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.
A perfect recipe! Easy to follow instructions and a delicious, moist, and beautiful cake!
My 11 yrs old son made this cake and added one extra egg as we had smaller eggs and the cake’s texture was so so so smooth. It was a delight to cut and eat. Hands down the best cream cheese pound cake recipe I have tried. Loved it and now a permanent bookmark.
Can I use all purpose if I don’t have cake flour
Hi Erika! I strongly suggest using cake flour for this recipe. It’s sold right next to the all-purpose flour. If you need to use all-purpose flour, you’ll have to mix it with cornstarch to yield the proper cake flour substitute. Here’s the ratio: Measure 1 cup of spoon and leveled all-purpose flour. Remove 2 Tablespoons. Add 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift together. Do these 2 more times so you have a total of 3 cups.
Sally, you have me convinced and am anxious to try this! I found your site looking for a good pound cake recipe. What I am interested to know is whether you have added fruits. I’d like to take advantage of the summer season (for ex peaches are in right now) but I’m not sure what adjustments might be needed. Thank you for any tips!
Hi Erika! Fruit would be an excellent addition to this pound cake batter! Peel and chop them (depending on the fruit!) then blot the fruit dry if it’s extra wet. The cake may take a little longer to bake with the added fruit.
Have you tried this recipe in regular pans? I have a wedding cake coming up and the bride requested a pound cake. Everyone I have tried so far is very dry.
Hi Patricia! Yes, I have. I made it into a large sheet cake here: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/lemon-berry-petit-fours/
You could try other size cake pans, too.
Unbelievable, magical, poundcake of all poundcakes! My goodness I feel like the goddess of the kitchen right now.
I followed this almost to the letter. I didn’t have cake flour, so I just really fluffed up some White Lily All Purpose with a fork, then scooped and leveled and I used salted butter.
The one tweak I made was to make this a lemon poundcake. I didn’t want to mess with the liquid/fat ingredients, so I didn’t want to add straight lemon juice.
So what I did was to take the pulp and the juice from 3 large lemons (and I zested two of them first and set it aside), mashed it up really well in a small pan and cooked it down until it was reduced by about 2/3. Like a jam consistency. Super concentrated lemon taste without adding a lot of liquid.
After mixing in the eggs, I added the lemon reduction (I reserved 2 T) and the zest.
After baking, I glazed it with a glaze made from the reserved 2 T of lemon reduction and powdered sugar.
This is the most amazingly perfect cake I’ve ever eaten.
Velvety fine crumb, moist without being overly dense, and just melt in your mouth good.
Thank you thank you for this recipe!
I’m going to try it without any additions next, and then with any and every fruit that strikes my fancy.
What a review! I enjoyed reading this and now I’m dying to try your lemon variation! Thanks for leaving all the details. 🙂
I have been searching for a pound cake recipe that was not dry. Well I finally found it! I made your cream cheese pound cake last night and on my it is so moist and delicious!! I had to bake it 90 minutes total. I started checking it at 75 minutes. Perfect pound cake! I will continue to use this recipe as it is the best I have ever made. I used vanilla, coconut and lemon extract it’s do delicious!!
Thanks for you amazing recipe.
Followed the recipe to a T and it took just over 95 minutes! I think my bundt pan is a little small because it rose up slightly over the edges. I used a pie crust shield to keep the edges from burning. It smelled AMAZING as it was baking and it tastes even better! Light, fluffy, but a perfectly tight crumb. So excited to top this with fresh whipped cream and berries! Thanks for another perfect recipe!!
Sally,
I had some extra batter leftover and decided to make cupcakes with it. My husband and I just ate the first testers and OH MY this is an incredibly perfect recipe. I can’t believe the creamy, dreamy, absolutely velvety smooth texture. I’m sure the cake will be just as amazing. I think I’m going to start making these as cupcakes! For reference, I kept the temp the same, and baked for about 20 minutes.
Thank you for all your recipe testing!
Can I bake this in a “tube” pan instead of bundt pan?
Sure can! Shouldn’t be a problem.
Hi Sally,
Just made this pound cake. So good! Actually the best! I do have a couple questions. I have “Doughmakers Brand” loaf pans 9x4ish , also have Nordic Wear Aluminum pans 9.5x 5? Anyway, I used the latter. I’m very confused as far as volume? One of the above comments asked if she could use mini pans 6×2.25. Is there a rule of thumb here ? LOL How much batter or how far up a pan should you go with the batter? So not to have overflow? Also I cooked them at 325, and ended up having to cook them at least 1 hour plus 20 min or so. They came out pretty good but the tops crumbled! Ugh! So bummed out! But soooo delicious! Do you have a favorite loaf pan that you love? Thank you and Happy Mother’s Day!
Hi Annette! You can divide this batter and bake two 9.5×5 inch loaves in the Nordic Ware pan you have. Or halve the recipe and bake one. I actually have and love that pan!
Hi! Can I add fresh blueberries to the batter at the end? Or will that make it mushy as it bakes?
Hi Chelsey! 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.
Best pound cake I ever made! I love to cook but I’m not much of a baker, thanks so much for your accurate instructions and little tips. I live in Europe so having equivalents in grams is great too (no need to spend time calculating everything). Being only 2 at home I halved the recipe and reduced the sugar to 180g. The cake was even tastier the next day. Thanks for your time, your failures and your passion, I will definitely try other recipes!
Delicious! I followed the recipe without modification. Sprayed and floured my Bundt, baked 85 min and after 30 min to cool it came out perfect, no sticking. Thanks Sally, you are my go-to for all baking.
I must say this is THE BEST pound cake I ever had. I’m new to baking so I was terrified that I would mess up. I followed all instructions the only adjustment I made was removing 1tbsp of flour from each cup and replacing it with cornstarch. I didn’t have any cake flower. It baked perfectly. I loosely covered with aluminum foil so that top wouldn’t burn then removed it the last 20min. The almond added so much flavor. Brought half to my co workers and kept the other half. Amazing. Will definitely make it again.
Hi I googled southern pound cake with cream cheese and was pointed to this recipe. I followed the directions exactly (I usually tweak with my own thoughts but not this time). Two things, I thought the 2.5 cups of sugar made it sweet and the sugar hardened the edges. I also used the exact bundt pan and it stuck to the pan. I used generous about of spray but I think the sugar needed it up. Everything else was on point, moist, flavor, dense.
I’ve been making recipes from your site for so long, I figured it was time to leave a note! I made this last night and popped it out of the mold this morning. The taste is pretty amazing (was glad I added the almond extract) and the crumb is so even! However I do think I overbaked it and it came out a bit dry. I was afraid of underbaking and therefore waited until a skewer came out nearly perfectly clean (100~110 min IIRC). Next time I will take the cake out when there are still some crumbs. The batter was also so airy and light that it nearly filled the mold and spilled over a little through the middle of the pan. It stuck a bit, but not as bad as your “overbaked” picture. I was planning on slicing it before serving anyway, and will probably serve it alongside a bowl of some cream cheese whipped cream to add some moisture! Thanks for all your recipes and hard work!
Oh this is the best pound cake ever!!! I need some serious help. I’ve made this 3 times all 3 times I have trouble getting it out of the bundt pan. Right now I am heating water to put in the sink with a towel to get this one out. What am I doing wrong?
Hey Valerie! Use A LOT of nonstick cooking spray (I like Pam brand). This is always my guaranteed method. I also swear by Nordic Ware brand Bundt pans. Even if you’re using nonstick, use a good bit of cooking spray.
I did use Pam, and a lot of it. It stuck more yesterday than last week. I love this pound cake enough to purchase another bundt pan. LOL it is so good. Thank you I am ordering the pan today.
And Thank you for responding so quickly to my post.
I made this in a lamb cake mold for Easter (about half the batter; baked the rest of the batter in a 9″ round). It it fabulous. This is my new go-to recipe for Easter lamb cake. I did bake the mold at 350 degrees for one hour. It turned out perfectly. The 9″ round was done in 45 minutes. I baked them in separate ovens.
If I ever bake all the batter in one large pan, I’ll keep the heat down to 325 as the recipe instructs.
I want to make a lemon cream cheese pound cake could I just add lemon juice and zest or is it better to use lemon extract? Wasn’t sure if the juice would alter the chemistry in the cake
The BEST way would be to use lemon extract. A little lemon zest would be delicious, too, and it wouldn’t alter the texture of the cake.
Sally I’m so happy I checked out your pound cake recipe. I’ve been having trouble with my cake sticking to the pan. I greased and floured to my heart’s content but it still stuck. Not until I read your comments did I realize I was over baking it. I checked it after one hour and 5 minutes and it came out perfect. Thanks do much!
I think this may be my favorite pound cake. I did add the extra flavors I use my six flavor poundcake. Very good directions and very good texture. I think reducing the mixing time with the eggs and flour are the key to a tender cake. Thank you for your expertise.
Hi Sally,
I made this recipe 4/13 and it taste so delicious I haven’t been able to stop eating it♀️. Anyway I have a regular oven and I did notice the temperature at 325 was too high so I lowered it to 300 and tented it with foil. The color was still a bit dark but it was still so moist inside. It took about 90min to cook. What temperature should I put it on to avoid it cooking on the outside before the inside?
So glad you tried this one, thanks Karen! Sounds like 300F for your oven is best. Did you tent with foil the entire time? Because that will definitely help prevent too much browning.
Oh, My! This is the very best pound cake I have ever tasted. The best! Made this yesterday for strawberry shortcake. I can never use Angel Food cake from stores anymore. I was so surprised. I highly recommend this recipe. Thank you so much Sally
I forgot to mention. I baked mine at 325 for 65 min.
Not sure what happened…i baked it only 67 minutes and it looked like your picture of mistake #2. totally dry and overcooked. I bake a lot of your recipes and they all come out great but I have a lot of trouble with pound cakes! Hopefully ice cream and chocolate sauce can cover up the mess.
Hi Sally, thank you for all of your reliable and delicious recipes. I am making this for my husband’s birthday tomorrow and have two questions. 1: Can I use your “browned butter” technique (as referenced in your brown butter pound cake recipe) with this pound cake? 2: should I use convection bake it regular bake? Thank you in advance for answering my questions.
Hi Shannon! I haven’t tested this recipe with the solidified brown butter substitute, but you can certainly try! It will have remarkable flavor. I always bake it on the conventional setting. If using convection, the cake may take less time in the oven. Keep your eye on it.
I have made this recipe many times and everyone I have made it for they absolutely loved it. It was delicious.
Turned out fantastic. I always turn my back up with crunchy side on top.
Absolutely delicious! I made the cream cheese pound cake on 4/2/19. I followed the directions exactly as given with one exception. I didnt have cake flour on hand. I used all purpose flour and removed 2 table spoons of flour PER CUP and replaced with 2 tablespoons of corn starch for each cup to make my own cake flour. (I double checked the directions online for making homemade cake flour.) I sifted the flour and corn starch together. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly as written, and the cake turned out beautifully! It’s the first pound cake I ever made that looked beautiful and tasted AMAZING! You need to make this recipe. Thank you, Sally, for this excellent recipe.
Delicious recipe!
Hi! Just curious, Can you use this recipe as cupcake? I am an avid fan of cream cheese lol anyway, if yes, what’s the baking temp & time for cupcake? Thanks
Absolutely! I’m unsure of the exact baking time, but use a toothpick to test for doneness. Grease the muffin pan or use cupcake liners. Same oven temperature.