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
I’ve been researching pound cakes and the cold oven method of baking—I decided to use a recipe I can trust to be excellent—and it was amazing! I followed all the instructions until baking. I put it in a cold oven, then baked it at 325 degrees, as the recipe specified. 75 minutes later, perfection! (I used a retired 12c loaf bundt pan.) Delicious, tender dense crumb, rich flavor and wonderfully browned edges!
This looks delish but to large for 2 of us. I was wondering why you suggest your mini pound cake recipe which is not the same ingredient as thus best ever pound cake. Can I make this recipe into mini cakes?
Also can margarine be substitute for butter?
I love so many of your recipes
Hi Sheila, you can certainly 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. We don’t recommend substituting margarine here. It has very different baking properties from butter.
My family loves this cake. I get an order for it every so often. I don’t mind making because it is really delicious. But, I have one problem, I want to make it a half sheet cake. I have 4 people in family with birthdays in February. How do I make recipe to fit a half sheet pan? Would I triple this recipe? Please advise? Thank you. God bless
Hi Julie, Here is everything you need to know about converting recipes to different Cake Pan Sizes.
Hello! I have a question. When you made it and if didn’t turn out right, you baked it at 325. The recipe requires it to be baked at 325 again. Why did it turn out correct this time if the same temperature was used??
Hi Lexie, the time it didn’t turn out well at 325 was because she baked it for way too long. The winning recipe bakes at 325 but for less time than the test recipe you see pictured.
THANK YOU FOR THIS RECIPE!! Been looking for a good pound cake recipe for the last few months. Have made 4 others, one was so bad I threw the whole cake in the trash. This recipe is *chef’s kiss*. 2 things I did was replace half cup sugar with brown sugar and added 1 tsp of almond extract, followed the rest exactly including the directions. Finally a recipe I can depend on!
Made this yesterday for my daughter’s birthday! It was so good and everyone loved it! Served it very simple with blackberries and raspberries after dusting the cake with powdered sugar!
I made this cake for one of my friend’s birthday celebration and it turned out perfectly! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Now, another friend in our group, who enjoyed the cake so much, has requested a cinnamon pound cake. Is there a way to add a cinnamon swirl to this pound cake?
Hi Rebecca, We haven’t tested it with this exact recipe, but it should work. You can try making 1.5 or double the swirl from this cinnamon swirl quick bread and layering it in. Let us know if you give it a try.
I adore this pound cake recipe. I use it all the time, frequently with different extracts. Do you have thoughts of the changes I would need to make to transition to a chocolate pound cake? I know cocoa is very dry, but I’m thinking the cream cheese and sour cream would take care of that. Would I just need to tweak the flour amounts and sub cocoa? What ratio do you think? Or would you suggest a different chocolate ingredient? Thanks so very much. I always enjoy your site.
Hi Ann Marie, 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.
I’ve made a similar recipe for years., however your recipe with the addition of sour cream will now be my go to recipe. I followed instructions to the T and my cake turned out perfect. Beautiful brown crust that didn’t get hard on the top. I never tented my cake before and I believe this helps. Thanks for a wonderful recipe. For all of the failed attempts. Be sure All of your ingredients are room temperature and never over beat your dough after the addition of the flour. Hand incorporate if necessary. I used a homemade cake release instead of cooking spray. I didn’t cool in pan for 2 hours. Only
@15/20 minutes. Oh and I beat my butter sugar mixture a bit longer. @ 3 minutes. The more air incorporated into the batter the lighter the
cake. So not exactly to the T but pretty close. Excellent recipe. Thanks
I have baked cream cheese pound cake all my life but I’ve never seen directions before that said to let it cool in pan for two hours. Why so long? That’s also very hard to do because there’s nothing better than a slice of hot pound cake. LOL
Hi Vicky, this cake tends to stick, so we recommend calling in the pan for about 2 hours. Feel free to make adjustments as you see fit!
I found your site today and subscribed. Your instructions mention to generously grease the pan. In research, I’ve read that too much fat used to grease the pan will burn the outside of the cake. I have had this issue. My questions is, is there such a thing as greasing the pan too much? should I use butter only to grease the pan, or should I be using the pan spray that combinds butter and flour? which is the best way to grease the pan?
Hi La’Nea, we generously grease the pan with a nonstick spray, although you can certainly grease + flour the pan if you prefer. Hope you enjoy this cake!
I love this cake, what glaze or icing would you suggest for it?
We love this cake with homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit, raspberry sauce, or lemon curd. You could also use a simple vanilla icing.
I’ve cooked this cake for 2 hours and it is still raw in the center. Waking up early to try to cook for an additional hour before work, but this is ridiculous. I have baked hundreds of things over the years and am an experienced baker.
I’d love to add orange zest, a little juice and some cardamom. Do you think that would fight with the cream cheese and sour cream? I want the warmth of the cardamom. What do you recommend?
Hi Sharon, You can add zest and cardamom without any changes in the recipe. Adding juice may take some testing as you would be adding more liquid to the batter. Let us know if you give it a try!
Do you recommend baking this day of or would it be fine to bake the day before you plan to serve? If so, should I refrigerate or hold at room temperature?
Hi Lorraine, you can make it a day ahead. Cover cake tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
I gave made two of these pound cakes in past month have nothing but rave reviews from all my guest and co workers
Thrilled to read this, Judy! Thank you for making our recipe and reporting back.
Unbelievably tasty.
Love the flavor but both bakes developed hard, dark brown crustiness from cooking spray and/butter on outside.
It wasn’t over baked inside.
Could I use this recipe to make cupcakes? If so, how many cupcakes would this recipe make and how long would the baking time be? Thank you!!
A few readers have tried this pound cake recipe as cupcakes. Same oven temperature and baking for about 20 minutes. They won’t rise too much. Fill about 3/4 full.
Oh my
I have been searching for a pound cake recipe that was not dense for many years. I made this cake, and it is the best I have ever tasted or made. Thank you very much for sharing.
I love pound cake! I want to do this recipe in silicone MINI Bundt pans. How long should I bake?
Hi Paige, 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.
This was best tasting pound cake I have ever eaten!
I too make cream cheese pound cake. My recipe is slightly different from yours but I’m sure yours is just as good.
I love this recipe (flavors wise) and I am now trying to perfect in 2-loaf pans
Toothpicks coming out clean…are they supposed to be light in the center, and it looks like maybe they didn’t rise enough -they are only 2” tall..and visible one looks like it maybe still underdone in center
Hi Nicole! Keep baking if the loaves look under-baked.
I would like to bake this recipe in a cast aluminium lamb mold. I was gifted my grandmother’s mold and a very sketchy recipe. Can you advise on the cooking time and temperature. thank you!
Hi dbr, we haven’t tested this recipe in that specific pan, 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’m a pretty capable baker, tried this recipe twice. I read the entire recipe page multiple times before even starting, followed instructions meticulously. Baked at 325. First time 80 minutes, toothpick came out clean. Cake was very raw inside. Threw it in the trash. Tried again, again very very fastidious about doing everything properly. Lowered the oven rack and baked for just over 90 minutes. Tested in multiple places with a toothpick and also with a thermometer which showed 212 F throughout. This time the cake was slightly collapsed on the sides when I turned it out of the pan a few hours later. Cut into it, again raw. I want to cry. I barely have time to cook with a new baby, so this took up my only free time two evenings in a row and also the ingredients were expensive. All in the trash now. 🙁
Hello, everybody in my family loves this cake but one issue, I poured the batter in two loaf pans however even with 100 minutes cooking time still see uncooked layers
Do you have any advice? Thanks
Hi Reza, Extending the bake time will help. Baking time can vary by oven, so no worries if yours takes a bit longer than written.
We really enjoyed this cake. I live in France and used Philadelphia cream cheese which is not as dense as the one in the USA, but it turned out fine. But 500g of sugar is way too much for our taste, I scaled it down to almost half of it. Thank you for all your nice recipes and hard work!
Hello! I tried this recipe and I fell inlove instantly with the texture and the fluffiness of the cake. the only down side is, the cake was a little too sweet. I used caster sugar instead of granulated sugar. Could that have been a factor? if not, how can I decrease the sugar without affecting the outcome of the texture of the cake?
Hi Joan, we’re glad you enjoyed it! You can certainly try reducing the sugar, but keep in mind that it plays an important role in the taste, texture, and structure of the cake, so results will be different than intended. We’d start small and then adjust further for future batches. Thank you again for giving this one a try!
This looks amazing! I have a couple of questions though. Firstly, can I measure in half all ingredients to have a smaller cake? And secondly, in the section with the 2 failed cakes you mention that you baked the cake in 163 Celsius degrees and it was over cooked. The recipe though still says “bake in 163 Celsius degrees”, is it correct?
Hi Kate, yes, you can halve all ingredients and use a 9×5-inch loaf pan. That is correct, we tested the second cake at 325°F (163°C), but we simply baked it for too long. That temperature is the same temperature we recommend for baking the cake. Hope this helps!