This recipe produces a perfect cream cheese pound cake. After persistent recipe testing with many failures, I found the best ratio of ingredients to produce a moist, dense, and flavorful pound cake. Using 9 simple ingredients, this cream cheese pound cake recipe will be your new favorite. To prevent a ruined cake, follow the baking time and temperature closely.
Until recently, I had never made really good plain pound cake. I have delicious lemon pound cake, raspberry swirl pound cake, and brown butter pound cake in my back pocket, but regular pound cake has always been a disappointment. It was so hard for me to tackle this recipe because pound cake can easily turn out dry, rock solid, and/or lacking flavor.
But then I began adding cream cheese and sour cream to the cake batter. And my long history of pound cake disappointments began fading away.
Here’s Why You’ll Love This Pound Cake Recipe
Today I’m teaching you how to make my favorite cream cheese pound cake in a Bundt pan. I’m confident this is the best pound cake and I’m showing you exactly why:
- Very buttery & very moist
- Not dry
- 1 bowl recipe
- Only 9 basic ingredients
- Dense, but not heavy as a brick
- Soft & smooth crumb
- A little tang from cream cheese
- Sweet & vanilla flavored
You can easily halve this recipe for a loaf pan or try my mini pound cakes recipe.
Ingredients You Need & Why
Here are the ingredients for cream cheese pound cake and why each is used.
- Butter: Butter is the base of pound cake. You need 3 sticks of room temperature butter.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese is the difference between dry pound cake and moist pound cake. End of story. If you’ve experienced dry pound cake before, cream cheese will solve all those problems. I swear by it and you will too! Full-fat brick-style cream cheese (not the spreadable kind in a tub) is imperative here, just like for classic cheesecake and cream cheese frosting.
- Sugar: This is a very large cake, so a lot of sugar is required to sweeten the cake and properly cream all the butter and cream cheese. 2 and 1/2 cups seems like a lot, but remember this cake is heavy and yields many servings.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream is an unconventional ingredient in pound cake, but it adds so much moisture. We are avoiding dry pound cake as much as we can!
- Vanilla Extract & Salt: Both are used for flavor. See recipe notes for more flavors.
- Eggs: Eggs are the workhorse of pound cake—the main ingredient carrying all the weight. You can’t make pound cake without eggs.
- Cake Flour: Cake flour is lighter than all-purpose flour and produces the best pound cake in my opinion. Since it’s so light, the attention remains on the butter. All-purpose flour is simply too heavy for this pound cake recipe; the cake will be heavy as a brick. If needed, use this homemade cake flour substitute.
- Baking Powder: Baking powder is another unconventional ingredient in pound cake. I don’t use much for this amount of batter, but the small amount lightly lifts the crumb so the cake isn’t overly heavy and squat.
Each ingredient is important and has a very specific job!
Pound Cake Disasters: Don’t Do This
And now it’s time to discuss what can go very wrong with pound cake. I’m sharing my mistakes so you don’t waste time or ingredients. The picture below shows 2 pound cake disasters I experienced before landing on the perfect pound cake recipe and method.
- Mistake #1 – Left Picture: This is seriously under-cooked pound cake baked at 350°F (177°C). This temperature is TOO HOT for pound cake, which is mostly butter and eggs, to cook evenly. As you can see below, the exterior will brown before the center is cooked. I was so upset cutting into this cake. It looked perfect on the outside.
- Mistake #2 – Right Picture: This is seriously over-cooked pound cake. Learning from mistake #1, I cooked the pound cake at 325°F (163°C). I was so nervous to under-bake the pound cake, so I over-baked it. The cake wouldn’t release from the pan, even though it had been generously greased.
These cakes were just awful!
Here’s How You Make The Most PERFECT Pound Cake
Now that you know what can go wrong, let’s talk about how to make the most perfect cream cheese pound cake. The *TRICK* is a lot of mixing before you add the eggs.
- Mix, mix, mix: Beat the butter until creamy. Add the cream cheese, then beat the two until smooth. Get all the cream cheese lumps out. Beat in the sugar, then add the sour cream and vanilla. So far there’s been a lot of mixing and that’s ok!
- 1 egg at a time: Add the eggs 1 at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next. When the eggs are room temperature, the mixer only needs a few turns and won’t over-mix them. Over-mixed batter = heavy-as-a-brick cake.
- Add dry ingredients: Add the dry ingredients right into the same mixing bowl.
- Pour into pan: Pour the batter into a generously greased 10-12 cup Bundt pan. This is totally not sponsored, but I absolutely adore Nordic Ware Bundt pans. Make sure you use one that holds 10-12 cups of batter. This one is also gorgeous! 🙂
- Bake: Bake the cream cheese pound cake at 325°F (163°C). Halfway through baking, loosely tent the cake with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning.
- Cool, then invert: Let the pound cool for about 2 hours in the pan, then invert onto a serving plate and cool completely before serving.
Serve with whipped cream, fresh berries, raspberry sauce, strawberry sauce, blueberry sauce, and/or homemade lemon curd. The topping from my pecan pie cheesecake would also be fantastic spooned over each slice. There’s a simplistic beauty about pound cake—it doesn’t need glaze, frosting, bells, or whistles.
4 Final Success Tips
Enough from me! Let me leave you with 4 tips before you get started.
- Follow the recipe. Use the ingredients and measurements listed.
- Bake low and slow. Pound cake is a large heavy cake and requires a cooler oven. Don’t be alarmed if your cake takes longer than 90 minutes.
- Bring all ingredients to room temperature before beginning. Room temperature ingredients promise a uniformly textured cake. Cold ingredients do not emulsify together and the pound cake won’t bake properly.
- Make sure each egg is mixed in before adding the next.
Cream Cheese Pound Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 12-14
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This recipe produces a perfect cream cheese pound cake. After persistent recipe testing with many failures, I found the best ratio of ingredients to produce a moist, dense, and flavorful pound cake. Using 9 simple ingredients, this cream cheese pound cake recipe will be your new favorite. To prevent a ruined cake, follow the baking time and temperature closely. Learn from my mistake!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 8 ounce (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 2 and 1/2 cups (500g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (80g) sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 6 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 cups (354g) cake flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- optional for serving: homemade whipped cream & fresh berries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Not 350°F. Generously grease a 10-12 cup Bundt pan with butter or nonstick spray.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the cream cheese and beat on high speed until completely smooth and combined, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute, then add the sour cream and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined and creamy. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
- On low speed, beat the eggs in 1 at a time allowing each to fully mix in before adding the next. Careful not to overmix after the eggs have been added. Once the 6th egg is combined, stop the mixer and add the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat on medium speed *just* until combined. Do not overmix. Using a silicone spatula or sturdy whisk, give the batter a final turn to make sure there are no lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be a little thick and very creamy.
- Pour/spoon batter evenly into prepared pan. Bang the pan on the counter once or twice to bring up any air bubbles. Bake for 75-95 minutes. Loosely tent the baking cake with aluminum foil halfway through bake time to ensure the surface does not over-brown. The key to pound cake is a slow and low bake time. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Once it comes out completely clean, the pound cake is done. This is a large heavy cake so don’t be alarmed if it takes longer in your oven. If it needs longer, bake longer.
- Remove cake from the oven and allow to cool for 2 hours inside the pan. Then invert the slightly cooled pound cake onto a wire rack or serving dish. Allow to cool completely.
- Slice and serve with optional toppings like homemade whipped cream & fresh berries.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Wrap baked and cooled pound cake in 1-2 layers of plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw in the plastic wrap & foil overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before slicing and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 10-12 Cup Bundt Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Loaf Pan: Pour the batter into two greased 9×5-inch loaf pans. Bake each at 325°F (163°C) for about 60 minutes. Or halve all of the ingredients to make one loaf.
- Cake Flour: For the best results, I strongly recommend cake flour. You can find it in the baking aisle and I have many more recipes using it. If you cannot get your hands on cake flour, you can make a DIY cake flour substitute.
- Almond Extract or Other Flavors: Along with the vanilla extract, mix in a little almond extract. This is optional, but it adds the most exceptional flavor! I usually use around 1 teaspoon of almond extract. Alternatively, use 1 teaspoon of lemon extract, orange extract, coconut extract, or any of your favorite flavors.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This is the best pound cake ever!! Everyone that tastes it says the same thing.
I love this cake! It is a wonderfully flavored pound cake with true pound cake texture even though it is made in a bundt pan. I use an adjustable pie ring at the beginning of baking on the rim of the bundt pan to prevent a harder crust from forming on the edge of the cake. I take it off half way through the baking time when I rotate the cake This has worked well for me.
Loooove this recipe I’ve made it almost weekly for the past 2 months and its always gone instantly
I just reduced the butter by 50g and the sugar buy 50g and use 5 eggs instead of 6
I also take about a cup of the batter and add 1.5 tablespoons of coco powder and make it into a marble cake sooooooooo good
Thank you sooo much for the recipe
DEAR SALLY,
WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF YOU CAN ADD CHOPPED PECANS WITH CINNAMON AND SUGAR
TO THIS POUND CAKE.IN THE PAST WHEN I TRIED TO DO THIS, THE NUTS WENT TO THE BOTTOM.
Hi Hazel, 1 cup to 1 and 1/2 cups of cinnamon sugar nuts would be fantastic in this. Did you have problems with sinking in this particular recipe? The batter is pretty thick and sturdy so the nuts shouldn’t sink too much, but you could toss them in flour first to help prevent that.
Pound cake is yet another dessert that Sally has changed my mind on. I’ve never thought it worth the calories because it’s a dense, dry and usually boring cake. Not this one. It has great flavor and is magically moist. It’s also ridiculously easy to make. This is a perfect cake when you need something delicious yet easy that can feed a lot of people.
Thank you so much for this pound cake recipe. We love pound cake but this is the best pound cake we have ever tasted. I love the way you write up the instructions as well….right down to how many minutes we should mix things. I followed the instructions exactly as they were written and this is hands down one heavenly tasting pound cake.
Can I put blueberries in this cake?
Hi Nicole! You can add fresh blueberries to the batter. Make sure the Bundt pan is large enough as add-ins will create extra batter. The bake time may be a little longer too.
Can you cook this in 5 mini loaf pans? If so what oven temperature and how long? Thank you!
Hi Joanne, we’re unsure of the exact bake time, as it will vary based on the exact size of your pans. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
So delicious! Another recipe that hit it our of the park! Just printed to save in my recipe book. Super moist, rich flavor, and great texture. You won’t be disappointed with this recipe! ( I followed the cake flour alternative recipe in the notes, and it turned out great!)
Hi Sally,
I love love love love all your recipes! You are my “go to” for all dessert recipes first. However I was looking for a super moist deep dark chocolaty bundt or pound cake and sadly there wasn’t one… I would love it if you could work on one…
I love EVERYTHING about your blog. You were the first and very few that I follow.
Thank you for sharing!
~Anna
Hi Anna, thanks so much for making and trusting our recipes! We don’t have a chocolate pound cake at this time, but you might enjoy our chocolate Bundt cake instead. Let us know if you try it!
Hey Sally, I’ve made this cake twice now and my hubby requests your recipe. It’s easy and perfect. Thanks for your hard work.
My husband is picky about cake but said it’s the best pound cake he’s ever had! So moist and delicious.
My mom used to make pound cake for people and this recipe is very good thank you have a blessed day
This pound cake is perfect! Not too moist, not too dry, flavor is spot on. It stayed fresh for days too!
This is an outstanding recipe – taste and texture are fantastic!!! Usually I make pound cake by the traditional one pound each of butter, sugar, eggs and flour but I had a slew of ripe strawberries and I wanted something a little lighter to go with them.
This pound cake was divine!! I’m not usually a pound cake person but this was amazing. Such a great recipe with so many helpful instructions. Thank you, Sally!!
I made it as is and it was DELICIOUS! Do you think adding a couple tablespoons of lemon juice would work for this? Any adjustments? I’m thinking of adding the lemon then topping with a lemon glaze.
Hi Brad, We are glad you enjoy this recipe! Adding lemon juice will alter the batter too much. The best way to get lemon flavor would be to use lemon extract (1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon). A little lemon zest would be delicious, too, and it wouldn’t alter the texture of the cake (amount depends on how much lemon flavor you’d like — you could start with a tablespoon or two and adjust for future batches). Or here is our lemon pound cake recipe. Let us know what you try!
Best pound cake recipe I’ve seen/prepared, tasted delicious and the only one I’ll use going forward. I did add 1tsp of lemon flavor from the suggested tips. Omg definitely kicked it up a notch! Followed recipe to the “T”..
If I forgot to add the sour cream will my cake still turn out??
Hi Therese, the cake may be a bit dry, but let us know how it goes!
This was the best pound cake I’ve ever made. Paired it with soft whipped cream and a strawberry coulis. I’ve made it twice so far and I shall continue to make this ❤️
I’m thinking of making a Strawberry Trifle. Is this a good recipe for cake to be used in a trifle. If not, what do you recommend?
Hi Wendy, You can definitely use this!
I made this pound cake using a Bundt cake pan. I used 1/2 cup less sugar and 1/2 cup less cake flour. It came out absolutely delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
the last recipe I printed had sour cream ,in your instructions still add sour cream, now the recipe does not very confusing don’t like the sour cream taste in it
Hi Ingrid, the recipe does still call for 1/3 cup sour cream. You can substitute plain yogurt (Greek or regular) if you’d prefer.
It’s in oven now!! But I got really nervous when after I put the last egg in it looked like cottage cheese but after I added the flour it became smooth again????
Can’t wait to see wonder what was ???
I did beat everything just as recipe said and it was so smooth Till I added last egg ??! What’s your thoughts
This is a nice recipe. Moist. Flavorful. Nice crumb. Family loves it. Fine for breakfast, afternoon tea, or dessert, even for company. I made it exactly as written.
Hi! I made this for Mother’s Day 2023. It is fantastic!!!
Secret my grandmother taught me when cooking my pound cakes is to put small pot of water in back of stove,always makes cake so moist! Recipe is great!
I made this pound cake today for the first time. I was a little nervous as there were some mixed reviews. I used two loaf pans. The cake took about 75 mins. It came out perfect! One very small streak of under doneness through one of the loafs but I’m going to cube this up and make a strawberry whipped cream trifle so no one will even notice. I do agree with some commenters saying it’s a little too sweet. But other than that, it’s perfect.
This recipe is perfection. Followed the directions and results were superb!
Hi Sally,
Do you think this would be good wit a strawberry compote? Thanks!
Hi Eliana, definitely! You can check out the recipe for our Brown Butter Pound Cake with Strawberry Compote.