Old Fashioned Vanilla Pound Cake

This moist vanilla pound cake combines the perfect blend of ingredients to create a delightfully sweet and creamy treat. From its rich, buttery flavor to its tender texture, this classic pound cake is sure to put a smile on everyone’s face. Top it off with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and let the deliciousness begin!

So, what’s the big deal about pound cake? This dessert has been around for centuries, and shows no signs in slowing down in popularity. Traditionally pound cake was made with a pound of each ingredient: flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. This is how the name “pound” cake came about. Over time the ingredients and ratios have changed.

This old fashioned vanilla pound cake recipe produces a moist cake, with a tender crumb and is everything you want in a pound cake. Enjoy a slice with a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of ice cream, fresh fruit, or just as is.

The Best Type Of Flour For Pound Cake

In my humble opinion when making a pound cake, cake flour should be your go to. Cake flour has a lower protein content which means less gluten and a more delicate crumb. This flour is also ground more finely which lends to a more fluffy texture and is ideal for baked goods with a more tender and delicate crumb such as sponge cakes, cupcakes, and pastries.

If you don’t have any cake flour on hand or if you just simply prefer to use all purpose flour, you can 100% use all purpose flour to make a pound cake. Full disclosure if you opt to use all purpose flour the texture of your pound cake will not be the same. All purpose flour will result in a much more dense cake with a less tender texture.

The Secret To Incredibly Moist Pound Cake

There are several ways to ensure your pound cake remains moist when baked. First, be sure not to over bake your cake, over baking is a sure fire way to end up with a dry pound cake. While baking your pound cake be sure to insert a cake tester into the center of the cake, once the tester comes out clean (no batter on the cake tester) then it is safe to pull it from the oven. Remember, due to carry over cooking your pound cake will continue to bake once it is removed from the oven so it is better to pull it from the oven a couple minutes early rather than over baking it.

Another way to be sure your pound cake will be moist is to add a bit of milk, buttermilk or half and half to the batter. Adding these dairy items not only adds moisture to your pound cake, it also enhances the flavor.

A couple other tips on preventing a dry pound cake is to over mixing your batter, in addition to butter add oil to your batter, or even brush your cake with a liquid or syrup once it’s done baking.

Pound Cake Ingredients

• Cake Flour is made from soft wheat which is low in gluten and milled until extra fine. The fine texture of cake flour yields tender and cloud-like baked goods.
• Granulated Sugar has many functions in baked goods. Granulated sugar helps to enhance the taste, increase volume, add color as well as many other things. This ingredient is a key element in making pound cakes.
• Unsalted Butter is the unsung hero in most baked goods. Butter helps to trap air in your batters which causes cakes to rise when baked. I prefer to use unsalted butter so I can control the amount of salt added to my baked goods.
• Eggs are your backbone in baking. Eggs provide structure, moisture, flavor, and tenderizing. In this recipe I use large cage free eggs.
• Baking Powder not to be confused with baking soda. Baking powder is a leavening agent used to increase the volume in baked goods.
• Sour Cream is a great addition to baked goods that tend to be on the drier side. The high fat content in sour cream means shorter gluten strands. Shorter gluten strands inevitably leads to more tender baked goods.
• Milk aids in adding moisture and flavor to baked goods. I prefer to use whole milk due to the higher fat content however low fat milk options can also be used.
• Vanilla Extract Pure vanilla extract is the way to go, using the imitation vanilla flavoring will not give you the same authentic vanilla flavor in your baked goods.

Best Practices For Fool Proof Pound Cake

While pound cake is a simple dessert with few ingredients there are a few tips and tricks to follow to ensure you create the best pound cake each time.

• Begin with room temperature ingredients
• Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
• Use full fat dairy products (this makes a difference)
• Sift flour to remove any lumps
• Avoid over mixing the batter once the eggs have been added
• Thoroughly grease every inch of the loaf pan before adding batter
• Do not over bake, once a tester inserted in the center comes out clean remove from the oven
• Let the pound cake cool for at least 10 minutes before gently removing it from the cake pan
• Store pound cake at room temperature wrapped tightly in plastic or in an air tight container

Pound Cake Variations

Pound cake is such a versatile dessert, the flavor variations are truly endless and are only limited by your imagination. Here a 12 pound cake variations for you to try next, use this old fashioned vanilla pound cake recipe as a starting point to create any one of these pound cake varieties:

• Chocolate Pound Cake
• Lemon Pound Cake
• Pumpkin Pound Cake
• 7UP Pound Cake
• Orange Pound Cake
• Pistachio Pound Cake
• Cream Cheese Pound Cake
• Coconut Pound Cake
• Marble Pound Cake
• Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
• Blueberry Pound Cake
• Cranberry Pound Cake