The Best Pound Cake Ever

This post on the Best Pound Cake Ever contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on the links, we may earn a fee. There is no additional cost to you.

Have you ever had that feeling when you put food in your mouth and know it is perfect? I had this feeling when Sean and I first got married, and we were attending a family gathering.

Sean’s Aunt Wanda brought a pound cake to the function. I sized up the pound cake, and it looked amazing. The crust was thick, and the color was correct. I like my pound cake with a slight almond flavor, and when I put this cake in my mouth, it was love. All the aspects that I admire in a perfect pound cake were present. As the years have passed, Wanda has continued to bring her pound cake to family functions, and I wait anxiously to get a piece each time.

Pound cakes get their name because they are simple cakes that traditionally call for a pound of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. Over time, bakers have varied the ingredients from flavorings to mix-ins to icings. Most people, at least in my neck of the woods, speak about pound cakes in relation to the number of eggs the cakes contain. I was recently in a cooking class where a gentleman asked me if I liked to bake. I responded that I did like to bake very much. He then stated that his signature baked good was a pound cake- eight egg. I told him I loved pound cakes, and that my recipe was a six egg.

Another telling sign of a pound cake is the flavoring. The assumption is that a pound cake contains either vanilla or almond flavoring. If other flavors are used, the cake is called by the flavor’s name, such as lemon pound cake, rum pound cake, or chocolate pound cake. I have found that good flavoring makes all the difference when baking a pound cake. I like LorAnn Oils almond flavoring (Check it out on Amazon).

I asked Sean’s Aunt Wanda for permission to share her pound cake recipe with you because I want to share this delight with the world. When asking Wanda how she found her pound cake recipe, she told me that many years ago, she discovered it in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution newspaper. Wanda clipped the recipe and has been using it ever since. She has a cream cheese version, which adds moisture to the cake (don’t worry, cream cheese haters, you can’t taste the cream cheese).

Aunt Wanda’s Pound Cake

8 ounces of butter

1-8-ounce package of cream cheese

3 cups of sugar

6 eggs at room temperature

3 cups of sifted flour (I love my auto-sifter)

1 teaspoon of Nielsen Massey vanilla extract

1-2 teaspoons of almond extract

*Do not preheat your oven on this one! Combine your butter and cream cheese on medium speed with your mixer until the mixture is fluffy.
Gradually add the sugar and beat until the mixture returns to a light and fluffy state.

Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition.

Turn your mixer to a low speed and fold in your flour. Add in your extracts and blend well.

Right before you are ready to bake off your cake, spray a bundt pan with Pam Butter Spray or Baker’s Joy. Pour your cake mixture into the pan and place the pan into a cold oven.

Turn the oven on to 325 degrees. Bake for one hour to one hour and twenty minutes. The cake will crack on top. Check the cake at the one-hour mark by sticking a toothpick in a crack of the cake and check to see if the toothpick comes out clean. Do not stick the toothpick in the hard crust of the cake because when you pull it out, the crust may clean the toothpick, giving inaccurate results.

Cool the cake for about 15 minutes. Use an offset spatula and run it around your cake to loosen the sides before flipping it upside down onto a cooling rack. Place the cake onto your plate or a cake stand when it is cooled.

Note- If you want to divide the batter into two loaf pans, cook them at the same temperature and for the same length of time. The cakes freeze very well if you would like to freeze one.

Serve with cool whip or whipped cream, sliced strawberries, peaches, or your favorite fruit!

Do you have a favorite pound cake variation? We would love to hear about it. Please drop us a line in the comment section below.

Are you interested in other fabulous desserts? Check out the easiest recipe for coconut and pecan pies and Granny’s homemade peach cobbler!