. Quick question…any problems with changing whole milk to buttermilk? I usually use buttermilk for my cakes, and wondered if it would change the balance of this mix.
You are so right, Lisa. It you are going to be carving a cake to decorate, you need a dense cake that doesn’t “crumb”. If you use a “standard” cake mix it is too moist and “crumby” to withstand the carving process and you’ll end up with nothing but a mess. (been there….learned the hard way when I just started making the kiddos’ birthday cakes.)
And I agree! Nothing like the smell of cake baking! 🙂
You’re cakes look fantastic by the way!
Take care and be safe.
Dive into cake decorating!? But you’re my cookie lady! Well, I actually love cake decorating too. I’m excited to see what you will be posting.
I love pound cakes and thank you for clearing up the reason they are called pound cakes…I always thought it was because of all the pounds I would gain if I ate it! 🙂
Haaaa… brings back memories. My grandma use to make her famous “Pounda, Pounda, Pounda Cake” (old recipe with pound of everything as you mentioned). My Mom asked my Grandma to send her one on her birthday but…. My Grandma had just had a custom build log cabin home built and had all the kitchen drawers lined in cedar… including the ones she stored her wax paper and aluminum foil. By the time the cake arrived, all neatly wrapped in wax paper and foil, it reeked of cedar. Mom never told her Mother about her “Cedar Cake”… baked with love.
Need to bake longer! What a waste.