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.
Can you help me with the conversions for using round cake pans fir your sour cream/cream cheese pound cake recipe which is the best I’ve come across!
Thank you dear
Hi Theresa, we haven’t tested this recipe in a round pan before, so we’re unsure of the bake time and results. Here is our cake pan sizes and conversions guide, if you’d like to give it a try. Let us know if you do try it!
You didn’t include the sugar in the directions. A good thing I double checked all the ingredients. That would be an expensive fail.
Hi Joan, see end of step 2: “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.” Hope this helps!
Swans cake flour measurements 28g equals a 1/4 cup. 3 cups equals 12 x 28 = 336g. Please correct me if I am wrong
Hi
When making cream cheese pound cake in 2 9×5 pans, should you still tent midway through?
Yes, I recommend still tenting halfway through.
I love his recipient my mom made hers with cream cheese 8 eggs I did yours with the sour cream it it delicious I I had a slice straight out the oven with ice cold milk. Thank you
Hi Sally. Thanks for always providing fool-proof and delicious recipes.
I was wondering if the sour cream can be replaced with yoghurt(as with most of ypur recipes that contain that)
Hi Dee, yes, that swap will work just fine here. Enjoy!
This really does turn out perfectly. I follow the recipe exactly, only i use a cup-for-cup gluten free flour blend and the texture is perfect. i wanted to comment because this time, i added about a cup of defrosted, drained room-temp mixed berries (blueb, blackberry, and black cherry). Not stirred into the batter, but sprinkled in layers dropped in as i was filling the bundt pan. Did not make the cake soggy at all. I baked it like normal for about 80 min. In case anyone is curious about add ins.
I LOVE this recipe; always gets rave reviews!! However, I can never remember the perfect baking time for my oven. Is there some way I can make notes through your site to refer to each time? I don’t want to have a printed copy unless absolutely necessary. If not can you recommend a site? Thanks!!
Hi Robin, we unfortunately do not have a feature like that at this time, but perhaps you can keep a note of it in your phone or on your computer? So glad this is a favorite for you!
Hey Robin! Try the Paprika app. I love it and save all of my faves there. You can categorize recipes and add notes as you like!
Hi gang,
I have used many Sally’s recipes over the years with great results. I have afew questions on this recipe.
Can I use AP flour?
I’m at high altitude, so should I do my usual and add 2 TBSP of flour and lower cooking temperature 10-15 degrees and bake a little longer?
Thanks for you feedback.
Hi Johnny, cake flour keeps this large pound cake from being too dense and heavy. We strongly recommend sticking with cake flour, but if you don’t have any, you can use our DIY cake flour substitute. We wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Should I bake on convection mode as per the directions? I have a new fancy Miele oven with so many modes. When I adjust time or temp for convection recipes often don’t cook according to recipe.
All our recipes are tested in a conventional oven setting. We generally don’t recommend using convection mode for baking, but if you try it, lower the temp by about 25ºF. So for this recipe, that would be 300ºF fan. But again, we haven’t tested it, so aren’t sure how it would change the bake time or the result.
Wow— I’m impressed by the quick reply— thank you! Why do ovens have convection bake modes if they aren’t recommended for baking? I get that certain things like custards and other delicate dishes wouldn’t fair well with the fan. I have a little buyer’s remorse since it’s so confusing how to use the modes on my Miele.
Hi Sally, I was wondering, can I halve this recipe? I’d appreciate any tips or adjustments you might recommend. Thank you!
Hi Mavis, you can halve all the ingredients for one 9×5-inch loaf pan. Bake at 325°F (163°C) for about 60 minutes.
I would love to use this recipe to do a pound cake thats half chocolate and half vanilla. If I split the batter in half, and use about 3 tbs of coco powder would that work? or should I incorporate it in an earlier step
Hi Ami, 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.
Do you flour your pan? I always have.
I so enjoy your recipes. You are so down to earth and transparent. Yours is the best site I have ever come across.
Hi Vicky, we typically just generously grease the pan, although you can certainly grease + flour the pan if you prefer. Hope you enjoy this cake!
I’m eager to make this pound cake recipe … just waiting for everything to come to room temperature. But, I have NO doubts it will come out perfection, so I’m writing my comment while I wait 🙂 Why? Because ALL of Sally’s recipes are foolproof, perfect, easy to understand, and delicious. My family even makes fun of me, asking “Is this Sally’s recipe?” …
Oh Dear Sally, thank you for all your work, experimenting, and sharing ! I am a happy Sally Baker.
Does it have to be a Bundt pan? I was hoping just to use two 9in rounds and cut the recipe in half. Do you think that will work? Looking to use this recipe for a cake with fresh fruit filling and I don’t want a chiffon/angel food cake because the juice from the fruit will make it soggy.
Hi Leah, We haven’t tried this pound cake in other cake pans, but you can certainly give it a try. The bake times will vary. Let us know if you give it a try! You may also love our fresh berry cream cake, which sounds similar to what you’re describing.
I made this recipe today and it turned out perfectly and is so delicious. Waiting the 2 hours for the cake to cool was hard because the aroma is heavenly and I was dying to taste it, and it was worth the wait. Beautiful, rich, moist, tender crumb, and delicious just plain. Everyone loved it. Thank you for a keeper!
I would like to make this cake. However, I only have an 8 cup bundt pan. How can I reduce this cake. Thank you.
Hi Terri, you could use the extra batter in a mini Bundt pan or mini loaf pan!
This recipe stays very moist —-
I made this cake after reading the above carefully. The ONLY think I did “wrong” was taking it out of the pan 10 minutes after taking it out of the oven. It fell apart, tho, the pieces were delish I was a little disappointed. Does the cake have to set before removing?
Hi Sam66, yes, see instruction #5! After removing from the oven, you will need to allow the cake 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. Hope this helps for next time!
I’m going to make this over the weekend. Is it okay to use a 18 c. Bundt pan?
Hi Serenity, that should work out, just keep a close eye on the baking time since there will be extra room for the cake to rise.
Can I use either blended cottage cheese in place of sour cream?
Hi Tiffiney, we haven’t tested that swap before, so we’re unsure of the results. For best results, we recommend sticking with sour cream, or you can use plain yogurt (Greek or regular) if you’d prefer.
Could I use this pound cake for a chocolate fondue?
I love all your recipes… they are science based and always turn out. Thanks
Absolutely!
We love this cake so much, my son has started requesting it for his birthday. It comes together quickly when you make sure ingredients are room temp. Do add the almond extract as recommended. I had to bake it a little longer than 75 minutes and used an instant read thermometer to test it. A winner, turned out beautifully. Thank you!!
A keeper! Moist and delicious
I followed the steps to a T and it came out so delicious. I might up the cook time from 75 minutes (I had a clean skewer) to 85 because I feel it’s ever so slightly doughy. But other than that I adore the taste. Perfection! Sally never let’s me down.
What if I wanted to make this recipe with a mini bundt cake pan?
Hi Sarah, 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 recipe looks absolutely amazing and can’t wait to try it! Question about the measurements as I see you provide both, did you test it using weight or using volume? I 100% prefer baking with weight measurements (always accurate/consistent and less cleanup!) but sometimes I have issues with recipes that were tested using volume and then just converted to weight measurements (especially with flour).
Hi Alyssa! We always test with both.
Hi Sally I’m new here just joined I would like to know when you were combining your ingredients for the cream cheese pound cake I was watching you combining them all together I like that but I was doing mine differently seem like I couldn’t get it right I would combine the butter cream cheese sugar mix that but I never knew how long to mix it I was reading online on utube so many ladies on their pages was like cream then 3 together until you don’t hear the sugar no more I have been beatingine for like 30 minutes I know then add rest of ingredients then my cake comes out so dry and heavy helppppppppp
Hi Sally, we’re so glad you found our site! 30 minutes is too long to cream together the butter and cream cheese with the sugar, which is likely why your cake is coming out so dense and heavy. You’ll want to cream until just combined; see step 2, which has timing guidelines. Hope this helps!
I have a very specific idea of what pound cake should taste like, and I’ve struggled in the past to find a good recipe. I do believe that my search has come to an end with this recipe! I love the deeper flavor that cream cheese gives it; often pound cake can get so bland! The texture is perfect- perfectly dense, yet not heavy, moist, but not oily. This is seriously SO GOOD. I didn’t have enough eggs on hand to make a full batch, so I ended up halving it and baking it in a loaf pan. When it got out of the oven, I was feeling fancy and decided to brush the top with a simple syrup- I will never go back to not doing this! It transformed the top into a perfectly moist and delicious topping instead of the hard and unflavorful top that usually comes as the result of a long bake time. If you’re on the fence about baking this, don’t be any longer! Your life will be CHANGED.
I have added a glaze to my pound cakes a time or two but the family revolts. We all love the top of the cake!