Aunt Sue’s Easy Pound Cake Recipe
Made famous by my Aunt Sue, here’s an easy pound cake recipe that’s guaranteed to deliver a deliciously moist and sweet vanilla pound cake.
I’ve lost count of how many folks have asked for this easy pound cake recipe after I posted a photo of it with Mama’s custard sauce last week. Made famous by my dear Aunt Sue, this one appeared in my first cookbook and is truly the best pound cake recipe I have ever tasted. It is an absolute must-have at our family Thanksgiving and Christmas and we serve it in thick slices with Mama’s custard sauce poured over it – sublime!
Now, when I say this is an easy pound cake recipe, I mean it. All you need are six ingredients and I bet you have most of them in your kitchen right now: eggs, butter, sugar, all-purpose flour, whipping cream, and vanilla extract. It takes about 20 minutes to prep this recipe and then you just need to pop it in the oven. The addition of whipping cream in this pound cake recipe ensures every slice is deliciously moist and tender.
Traditionally, old-fashioned pound cakes were baked in a loaf pan. However, if you don’t have a tube pan, no worries! I make mine in a bundt cake pan instead, anyway. It will turn out just as delicious but you will have the delicious crunchy crust on the bottom instead of the top.
Now, let’s get baking Aunt Sue’s famous pound cake and do her proud! Keep scrolling for lots of fun recipe variations too, so you can make this butter pound cake recipe your own.
Recipe Ingredients
- Eggs
- Unsalted butter
- Sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Whipping cream
- Vanilla extract
Grease and flour a tube or bundt pan and set out the eggs and butter to allow them to come to room temperature.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth.
Add the eggs, one egg at a time, beating for one minute after each addition.
Sift the flour and add it to the creamed mixture alternately with the whipping cream.
Mix until fully incorporated.
Stir in the vanilla extract.
Pour into the prepared pan and place in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 300 and bake for 80 to 90 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool completely before removing from pan and turning the bundt cake out onto a wire rack.
Serve your butter pound cake with Mama’s custard sauce and some fresh berries.
Enjoy the best pound cake recipe ever!
Storage
Store your pound cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week. You can also freeze the entire cake or individual slices for up to 3 months. I recommend double wrapping in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil.
Recipe Notes
- Here are some fun recipe variations:
- Top your pound cake with a simple vanilla glaze. You’ll need 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a few tablespoons of milk. Mix together until it has a school glue-like consistency and sticks to the back of the spoon and then pour over the cooled cake.
- Swap the vanilla for lemon extract and lemon zest and top your pound cake with a lemon glaze. Use the glaze recipe above and swap the vanilla for lemon juice.
- Swap for almond extract and top your cake with a vanilla glaze, decorated with slivered almonds.
- Opt for peppermint extract and top your cake with a vanilla glaze, decorated with crushed peppermint candy cane pieces for a festive holiday dessert.
- For extra flavor and texture, add up to a cup of shredded coconut, mini chocolate chips, fresh berries, chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts are my picks), or dried fruit.
- Instead of a glaze, spread some creamy chocolate frosting on your sweet pound cake.
- Serve with whipped cream and fresh berries or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- You can also use this recipe to make muffins instead. Follow the same instructions but pour the ingredients into a muffin tin and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. This post uses this exact recipe to make mini bundt cakes instead as well.
Recipe FAQs
Why is it called a pound cake?
Traditionally, a classic pound cake was made with a pound of each of the four main ingredients in this recipe: butter, eggs, sugar, and flour.
Here are more fantastic cake recipes:
Cheesecake Toppings & An Easy Cheesecake Recipe
Ole Fashioned Southern Sugar Plum Cake
Old Fashioned Hummingbird Cake Recipe
Peach Dump Cake Recipe (3 Ingredients Only)
Pumpkin Praline Cake With Cream Cheese Icing
Vegan Sweet Potato Cake With Maple Cashew Icing
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whipping cream also known as heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Grease and flour a tube or bundt pan and set out the eggs and butter to allow them to come to room temperature.6 eggs, 1 cup butter
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, one egg at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Sift the flour and add it to the creamed mixture alternately with the whipping cream. Mix until fully incorporated.6 eggs, 1 cup butter, 3 cups sugar, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup whipping cream
- Stir in the vanilla.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pour the vanilla cake batter into the prepared pan and place in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 300 and bake for 80 to 90 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before removing from pan.
Notes
Nutrition
“How many slams in an old screen door? Depends on how loud you shut it. How many slices are in bread? Depends on how thin you cut it. How much good inside a day? Depends on how good you live ‘em. How much love is inside a friend? Depends on how much you give ‘em.”
~Shel Silverstein. Submitted by Jenny. Click here to read more or submit your own.
This is the best pound cake I have ever made! Thanks for this revelation in home baking science !
Science….???? Yes, because everything I cook is an experiment in fun!
Really, I cook because it feeds my soul, and I love the positive feedback from all who have been the recipients of my experiments !
I am a widowed, retired plumber still working as a Plumbing PRO for Lowes in Fern Park, Florida.
I love your southern recipes, along with the personal bio’s that accompany each one!
Blessings to you all!
Joe Sallette
I’m making this recipe for the first time. I noticed it didn’t call for any baking powder or salt. I was afraid not to add it. I added 1/2 tsp of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. It’s cooking now. Hope it turns out ok.
It came out perfect!!!
I made this for Christmas and it was delicious! Have you used this recipe to make a chocolate version of it? I was thinking about adding 1/2-3/4 cup of cocoa. Wondering if that would work?
I never have Andrea, we love the original so much that I have never thought to alter it. I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. Let me know how it turns out if you try it.
I tried this and it came out fluffy, not dense the way the picture shows and the way I remember good ol’ fashion pound cake. What could I be doing wrong?
I’m afraid I need a little more to go on. When I make it, according to this recipe, it is soft but dense with a crumbly top. Without knowing if you did anything differently, what ingredients you used, seeing how your stove cooks, etc, I’m not able to tell you I’m afraid. I’m hoping to get that component installed in my brain soon though! 🙂
Can I use swan down cake flour
Yep!
this recipe came out but my stove burnt up the bottom of the cake. I do not like the taste of this recipe. I would not remake this poundcake again….
I can not bake pound cakes. Until this recipe. It is simple and my cakes come out perfect. If you burnt yours, you did not follow the instructions or your oven gauges are completely off.
This is true with pound cake. You have to follow the directions or trust me, something will go wrong. I have made one just like this and it turns out perfect every time. Thanks so much for taking your valuable time and listing such yummy recipes.
This was my first cake from scratch. It took 1 hour and 50 minutes to bake, but turned out really well. Chocolate cake is next: yum!! Thanks for your recipe.
I am so glad you liked it Mike!!!
Hi, I have made four of these cakes now. The first two turned out perfectly. I bought some new stainless steel bowls after that. Now for the last two have been different. The tops on the first two were crunchy. The last two seem to have a problem because as the cakes were cooling, the crunchy top separated from the cake itself like a lacy topping. When I turned them out, they crumbled and so the top was not as pretty and the crunchy top was all on the plate and not the top of the cake. Have you had this to happen at any time that you have made it. The cake still is delicious, it just doesn’t have the crunchy intact.
All my adult life I’ve searched for a perfect pound cake recipe. I would always say…. “if I could find just one cake that I can bake and do it well, I’d be satisfied.” AT LAST, I found it! Pound cake is my absolute favorite and this is the best one I’ve EVER made and tasted. It was FLAWLESS!!!!!! Thank you, Thank You. THANK YOU!!!!
Do you have to use whipping cream or can you substitute it for something else like any other milk?
Whipping cream adds a lot of flavor, tenderness, and moistness in this cake as well as helps it to rise. It has a much higher fat content than regular milk. You can try it with milk but personally, I wouldn’t. If you decide to experiment though, let us know how it turns out and good luck!