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, brown butter pound cake, and Nutella swirl 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 recipe was amazing. I made it and it came out perfect. I did buy the Nordic Ware Platinum Collection Anniversary Bundtlette Pan. My concern is figuring out how long to bake them. I bought two pans, if you could offer some advice, I would appreciate it.I have you pinned all over my page. I really enjoy your site!
Oops, I meant baking powder, not soda.
Thank you for your excellent website. It is one of my go-to sites and I have saved many of your recipes as favorites.
Today I am looking for a pound cake recipe. Yours looks wonderful and is the one I am going to try. Before I start though, I’d like to ask why you have chosen to use half the baking soda of most other recipes. I want my cake to be dense but not too dense. I’d love to hear your rationale.
Thanks so much!
Hi Jane! See the blog post above for ingredient details: 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.
I am going to try this pound cake recipe today
Thanks for all your trial and error so I don’t have to
Tasted awesome! No need to tent at 325F. Mine barely got browned and yes I have checked my oven temp with a stand alone thermometer. A little less rise than I would have liked, maybe I overmixed, always scared to stop mixing too soon. Halved the recipe and baked in one loaf pan.
, and it is fantastic! All ingredients must be at room temperature, especially the eggs, butter, and cream cheese. I also grease the cake pan with Crisco and coat it with sugar instead of flour. I let it cool briefly in the pan until I see it begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Then I turn it out on a rack to cool. I always cook the recipe in a traditional pound cake tube pan. If I use a loaf pan, I lower the temp to 300 degrees f. Perfect EVERY time!
Honestly, this was the driest cake I’ve ever had. I was very disappointed because I took it to a Thanksgiving dinner. I followed the recipe to the letter. I won’t make this recipe again.
Mine was a bit dry too.
I just made this cake and took it out of the oven. I started in a cold oven so didn’t have to tent it at all and it’s very lightly browned. I was going to put an apricot, bourbon honey glaze on it but I bought apricots in a bag and tried to make it but it didn’t taste to my liking so I’m just going to use a brown sugar glaze. I’m taking it to a large Thanksgiving gathering tomorrow so I hope it’s good. It smells wonderful.
Can I use mini Bundt cake pan (makes 12)? Would the temp and time be the same?
Hi Jessy, you can use mini Bundt pans for this batter. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but you can use the baking time, temperature, and directions from mini vanilla Bundt cakes as a guide.
I baked this pound cake, and although delicious, the outside was extremely,extremely dark, almost burnt (baked for 80 minutes at 325 in the Nordic Ware anniversary pan) and the inside was full of glue streaks, making it not very appealing and not edible, so in the trash it went. I do know that creaming the butter, cream cheese and sugar too long will cause this, but I followed the instructions. I also only mixed in each egg until I couldn’t see any yellow. I also didn’t think adding all of the flour at one time was correct, but I did it anyway. And I only mixed the flour in until it was barely mixed and then I finished it by hand. I’m bummed since the ingredients aren’t cheap and now I have to start over. I’m a seasoned baker, I’ve had a cottage food custom cake business for 12 years and have never had a pound cake turn out this. I’ll go back to my old recipe I guess.
Hi Lea, thank you for your feedback. I appreciate you letting me know that this recipe didn’t work out for you. It sounds like the cake simply didn’t bake evenly. If you ever try this recipe again, lowering the oven temperature down to 300°F (149°C), and increasing the bake time. The streaks are under-cooked batter. Also, it may help to lower the oven rack to a lower position. Thank you again.
I consider myself a decent cook but baking is not my strong suit. This recipe was easy to follow and the cake turned out great! My only mistake was covering with foil too early. The cake was done but didn’t have an even brown surface. Thankfully that became the bottom so no harm no foul and lesson learned. It didn’t impact the flavor at all.
Could blueberries be added do you think?
Hi Andrea, absolutely, you can add fresh blueberries to the batter. We’d recommend about 1 cup to 1 and 1/2 cups. Make sure the Bundt pan is large enough as add-ins will create extra batter. The bake time may be a little longer too.
Hi Sally, could you make this in an 8 inch round pan using half the recipe? If yes, what would be the cooking temp and time? Also, I am hoping to make this cake (or another plain cake), without the top cracking. Is this likely to crack in an 8 inch round pan?
Hi Alicia, we haven’t tested this recipe in a round pan before, so we’re unsure of the bake time and results. Let us know if you do try it. Or, you might try scaling down our recipes for white cake or vanilla cake instead.
Hi!! I make this recipe but a little different, and I use round pans 8×4 at 335 75mins or 2 6×3 at 335 65 mins. My recipe is Puerto Rican and is made a little different. self-raising flour is used this is my recipe
2 sticks of unsalted butter 226gr
1 stick cream cheese 8oz
2 cups of sugar 480gr
6 eggs, separate
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour 480grs
all at room temperature.
Separate the whites from the yolks, cream the butter with 1 cup of sugar for about 7 minutes at medium speed,
Clean the edges, then add the cream cheese and beat for 1 or 2 minutes just until well incorporated. Clean the edges, add the yolks one by one at low speed, wait 30 seconds between each one. then add the vanilla and almonds, beat for 30 seconds. stop and clean edges. then at low speed (1) add the flour, I use Presto. After everything is done, let it beat for 30 seconds at speed 2. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites and the other cup of sugar at maximum speed for about 7 minutes or until it becomes almost like a meringue. then add the egg whites to the previous mixture and incorporate with sweeping movements, until everything is mixed, just sweeping movements with a spatula. very important. Grease the pans, and put a heat nail in the middle. Do not beat and put in the oven, it is very delicious.
This recipe is awesome – sweet and tender cake! I tried it in my 10-cup pan and I needed the 12-cup, but that’s ok – I got the top!
I asked about the use of cooking spray versus butter to grease the Bundt pan. I was not clear … the top of my cake that was exposed in baking was perfect. I did tent it. It was upon removal from pan that I was referring to the darkness of the cake. So it would be the cake’s surface that you see when you serve it(where cooking spray was used). Should I use butter to have that golden brown as seen in your photos. I hope this clarifies. Thanks so much
Cooling the pound cake in the pan for two hours seem like a VERY long time.
Hi Loretta! We like to let the cake cool before inverting. Anywhere around 1-2 hours should work well 🙂
Yes, I came here to confirm that was not an error 🙂 Did you leave it for 1-2 hours?
Beautiful and delicious. My first pound cake as a baker and I’m so pleased. My only issue is that the outside is much darker than your picture. I’m thinking it was the cooking spray. I didn’t overcook. It’s perfect inside, just not as pretty with the dark crust. Do you think butter would have been a better coating? I’m having such joy from baking since I retired from teaching and your site is where I first turn for new recipes. Thank you for being so thorough and for always helping me tweak
Hi Jennie, we’re so glad you enjoyed this cake! If you try it again, you could tent with aluminum foil if see the tops browning very quickly.
I make my pound cake in the bundt pan recommended, however the middle always sinks in. It tastes delicious ,but what am I doing wrong?
Hi Mary! If a cake sinks, it’s likely undercooked and the middle is still too raw. Could that be the case for you? You could add a few minutes to your bake time and if you notice the tops getting brown before the center is finished you can cover loosely with foil.
It’s not that complicated, blend your cream cheese and sugar, sour in a blender , so the fats and water will incorporate, when you bake the cake place it on a cookie sheet @350 for 45 minutes
Howdy, I’d like to try this with lemon n flavor! How much lemon extract and should it be an addition or in place of the vanilla? Or should I just add lemon zest?
Hi Lewvon, 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!
Hello! I plan on making this with two loaf pans. Should the 2nd pan waiting to bake be refrigerated or left out?
Hi Lorrie! You can leave the second pan covered at room temperature.
I’ve made this recipe and it came out wonderful. Is it possible to substitute plain yoghurt for sour cream?
Hi Caroline, absolutely—same amount. Glad you enjoyed this one!
This is my favorite pound cake recipe, my only one. I will not mess with perfection, so this is definitely my go-to Sour Cream Pond Cake recipe.
It took me month to study this recipe and on my first try,… WAAALAAA! It came out perfect. Now I will be making this more often… Am excited to try more of your recipes …
Pound cakes are my very favorite type of cake, and I have tried many many recipes in my 20+ years of baking. This one hits all my criteria for the quintessential pound cake. Thank you for another keeper recipe and such detailed notes. It will be my new “go to” pound cake.
The cake turned out beautifully. It was light, moist, and delicious. I made it for my neighborhood block party.
Hi Sally! If adding almond extract alongside the vanilla, does one need to reduce the vanilla? Or is it 2 tsp vanilla + 1 tsp almond extract?
Hi C, you can add the almond extract to the recipe as written. Enjoy!
I made this cake so many time that it’s my go to family favorite. Love explanation, pictures and easy to follow step-by-step instructions. I too have had cakes fail and never knew why. The explanation and pictures are game saver. Turns out fantastic every time.
Hi Sally,
Can this recipe be cut in half by using the grams measurement, or will it mess with the chemistry of the cake?
Hi Joe, you can halve all the ingredients for one 9×5-inch loaf pan. Bake at 325°F (163°C) for about 60 minutes.