Best Vanilla Pound Cake recipe, buttery, flavorful, moist cake. Simple & Easy recipe to give you a perfectly soft, rich, delicious traditional homemade vanilla pound loaf cake.
Moist Vanilla Pound, Loaf Cake. Here's one of my all-time favorite cake recipes. It's simply delicious, full of vanilla flavor.
The texture is not quite as dense as a regular pound cake, but a little fluffier, and it is lovely and moist with a delicious golden top.
For this recipe, I've adjusted the traditional ingredient ratios, so when you bake this cake, it will not be quite as dense, and in order for it to be moist, I've added milk.
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Some recipes use buttermilk or even cream cheese. In my opinion, there isn't any need for that, milk will make your cake tender, moist and give you a nice fine crumb.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called pound cake?
The traditional classic pound cake recipe can be traced back as far as the 18th Century. It was called a pound cake because the 4 ingredients called for 1 pound in weight of each. That would be pretty easy to remember!
Note, the pound cake is not the actual weight of the cake. that would be around 4 pounds in weight. Because of the name, you will often see the baking pans called '1 lb loaf pans', and this size will be a perfect fit for your pound cake.
What is pound cake made of?
So the 4 ingredients which traditionally make up a classic pound cake are flour, eggs, butter, and sugar, and the ratio is 1 pound of each.
What does pound cake taste like?
This moist tender, buttery pound cake is rich and dense. It's decadent because of the amount of butter used, and that, combined with the sugar and vanilla will give you a taste similar to a simple yellow cake, but this is certainly more extravagant and rich!
It makes for a great breakfast, tea time or snack cake, perhaps serve for an afternoon tea party, add a slice to a lunch box, take to a party, or simply enjoy a slice or three with a lovely cup of tea or coffee.
This vanilla pound cake is freezer friendly too so if you wanted to eat half right away and freeze half, then it will be perfect!
We've got a huge variety of delicious different pound cake recipes so be sure to check them out. There's a flavor for everyone! Even a Peach and Raspberry pound cake! So yummy!
We've also got a really easy Raspberry Pound Cake with a simple White Chocolate topping on our sister site, Newbie In The Kitchen. Tangy and sweet and so delicious!
This is definitely the best pound cake recipe! I've taken several years of tweaking and adjusting to get this cake to be the perfect pound cake!
If you enjoy homemade, flavorful cakes, then this cake is going to become a keeper for you.
The ingredients are most likely available as part of your pantry staples so you will more than likely be able to make this cake without any planning, and of course, you can't beat a good made from scratch cake!
I've kept this recipe very simple and easy. However, we often get questions from our readers so I thought I'd answer them here. I know some of you are beginners to baking, so hopefully, you'll find these answers helpful!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my pound cake crack on top?
This is normal! Pound cakes will almost always crack on the top. As you will see from the photos, there is always a distinct crack down the middle of the baked cake.
When the cake is in the oven, the outside of the cake cooks first, and this makes the batter rise up in the middle. It's a characteristic of a good pound cake.
Some people don't like seeing the crack, so if that's you, feel free to cover the crack with a drizzle of frosting, or in you wanted to bake using a bundt pan instead of a loaf pan, when the cake is turned out, the cracks will be underneath the bundt cake.
How do you know when a pound cake is done?
In step 6. of the instructions, you need to use a skewer or metal cake tester. Insert the tester into the thickest part of the cake.
I usually stick the tester in the very center and push down about halfway, take the tester out and if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
If the tester comes out with wet batter stuck to it, then you know the middle of the cake isn't cooked, so leave the cake for a bit longer, at 5-minute intervals until the cake tester comes out clean.
Below is a photo of using a cake tester so you can see what it looks like.
Do you grease a pan for pound cake?
The simple answer is YES! Or, if you don't want to grease the pan, you need to use a paper-pound cake liner, which you can often buy in packs. I have a pack of these which I use for many of my pound cakes, especially when I am making them for freezing or to give for friends
We've also got a great guide if you'd like to learn how to line a loaf pan using parchment paper.
If you don't have any parchment or greaseproof paper, you can use our homemade magic pan release recipe. It's really simple!
Why is my pound cake heavy?
Pound cakes are traditionally heavy by nature due to the ratio of ingredients. After all, there's a lot of butter in a pound cake.
When you have baked the cake and taken it from the oven to cool, it will naturally sink once it comes into contact with the cooler air. Once the cake sinks, (and sometimes this can be a lot), the cake will become denser and heavier because some of the air is lost.
The best way to try and avoid this is during the creaming method, in step 3 of the instructions. The creaming method is very important when making a pound cake.
It takes a little time, but you need to beat the butter and sugar for 5 - 7 minutes until you see the batter color turn a very pale yellow, almost white and fluffy in texture.
I always make sure the butter is at room temperature before I start the recipe. If the butter is too cold, it is very hard to get a light and fluffy texture from creaming. That means the sugar has dissolved and is fully incorporated with the butter.
Once that is done, you need to add the other ingredients gently and fold in the flour at the end to try and keep as much air as possible in the cake batter so at least when it goes in the oven, it is less likely to sink.
Once you've tried this recipe, I am sure you will make it time and time again. So here's the recipe, and enjoy our Moist Vanilla Pound, Loaf Cake!
Ingredients You'll Need
225 g or 1 ¾ cups Plain / All purpose flour (sieved)
2 Teaspoons baking powder
¼ Teaspoon salt
175 g or ¾ cup softened butter
150 g or ¾ cups regular sugar
⅔ Cup or 150 ml Milk
2 Large eggs (lightly beaten)
1 & ½ Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Instructions
1. Heat oven to 170c, 325F. Grease and line your baking tin. See here for how to line.
** Please note, if using a Bundt tin, be sure to grease it very well as it can be hard to get the cake out of such a shaped tin.
Top tip
Use our Homemade Pan Release to grease your pan.
2. Get all your ingredients ready, i.e sieve the flour and add the salt and baking powder to the flour etc.
3. Start with making the cake batter by creaming the butter and sugar until a pale light color.
4. Slowly add the beaten eggs to the mixer, on a low-speed setting, a bit at a time. If the mixture starts to curdle or split, add a spoonful of your sieved flour, keep on adding the eggs, and a bit of flour if necessary until all the eggs are added. Add the Vanilla Extract.
5. Add half the milk with half of the flour, keeping the mixer on a slow speed. Once combined, add the remaining milk and gently fold in the remaining flour until combined.
6. Transfer the cake mixture to the greased and lined loaf tin. Then place in the oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 5 minutes
Please do a test if the cake is done by using a skewer and poke it in the middle to see that it comes out clean. Every oven is different and cook times may vary a little.
7. Have a cup of tea!
8. When the cake is done, take it out of the oven and leave in the cake tin until cool enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
Allow to cool. Store in an airtight container, and there you have our Moist Vanilla Pound, Loaf Cake
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our post. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!
Recipe Card
Homemade Vanilla Pound, Loaf Cake, classic, made from scratch easy recipe.
Best Pound Cake recipe, buttery, flavorful, moist cake|Simple & Easy recipe to give you a perfect soft, rich, delicious traditional vanilla pound cake.
Ingredients
- 225 g or 1 ¾ cups Plain / All purpose flour (sieved)
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ Teaspoon salt
- 175 g or ¾ cup softened butter
- 150 g or ¾ cups regular sugar
- ⅔ Cup or 150 ml Milk
- 2 Large eggs (lightly beaten)
- 1 & ½ Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 170c, 325F. Grease and line your baking tin.
- Get all your ingredients ready, i.e sieve the flour, and add the salt and baking powder to the flour etc.
- Start with making the cake batter by creaming the butter and sugar until a pale light colour.
- Slowly add the beaten eggs to the mixer, on a low speed setting, a bit at a time. If the mixture starts to curdle or split, add a spoonful of your sieved flour, keep on adding the eggs, and a bit of flour if necessary, until all the eggs are added. Add the Vanilla Extract.
- Add half the milk with half of the flour, keeping the mixer on a slow speed. Once combined, add the remaining milk and gently fold in the remaining flour until combined.
- Transfer the cake mixture to the greased and lined loaf tin. Then place in the oven for 1 hr to 1 hr and 5 minutes.
- *** Please do test if the cake is done by using a skewer and poke it in the middle to see that it comes out clean. Every oven is different and cook times may vary a little.
- Have a cup of tea!
- When the cake is done, take it out of the oven and leave in the cake tin until cool enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
- Allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 311Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 94mgSodium: 295mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 1gSugar: 20gProtein: 5g
Loaf Cake Recipes
Here's a delicious selection of pound or loaf cake recipes for you to enjoy
Tiramisu Pound Cake, a soft and delicious pound cake with all the flavors of a Tiramisu! It's even got a mascarpone frosting. This will go fast so be sure to make two!
Easy Lemon and Poppyseed French Yogurt Cake. Lemon and poppyseed French yogurt loaf cake is soft and moist, an incredibly easy to make recipe, with poppyseeds throughout. A great tea time cake.
Strawberry and Lemon Loaf Cake.
A deliciously soft and fluffy strawberry loaf cake bursting with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Flavourful, with a tender, soft texture. An easy, popular cake recipe.
Peach Pound Cake with Raspberry Swirl. A delicious recipe bursting with sweet peaches and a tangy raspberry swirl running through. Soft, moist and perfect with a morning coffee or to take to friends! If you are a fan of pound cakes and peaches, then this one is for you.
A simple, easy chocolate loaf cake recipe is moist, rich and chocolatey. Perfect for new cooks and is a go to basic recipe
Caribbean Rum Cake, an easy delicious recipe! The cake is soft and moist, packed with rum infused raisins and makes for a great Christmas time cake.
Strawberry Pound Cake. A delicious recipe bursting with fresh strawberries. Soft, moist and perfect with a morning coffee or to take to friends!
Easy Lemon French Yogurt Cake. Delicious tangy lemon, soft and moist, incredibly easy made from scratch cake recipe, great as a tea time snack
Coffee Pecan Pound Cake is a lovely tasting, moist cake with a perfect combination of coffee flavor and texture from the pecans.
Easy Strawberry French Yogurt Cake.
Delicious juicy strawberries, soft and moist, incredibly easy made from scratch cake recipe, great as a tea time snack
Easy Blueberry and Lemon Crumble Cake.
Deliciously soft & moist cake packed with blueberries and a hint of lemon. Topped with a crumble topping. Easiest simple cake recipe ever!
Easy Raspberry Pound Cake. A delicious classic pound cake recipe bursting with fresh raspberries. Soft, moist and tangy sweet. Topped with a simple chocolate topping. Easy to follow instructions
Coconut and Lime Pound Cake, a deliciously soft coconut cake with a splash of tangy lime.
Moist Coconut PoundCake Recipe. Light, soft, and oh sooooo delicious!
Blueberry Coconut Pound Cake, a deliciously soft coconut cake with a sprinkling of juicy blueberries.
Moist Lemon or Orange Pound Loaf, a wonderful soft and delicious cake using freshly squeezed juice and zest. Bake in a loaf or bundt pan. You choose!
Easy Cranberry and White Chocolate Pound Cake. This is a delicious soft and moist pound cake with a wonderful white chocolate flavor and added lovely cranberries. Freezer friendly and easy to make. Perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas
Moist Pecan Almond Loaf Cake. The flavor combo is just divine!
Easy Cinnamon Swirl Loaf. A moist, soft, and delicious tasting loaf cake, perfect with a morning coffee! This is a wonderful no yeast, quick bread recipe, full of flavor, soft and fluffy, and really easy to make too.
Moist Caramel and Apple Loaf .... ABSOLUTELY Delicious!
Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake, a delicious soft and moist loaf bursting with juicy blueberries! Perfect with a cup of tea
Moist Coffee Loaf Cake! This is an absolutely delicious soft, moist cake, easy to make and goes perfect with a lovely cup of coffee too!
Banana and Walnut Loaf Cake. A delicious, very easy and moist cake, and smells so good when it's baking too!
Lemon and Poppy Seed Loaf.
This is truly a delightful cake. The flavors are gentle, the cake is soft and moist and of course, looks so pretty with the addition of poppy seeds sprinkled throughout the cake
Moist Chocolate Almond Pound Cake. Delicious, rich chocolate cake with added melted chocolate and ground almonds to take this cake to another level of deliciousness!
Spiced Pecan Carrot Cake! This has got to be the World's best carrot cake.
Fluffy, soft and bursting with the flavors of Fall! Perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas holidays!
Dolly's Chocolate Chip Cake. Very easy recipe and a family favorite. Makes two loaves so perfect for gifts or freezing too.
Nutella Banana Loaf. Delicious, soft pound cake with banana and Nutella chocolate. Easy recipe and very popular. Great tasting cake
Asiyah
says:Dg
Asiyah
says:Hi
Can i make the batter sit on counter while other one bakes.
Adonya
says:I absolutely loved this recepie, it came out so fluffy and moist.
Wardah
says:Want to ask you somehing. When i beat the butter and sugar, should i beat till the sugar dissolves completely? And also.. For how long should i beat the eggs?
Wardah
says:Can i use unsalted butter? If yes, should i add extra salt?
Lovefoodies
says:hi there, unsalted butter is fine and no need to add any more than what is stated!
Wardah
says:I have an otg oven. Shall i bake it on 180c and should i bake with only lower rods heated? Or lower and upper rods heated?
Jane
says:I love this recipe! I would add more sugar or add lemon to adjust the flavor! Only thing that disappointed me was that the bottom layer came out rubbery, wondering what I did wrong :( I really enjoyed the top portion. It was cooked perfectly and was buttery, light and moist . please help. I would love love love to make It a second time the right way. Seems the egg sank to the bottom and caused the rubbery undercooked texture. When I slice into it you can literally see the difference.
mariam Ajaz
says:Same. How does that happen though?
Narissa
says:Hi there! I made this recipe and love it! My question is how should I adjust the time if I’m using a 9 inch round pan…its only about 2 inches high.
Also I tried this without parchment paper and it came out a tad drier…how can I prevent this and bake it without the parchment paper?
Thank you!
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Narissa, glad you enjoy the recipe!
For a 9 inch shallow pan, I would suggest 25 -30 minutes or so, just check and keep an eye on it. The mix will fit in 2 shallow 9 inch pans.
If you don’t want to use parchment, I often grease then flour the pan and that does the trick. The parchment does keep the cake moist, so if possible, do use it!
Hope that helps and have a merry Christmas!
Neha
says:I have made this cake alot of times now…. its just perfect … everytime it comes out heavenly. I just have a question…. can i use buttermilk instead of normal milk for additional moisture??
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Neha, so glad you enjoy the recipe!
You can use buttermilk although I don’t think it will make too much difference as it’s already so soft and yummy!
Feel free to add it!
Mik
says:I’ve made this cake twice, such a hit! Light fluffy and smells amazing!
Millie the Baker
says:This cake is the holy grail of sponge cakes . I have baked many sponge cakes in my time tried recipes from Mary Berry , Delia , Nigella to name just a few and believe me I could go on , however, this is now my full stop , my go to recipe it has taken me 30 years to find perfection. I thank you. Do you have a good apple pie recipe and a moist chocolate cake recipe by any chance .
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Millie! Your comments made me smile! So glad you’ve enjoyed the cake. It’s my go to recipe and you can certainly use it as a basic recipe and go from there!
For the apple pie, I have a Dutch apple pie recipe which I swear by. In fact I made it again last week for my neighbours. It’s so good. The recipe is here https://lovefoodies.com/dutch-apple-pie/
As for the moist chocolate cake, this is one of mine I make from scratch, you can leave out the Oreos, they’re for decoration and a bit of a crunch on the top. Here’s the recipe https://lovefoodies.com/mint-oreo-chocolate-fudge-cake/ I’ve used a bundt pan in this one but of course you can use round pans or loaf pans etc. Just adjust the bake time to suit. It’s very moist and rich and will hit the spot for all chocoholics!
Please enjoy!
Millie the Baker
says:Thank you for the response. I made this sponge two days ago but tempted to make it again because I am still shocked how beautiful it turned out plus the first batch has been gobbled. Did you mention you used the aldi beautifully butterfully does it give the cake more flavour? Once again my baking guru, thank you xx
DelightedAmused
says:This recipe is just ok. I just made it and it does not have the pound cake texture that I was looking for so my hunt is still on for the perfect pound cake recipe. Also, it is a little bland so those who added a little extra flavor probably liked it better. While this cake is good enough to top with whipped cream or ice cream and berries, this is not a do again for me. I am disappointed. I am looking for that pound cake that is so moist, so dense and so flavourful that you could eat it without toppings and totally be happy! I am looking for that grandma pound cake that is not dry at all.
stitchinsweetsue
says:made 10/2018 w/orange flavor, excellent pound cake, dense, moist, just as a pound cake should be, will def make again. on another note ~ i cannot understand why there is no “print” feature for recipe, am i missing something? scratching my head!
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Sue, so happy you enjoy the recipe!!
For the print option, if you scroll down to the bottom of the post you’ll see a recipe card and at the top of that card there’s a print button. This allows you to print the recipe without all the photos etc to save ink and paper. I hope that helps!!
stitchinsweetsue
says:Ty so much, these make the most wonderful hostess gifts. Made again this morning w/almond extract, glaze and slivered almonds on top, y u m !
Claudia
says:This cake is amazing I added chocolate and made a swirl loaf I added chocolate chips and pecans on another one and the vanilla one was just so amazing ? it was so easy make I do measurements by weight maybe that’s why I got such great results over all this is definitely my new basic vanilla pound cake to go recipe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A got two toddlers cover in smiles over this cheat breakfast ??
Alva Muris
says:Is ‘regular sugar’ granulated sugar or caster sugar?!
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Alva, it’s granulated but you can use castor too. It doesn’t matter too much.
Cassie
says:This recipe was really bad. It didn’t rise correctly in the oven and all I could taste was eggs and salt. After trying one slice, I threw it in the trash because it really was that bad. It tasted more like cornbread than cake. Additionally, I am unable to give a star rating to go with my comment because of an apparent glitch on the LoveFoodies website.