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
Hi I have a question your recipe looks really good and I’m making a cheesecake for my husband’s birthday and was thinking of using a pound cake as the bottom crust layer to give the cake some high would this recipe work well in a 9in spring form ban ? And do you think it would hold up a cheesecake lol
Hi Cat, I don’t think this recipe is ideal as a base for cheesecake. If baked in a round pan, it will not only be too much batter, it likely don’t bake properly. It will also be extremely dense. How about a single layer vanilla cake, such as this recipe. You can leave out the sprinkles.
This is my go-to pound cake recipe. The delicious, sponge-like, moist cake has been a hit everywhere I’ve taken it, and the recipe is adaptable for different flavorings such as almond, lemon, key lime, or strawberry. I substituted 2 tsp of fiori di Sicilia and 1 tsp butter flavoring for the vanilla, and it is divine!
I have made this cake so many times. My hubby adores it, it truly is the best pound cake I’ve ever had. We got fresh peaches and I wanted to incorporate them, do you think this would work? I love all your recipes and have pre-ordered your cookbook coming out in September, so excited to get it. Please let me know about the peaches. Thanks
Hi Lisa, we haven’t tried it but fear the cake will be much too wet with peaches. Instead, we recommend our peach Bundt cake. Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes!
Can this be made into a lemon pound cake? If so, do you have a suggestion for that? This recipe looks so yummy…I have not tried it but I am going to!
Hi Karen, 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!
I have made this before and it always comes out great. Do you think I can add frozen blueberries to this recipe?
Certainly! We’d recommend 1-1.5 cups frozen (do not thaw) blueberries. Note the bake time may be a little longer. Enjoy!
Wow! This was my first cake from scratch ever. After getting hooked on baking from watching the Great British Baking Show, I decided to try it. I headed to this site and I am so glad I did. I tried the Cream Cheese Pound Cake first and it was so delicious and easy for a novice like me. Next up – Best Vanilla Cake. Thanks, Sally!
Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes, Donna!
I would like to use this cake for a birthday cake. Can bake it in 9×2 inch round pans? If so, how many pans would I need and what would be the cooking time?
Thanks!
Hi Carolynn, This recipe works best in a Bundt pan or in two 9×5 loaf pans. It’s a dense cake, so we fear it would be too heavy for a layered cake. It may be best to find a pound cake recipe that is specifically formulated to work as a layer cake. Or you could try this favorite white cake instead!
Absolutely love this recipe! So excited to serve this cake. It turned out better than I imagined!!
I don’t own any kind of electric mixer. Beating the butter and cream cheese by hand took a while. I substituted the eggs with flax seed meal, the cake has a delishous vanilla almond flavor. I also substituted the white surgar with a 50/50 mix of brown surgar and monk fruit sweetner. Very dense. Great cake. Next time I’m using non-dairy everything for a lighter consistency.
This pound cake is so delicious love it
Loved this Recipe!
Nice recipe
The cake was delicious but it would not come out of the pan
Hey Marsha, Retired catering chef here and a big fan of Sally–she’s my go-to for “something new” recipes, fresh ideas everything baked. She is a constant, reliable source for anything delicious. As for bundt pans, it seems no matter how well or with what you lube them, cakes just sometimes won’t let go of the pan. My solution is not to use them. I used Loaf pans for this pound cake and use rounds or squares for other cakes. I’ve had one too many bundt failures so I just go with easy now that I’m retired. Cakes still taste the same and I actually prefer the slices from Loaf, square & rounds.
Marsha, pick up a product called “Baker’s Choice”…It’s in a spray can like Pam…I used it and my cakes come out of the pan perfectly…Just remember to let the cake cool for around 15 minutes first
Can you switch out plain full-fat Greek yogurt for the sour cream?
Hi Jess, yes, that will work!
Hi Sally. Would this cake work in a lamb cake mold for Easter?
Hi Claudia, we haven’t tested this recipe in a closed mold pan like that, but let us know if you try it! Bake time may vary, but keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness. Quite a few readers have made this in a similar lamb mold and reported success. You might find some of the feedback in the comments helpful!
I made this recipe and it made a 6- cup lamb mold and 2 small loaf pans. Excellent outcome but challenging to know how long to bake a closed mold.
This is my goto pound cake recipe! Perfectly moist and dense and the flavor is top notch! 10 out of 10. I was thinking to try this as a chocolate pound cake by lessening the amount of cake flour and adding cocoa. Do you think that would work?
Hi Cara! Cocoa powder and chocolate can be complicated ingredients, so unfortunately it’s not an easy swap! It requires some testing and we haven’t done so with this recipe. While not a pound cake, you might enjoy this marble loaf cake recipe as well.
So I couldn’t wait for your reply, lol. I sifted 70 grams of Ghiradeli cocoa powder and 1/2 tsp espresso powder with 284 grams of Swans Down Cake Flour and the rest of the dry ingredients. I made no other changes and baked to in internal temp of around 210F. Absolutely delicious and I will be making this again! Thank you for giving me a great place to start! I so enjoy your recipes! Y’all got me baking bread!
Got a good, moist buttermilk pound cake recipe.
How long would I bake this cake in a 9x5in loaf pan?
Hi Karlyn, see recipe notes for details: “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.”
I love this recipe! Just wondering can I use this pound cake recipe in a bitelet pan from Nordicware or is there another recipe you could recommend. I bought the busy bee bitelet pan.
Hi Dina, we haven’t tested this recipe in that pan so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do decide to give it a try.
Hello! have you tried makeing this sugar free? We love this recipe and I make it yearly for my husband birthday. We have a few guest coming this year who are diabetic and I wanted to make this as usual- how ever I am not sure if it will change anything or if I need to adjust in another area.
Hi Trina! We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
Wondering if anyone has tried this 1-1 with gluten free flour?
Hi Tracy, we haven’t tested it, but let us know if you do.
Super easy and yummy
It didn’t come out good and tasted bland. Worst cake ive baked in my entire life.
I really enjoyed this recipe but it took me three tries to get it right. Despite the toothpick coming out clean at 80 minutes, I realized I needed to bake it for the entire 95 minutes. It’s a very rich cake and a small piece goes a long way. I served it with fresh fruit to cut the heaviness and froze half of it for another time.
Can I add a cup of mini chocolate chips with the vanilla extract? Do I need to add any more leavening agent?
Hi Kris, you can definitely add chocolate chips to this pound cake batter. We recommend 1 and 1/2 cups. Some bakers like to (very) lightly coat the chocolate chips in flour before adding to the batter to help prevent them sinking. Enjoy!
Hi My mother used to make a pound cake with marcschino cherries that was so good. could I add them to this recipe ? Thank You
Hi Mary-Lou, you could try adding about a cup of cherries into the batter. You’ll want to “drain” them and blot them a bit before adding to the batter so that they’re not too wet. Bake time may be a few minutes longer. Let us know how it goes!
Sally, thank you for a great recipe. I made 12 jumbo cupcakes with this recipe. Baked at 350 for 30 minutes. Filled the cups 3/4 full, topped each cupcake with a sprinkle of sugar before baking. I added 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for a little extra lift. The flavor is addictive. The crumb is divine.
I need to make this into a 9×13 cake that I can split into two layers-how would I do that? Same amounts and bake time?
Hi Crystal, this recipe works best in a Bundt pan or in two 9×5 loaf pans. It’s a dense cake, so we fear it would be too heavy and squat in a 9×13 pan. Feel free to try it– we’re unsure of the exact bake time. Or, you could try dividing the batter between 2 9×13 pans for much thinner layers. Let us know what you try!
Did you end up trying this? If so, let me know how it turned out. I’m wanting to try the same.
Turned out great even though I forgot to add the vanilla and the sour cream (like an idiot!). I did add 2 cups of chopped peaches as you have in your peach Bundt cake recipe, along with the glaze. I had to bake it way longer than you recommended though, 2 1/4hrs! But it turned out great!!