Vanilla Pound Cake

This classic vanilla pound cake is super easy to make, has soft delicate crumbs and crisp golden crust, and gets done within 60 minutes. Make this lightly sweet and sturdy cake at home from scratch using this simple recipe.

Here are some of my other cake recipes, that you can try at home – Marie Biscuit Cake, Rum Cake, Chocolate Chip Pound Cake, Apple Cinnamon Cake, Parle G Cake, and Strawberry Cake.

Jump to:

• About This Recipe
• Ingredients
• How to make Vanilla Pound Cake?
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Pro Tips by Neha
• Serving Suggestions
• Storing Suggestions
• Variations
• You might also like
• Recipe Card

About This Recipe

Sweets imply happiness and happiness calls for a celebration. Indulging in some mouthwatering, sweet, moist, buttery, and dense cake is the perfect way to celebrate all our small to big achievements in life.

Therefore, we are going to see the recipe for a 60-minute vanilla pound cake which is not only super easy to make but is also extremely delicious. The light and buttery texture of this pound cake will make you want for more and more. I assure you won’t stop at one slice!

Pound cake is a recipe from the 18th century and it was originally made using just 4 ingredients, a pound of each – butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. But over time, the bakers altered the ingredients used in order to prepare a smaller and lighter version of this cake.

A perfect moist, sweet, buttery cake made with just 4 ingredients in 60 minutes; this cake is perfect to serve for a brunch or any special occasion!

In order to enhance the texture and flavor of the cake, additional ingredients and flavors are now being added to the batter. Just like this one, which is subtly flavored with vanilla extract and is topped up with some confectioner’s sugar.

Serve this cake for brunch, with tea or coffee, on special occasions or just like that, it will definitely bring a cheer to your table.

This Vanilla Pound Cake is,

• Buttery
• Soft + Moist + Dense
• Lip Smacking
• Sweet
• A great accompaniment to coffee

Ingredients

Flour – The base of this super-soft, light and moist pound cake is prepared using all-purpose flour. You can try using other flours for a healthy alternative, but the texture will not be as light as the all-purpose flour one.

Yogurt – Yogurt helps to make the cake extra soft and moist. You can use buttermilk or sour cream instead of yogurt.

Butter – Butter must be at room temperature and not melted. Take it out of the refrigerator 20-25 minutes prior to making the cake. When you press a finger into it, it should make an indentation and not go deep into it.

Vanilla Extract – This one is flavored with vanilla. Make sure you use a good quality extract vanilla extract for the same. A bad quality or cheap one can hamper the taste of your pound cake.

Sugar – You can easily adjust the quantity of sugar as per your taste. You will also need some confectioners sugar to sprinkle on top at the end.

Others – Apart from the above-mentioned ingredients, you will need some basic cake ingredients such as – baking soda, salt, and eggs. These ingredients combined helps the cake to fluff up and make the texture extra light and soft.

How to make Vanilla Pound Cake?

Start by bringing all the ingredients to room temperature if they were refrigerated. The butter must be softened. It’s best to keep the refrigerated ingredients on the counter 30 minutes prior to baking.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease a loaf pan with butter or line it with parchment paper. I used baking spray which worked great.

Mix 2 cups of all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a medium-size mixing bowl and keep aside. I like to use a wire whisk to mix the dry ingredients as it makes them light and airy post mixing.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat 1 cup unsalted butter and 1 and ½ cup fine sugar until light and fluffy (approx. 5-6 minutes on medium-high speed ). This step is important as beating the butter nicely will aerate it well and you will get a fabulous cake with great crumbs.

If you are not using stand mixer, use a hand mixer to whisk the butter and sugar. Beating it with hands using a wire whisk is also an option but it will take some great muscle work.

Add 3 eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition. Keep scraping the sides of the bowl.

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix well.

Add ½ of the flour mixture to the bowl and mix just until combined. Do not over mix the batter at this stage. You just want the ingredients to come together.

Add ½ cup yogurt and mix just until combined.

Add the remaining flour mixture and mix just until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. If the cake is getting browned from the top too soon, cover it using a piece of aluminum foil. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake rest for 10 minutes in the pan.

Invert the pan and remove the cake from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. Cut into slices and serve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Pro Tips by Neha

Measure the ingredients correctly. Use standard cups and spoon measures to measure them.

All the ingredients must be at room temperature.

Use best quality ingredients to make this cake.

After adding the flour, do not overmix the batter.

This recipe can be halved, doubled or tripled.

Serving Suggestions

Now here are a few of the multiple ways in which you can serve this flavorsome vanilla pound cake.

• You can serve the slices of this delectable cake by topping it up with some whipped cream and fresh fruits such as colorful berries, kiwi, and some mint leaves
• You can also serve these slices in the form of a sandwich. Just spread some Nutella, cream cheese, strawberry or apricot jam, peanut butter, or anything else that spreads easily on the cake slice. Sprinkle some dry or fresh fruits of your choice and put another cake slice on to the first one to prepare your palatable pound cake sandwich. You can also make Ice Cream sandwiches
• It can also be topped up with the classic combination of chocolate syrup and raspberries and then you can cut it into thick slices before serving
• You can also top the slices of the cake with a scoop of your favorite ice cream and garnish everything with some almond, walnuts, or pistachio flakes.
• Now if you do not wish to use whipped cream, you can always use Greek yogurt instead. Spread it nicely on the slice, drizzle some honey or maple syrup and finally garnish it with some dry or fresh fruits of your choice
• A simple dusting of powdered sugar also works great
• Grill it before topping with your choice of toppings
• Buttercream, Lemon Curd, Vanilla Glaze, and Vanilla Ice Cream are some of my other fav toppings

Storing Suggestions

This cake will remain absolutely fresh for 3-4 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

If you want to store the cake for a longer period of time, you can always freeze it.

Just cut the cake into thick slices and wrap each slice separately with aluminum foil or a plastic freezer wrap. Wrap the slices only when the cake has completely cooled down and made sure that it is properly covered from all the sides.

You can store these slices in the freezer and they will remain absolutely fresh for about 4-5 months.

Always remember to take the slices out of the freezer 4-5 hours before using so that the cake can condense completely.

Variations

7-up Pound Cake: 7-up pound cake is prepared in a similar manner as vanilla pound cake.

The difference is that we use yogurt and baking powder while preparing Classic Pound Cake, in place of which, we use lime juice and 7-up soda to make 7-up pound cake.

Million Dollar Pound Cake: We use yogurt and baking powder while baking vanilla pound cake, whereas, we use milk and almond essence while preparing a million dollar pound cake.

Sour Cream Pound Cake: In this pound cake, sour cream is added which makes it very moist and gives a nice crumb to the cake.

Other Variations – You can add chia seeds, chocolate chips, pecans, walnuts, cinnamon, etc to the batter.

In place of vanilla extract, you can use almond extract. Add some lemon juice/ orange and lemon zest/orange zest for a citrusy change.

Soak with vanilla syrup or rum.

Add nuts and berries in the batter.

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Recipe Card