How to Make the Best Classic Old Fashioned Pound Cake

This is the Best Classic Old Fashioned Pound Cake and it will knock your socks off. It’s so moist and tender and a generous drizzle of chocolate ganache takes it over the top.

The Original Pound Cake Recipe

Sometimes there just is no substitute for a delicious homemade pound cake. This buttery cake is great any time of year or for whenever you have that itch for something sweet. And for many of us, a homemade pound cake brings back fond memories of visiting friends, relatives, and special occasions.

This great recipe is the original recipe I used to launch a number of other pound cakes here at Lisa’s Dinnertime Dish. I have experimented with different types of flour (i.e., cake flour), as well as different flavors (try the Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake or this Lime Pound Cake!). But this old fashioned pound cake recipe is the one I come back to if I want something simple and delicious.

This old fashioned pound cake recipe uses just a few simple ingredients. As with any traditional pound cake recipe, you start with the basic ingredients such as all-purpose flour, unsalted butter, eggs, sugar, salt and baking powder. But what really sets this delicious cake apart is the buttermilk and vanilla extract.

The buttery flavor of the pound cake in this great recipe comes from both the unsalted butter as well as the buttermilk. Adding both just doubles up on that buttery cake flavor. And the vanilla extract adds that little hint of vanilla that compliments the buttery flavor so well.

Make Your Own Buttermilk

And, if you don’t happen to have buttermilk on hand – don’t worry! You can make your own in no time.

With the choice of a couple of simple ingredients as a substitute, you can make an easy recipe for buttermilk. Take 1 tbsp of milk out of your 1 cup of milk and replace with 1 tbsp of lemon juice or white vinegar. For best results, let sit for 5 minutes and voila! – buttermilk.

Which Pan Do I Use?

Speaking of substitutes. One question I often get is around bundt pan substitution. Maybe you don’t do a lot of baking and you don’t have a bundt cake pan laying around the house. 

In this case, a traditional bread loaf pan is a great substitute. You will probably need to use more than one loaf pan for all the batter, but you still get that great dense cake at the end. However, unless you have great carving skills, you won’t have that decorative hole in the center of the cake!

I also get asked about a bundt pan versus a tube pan. They look a lot alike, but they really are not great substitutes for each other. 

A tube pan is designed for baking angel food or sponge cakes. The high sides and removable bottom with a central tube support a quick, rapid rising and even baking. Perfect for a less dense cake. 

A bundt pan is generally used for baking dense cake batters. The fluted sides and greater surface area produce more crust, which really is what we love about a homemade pound cake! Plus, it just looks cooler.

Topping Your Poundcake

This original recipe also has a chocolate ganache to top this delicious cake (see the recipe card below). Making the ganache is a very easy recipe and uses simple ingredients. Just heat up some cream and salt and drop in chocolate chips. For best results, don’t stir the chocolate chips until melted. 

Once you’ve taken the homemade pound cake out of either the bundt pan or the loaf pan, it is ready for the ganache (time to make it a decadent cake!). I like to put bundt cakes on a wire rack, put wax paper underneath and then drizzle (easy cleanup).

However, let’s say you’re not a chocolate lover. The butter flavor of this dense cake allows for all sorts of toppings. For best results on toppings – use your imagination!

Cream cheese frosting is awesome. Any kind of fresh fruit is a treat. Fresh berries in season are terrific.

​Time to make the cake!

Tips and Tricks for Making The Best Classic Old Fashioned Pound Cake Recipe:

• Allow your butter to come to room temperature before you start. This will make it much easier to cream the butter and sugar together to make your final butter mixture.
• It’s important that the eggs are well beaten into the butter mixture one at a time. There should be no lumps.
• Sifting the dry ingredients together will insure that they’re evenly mixed into the pound cake batter.
• While you can mix this cake by hand, I wouldn’t recommend that. You’ll end up with a more consistent cake batter using a hand mixer or a stand-up electric mixer.
• Even a non-stick pan should be coated with non-stick spray and sugar to make sure that the cake doesn’t stick.
• Cool the pound cake in the bundt pan for 15 minutes to insure that it comes out of the bundt pan in one piece. If the cake is too hot, you risk it breaking apart when you invert it onto a plate or wire rack.
• Pound cake freezes very well. See below for the best way to freeze a cooled pound cake.
• If you don’t have a bundt pan, you can substitute a loaf pan (I would use two of them).

How to Freeze this Classic Pound Cake:

• Make sure cake is cooled completely. Putting it on a wire rack will help move this process along.
• Do not put the chocolate ganache on the cooled cake before freezing. You’ll want to add that after the cake has been defrosted.
• You can freeze the entire pound cake or individual slices.
• For best results, wrap tightly first with plastic wrap and then with aluminum foil.
• Freeze for up to 3 months.

Ingredients Needed for The Best Classic Old Fashioned Pound Cake Recipe:

Full instructions for making this recipe can be found below in the recipe card

• Unsalted butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Buttermilk
• Pure vanilla extract

How to Make The Best Classic Old Fashioned Pound Cake:

• You do not want to use a preheated oven, so no need to touch the oven until you are ready to bake the pound cake batter.
• Generously grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
• Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• In a separate large bowl, add the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder and salt and sift together.
• Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter-sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. 
• Stir in vanilla extract.
• Pour pound cake batter into prepared bundt pan.
• Put into a cold oven and set the temperature to 325 degrees.
• Bake time is 1 hour and 15 minutes without opening the oven door.  
• Remove from the oven and cool in the bundt cake pan for 15 minutes.
• Invert cake onto a cake plate or wire rack and cool completely.
• While cake is cooling make the chocolate ganache.
• Heat heavy cream and salt in a sauce pan over medium low heat until it comes to a simmer.
• Turn off heat.
• Stir chocolate chips, cover and let sit for about 5 minutes, until chocolate has melted.
• Stir until cream and chocolate are well mixed.
• Drizzle over cake.

More Homemade Cake Recipes to Love:

• Easy Chocolate Creme de Menthe Cake
• Dairy Free Blackberry Coffee Cake
• Lime Pound Cake with Delicious and Easy Lime Glaze
• Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
• The Best German Chocolate Cake
• Louisiana Stranger Cake
• Strawberry Cake
• Bananas Foster Bundt Cake