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.
This site contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more information, check Privacy Policy.
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.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
-
White Disposable Loaf Bread Baking Liners (Pack of 2, 24 Liners Total) Rectangle, Non-Stick Paper Liners For Baking, Kitchen Tools For Baking Cake & Bread -
Honey-Can-Do 2592 Paper Loaf Pan, 25-Pack, 8-Inches x 2.5-Inches x 2-Inches
-
Portable Bread Box with Handle Loaf Cake Container Plastic Rectangular Food Storage Keeper Carrier 13inch Translucent Dome for Pastries, Bagels, Bread Rolls, Buns or Baguettes (Pink)
-
KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield, 5-Quart, Empire Red
-
MEYKISS Cake Tester, Stainless Steel Cake Tester Probe Skewer Kitchen Baking Tools, Set of 2
-
Walfos Nonstick Silicone Bread and Loaf Pan Set of 2, BPA Free ! Without Chemical Coating，Just Pop Out! Easy release and baking mold for Homemade Cakes, Breads, Meatloaf and quiche.
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
Cindy
says:Mine didn’t rise either, and tastes like vanilla cornbread. I should have read the comments first. It tasted good, but just wasn’t what I was looking for.
Susie
says:This was absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe exactly, and it was soft, moist, and buttery (but not overwhelming). I can see how people make the comment that it has the consistency of cornbread, but not quite; it’s softer. I did have to bake it for 1 hour, 10mins. At 1 hr, I did the skewer test in the middle, and it was not done. I then added it in 5 minutes more at a time. Will definitely make this again!
Crystal
says:I like to bake something sweet on Sundays. I don’t have any extra money this week to do something big but I have all of the ingredients for this pound cake and a simple glaze. I have a 9×5 (inches) loaf pan, will that work?
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Crystal, yes that size will work. Keep an eye on the cool time toward the end to make sure it’s bakes through the middle
Crystal
says:Hey thanks for the response. So I made the cake. The taste is good and it has a great crispy crust but it is dense and has a cornbread texture. Do you think it could be the butter and sugar? I couldn’t get it to cream and it was hot in my house and I didn’t want the butter to melt. I kept stopping the mixer to check on it, do you think that was a mistake? I was checking it probably every 1-2 minutes because I was worried. Does stopping the mixer too often cause it not to cream? I think I’m going to try it again next sunday so any advice is appreciated. Thank you!
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Crystal, sorry to hear your cake turned out dense.
When you cream the butter and sugar, you need to beat it constantly for around 10 minutes until it turns pale in color and the sugar is no longer grainy.
When adding the flour at the end, fold it in using a spoon and that also helps keep air in the batter, and lastly, make sure the oven is preheated to the correct temperature before putting the cake in to bake.
Hopefully your next cake will turn out perfectly!
Rukhsana
says:Hi can you please tell me can I bake this in a 9 inch cake pan.and how long I have to bake it?
Lovefoodies
says:Hi, if you bake them in 2 shallow 9 inch round pans it is 180c or 350f for 25 minutes. If you use one 9 inch deep round pan it is the same temperature but for around 40 minutes. Hope that helps!
Holly
says:Super delicious cake! Topped mine with icing and sprinkles. Thanks for the recipe.
Keri
says:My cake is in the oven now and has already risen and spilled over the edges of my cake pan. I can smell the burning cake batter. Ugh. I re-checked the ingredients list and put in the correct amounts of everything, including baking powder.
Betsy Berry
says:A delicious cake! I creamed the sugar & butter for 8 minutes & added 3 t. of vanilla (real) & one t. of almond flavoring. Baked for 1 hour
Katia
says:I knew it was too much oil, but as I never backed a pound cake, I did what I never do and followed the crazy amount of oil suggestion. The cake sank; it’s so greasy to the point I see grease in the pan; it’s dense and heavy. It looks awfully wet, and that’s because I put a bit less oil than the suggested amount. It’s going to the bin, and I’m really disappointed. I’ll try again tomorrow with a third of the amount and in butter.
Onyinye
says:This recipe exceeded my expectations. It is that good, simple basic ingredients and it came out perfect.
Substituted butter for margarine, as it quite pricey in my country.
The cake was moist, had beautiful crumbs,
Not overly sweet.
This recipe is a keeper and i would be making it often.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Grace
says:Also- as a continuation of before, the first time where I forgot the baking soda I did bake for 55 minutes and it was fine, the second time with the crazy two full teaspoons I baked for 30 and it was already burning, this recipe needs big fixing unfortunately i’m baffled as to how it works for you, it takes like alka seltzer!
Grace
says:Unfortunately as many comments mention “it didn’t rise” because you complete omitted adding the salt and baking soda in the actual instructions part, it just says “add flour” even if you mentioned to mix flour and baking soda it needs to be written in ingredients and instructions. I had this issue the first time: a dense brick, (obviously my fault for not remembering the baking soda in ingredients list) tasted good though. Now the second time I remembered that you forgot the baking soda in the instructions so added it, I make a perfect banana bread and apple cinnamon cake with HALF a teaspoon of baking soda, so I was shocked with TWO FULL teaspoons on this recipe, I decided to test the luck and do 1 1/4 and the result was a horrible vile bicarbonate tasting cake, I’m sorry but I wanted to venture from my usual recipes or the trusted BBC ones and try a fast vanilla cake (also one that requires less butter than others I’ve seen or used in the past) for my new loaf tin and unfortunately this recipe is disappointing I’m not quite sure why TWO full teaspoons are used (yes the small ones and yes I didn’t “accidentally” put tablespoons) but to me it’s absurd (I also use real baking cups and spoons so unfortunately this recipe is a big no for me and will head back over to the BBC one.
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Grace, thanks for your feedback, although it does clearly state in step 2 to add the salt and baking powder to the flour. It’s definitely written there!
I can’t say why it went wrong for you, I use this recipe all the time, either as it is or a base for other pound cakes and it has always been successful, as it has for many others.
I know there are thousands of people who have made this cake and it has come out perfectly, so I’m really not sure why it hasn’t worked for you, but if it has happened again, the. Yes, maybe you are better off sticking to your other recipe!
Thanks once again for writing in, much appreciated
Selina
says:I followed the pound cake recipe all the way through and it came out just right. It was a cake like, fluffy texture, and was not too sweet. I think the key is following the instructions, as it is written. Thanks so much for sharing!
Veggiejan
says:Well, that failed. I followed the recipe exactly, including 7 minutes of creaming the butter and sugar. I had spillover in the oven that eventually filled the kitchen with smoke – it’s pretty hard to scrape drips off the bottom of a hot oven. Obviously my 8″ loaf pans were too small. What a disappointment, and waste of good ingredients and a lot of time. Plus now I have to clean the oven. Not sure what went wrong here.
Jean
says:Excellent recipe. I have an electric oven so I had to leave cake in oven additional 20 minutes.
Gayl Gray
says:Perfect cake. I had to substitute 9 tbsp. of an oil on our shelf: Smart Balance, for the butter. Everything went as the recipe mentioned. Thank you very much.