Pound Cake

How Do You to Make a Pound Cake from Scratch?

Our best pound cake recipe from scratch starts with simple, down-to-earth ingredients in your kitchen! Our easy pound cake recipe takes just 20 minutes prep to get it to the oven. When the tantalizing aroma fills your kitchen, you’re going to wish you were already at the eating! Here’s how to make pound cake. You’ll quickly see just how easy it is to make it. Follow the recipe for all the specifics.

Mix the Dry Ingredients: All-purpose flour, baking powder and salt are mixed, to be ready to add to the mix in a just a minute.

Beat Until Fluffy: Sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla are mixed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Alternate Adding Ingredients: The flour mixture is added alternately with milk, to get the best cake texture.

Pour into Pans and Bake: It is simple, really!

Cut it When it is Cool: The cake is cooled in the pan for a bit before it can be removed from the pan. Wait until the cake is completely cool to cut it.

Dust with Powdered Sugar and Cut: Use a serrated knife with a light sawing motion, for the prettiest slices.

What Are Some Delicious Pound Cake Toppings?

Our traditional Pound Cake recipe can dress to the nines, or it can stay sweet and simple! Try any of these pound cake toppings when you’re looking what to serve with pound cake:

For super-simple ways to top homemade pound cake, top slices with sweetened whipped cream (either homemade, from the container or aerosol can), a scoop of your favorite ice cream (any flavor you desire) or cut-up fresh, canned, or frozen fruit (thawed) fruit. Use whatever you have on hand, or you’ve got a craving for!

If you are looking for more indulgent toppings (who could blame you, with deliciously moist pound cake like this), try our Chocolate Ganache or Lemon Glaze drizzled over the entire cake or individual servings. Or pretend you are at your own sundae bar and layer the yumminess with whipped cream and your favorite candy bar (chopped), Ice cream, whipped cream, and a cherry, or whipped cream, toffee bits and mini chocolate chips.

With old-fashioned pound cake this versatile, you can change it up to suit your mood. The combinations are endless.

How to Store Pound Cake

Covered at Room Temperature: Leftover pound cake can be stored loosely covered with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days, and still be as fresh as the day you made it.

Can you freeze pound cake? Absolutely! Its sturdy texture makes it a great friend of the freezer. You can wrap up half of a cake made in a tube pan or one of the loaves and stash it away for another occasion. It’s a delicious treat to have on hand for when unexpected guests show up at your door or you need a sweet fix after a grueling day. Wrap it tightly with a layer of plastic wrap and place it into a freezer food storage bag. It can be kept for up to 4 months. To thaw it, simply take it out of the bag and leave it on the counter for 30 minutes to an hour, and it should be thawed and ready to enjoy!

How do I know when my pound cake is done?

Betty Crocker recipes almost always include both a bake time and a doneness test, so that you can be sure your cake is baked to perfection. Bake it for the minimum time, then check to see if the toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. If it does not, add a minute or two more of baking time and test it again. Even though you have set your oven temperature to 350°F, your oven temperature can be different. Older ovens tend to get uncalibrated over time. By starting with the minimum time, it will be impossible to over bake it, and using the toothpick test will help you know exactly when it’s done.

What are other variations of this Pound Cake recipe?

There are many ways to hack a pound cake! To change the shape, simply bake it in one of the other pound cake pans called for in the recipe. Or try one of these easy ideas from the baked cake:
Change the Shape:

Kabobs: cut pound cake into cubes and thread on skewers with bite-size pieces of fruit.

Shortcakes: Fill and top slices of pound cake with sweetened whipped cream and fresh berries.

Party Bites: Cut slices of pound cake with 2-inch cookie cutters. Drizzle with your favorite glaze and top with sprinkles.

Or you can stir in an ingredient or two and change the flavor:

Flavored Pound Cakes:

Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake: substitute 1 teaspoon lemon extract for the vanilla and fold in a tablespoon of lemon zest and 1/4 cup of poppy seed into the batter.

Almond Pound Cake: Swap almond extract for the vanilla, for a delicious Fudge Marble Pound Cake has a decadent fudgy filling as well as a glaze.
Cranberry-Orange Pound Cake is a sure hit for the holidays.

Grapefruit Pound Cakes are perfect for smaller households.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake is loaded with the flavors of fall.

We have oodles of pound cake recipes to try, with assorted flavors, fillings, and toppings! Which one will you make next?