Vanilla pound cake is a classic buttery and tender pound cake that has only five ingredients – butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract.
Pound Cake
Why is pound cake called pound cake? Pound cakes were originally made with a pound each of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. Modern pound cakes are no longer made that way – a pound of each of those ingredients would have resulted in a really large cake, or several cakes. Pound cake was thought to have originated in Europe and came with immigrants to the United States. Pound cake recipes began to appear in American cookbooks in the 19th century and have remained a classic dessert.
How to Make this Recipe
This vanilla pound cake is a classic buttery and tender pound cake that has only five ingredients!
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Large eggs
- All-purpose flour
- Vanilla extract
The secret to this pound cake is starting the cake by placing it in a cold oven. The cold oven allows the cake to bake evenly and avoids overbaking, which can make the crumb texture of this cake dry.
To make this vanilla pound cake, the butter and sugar must be creamed together until extremely light, almost to the point where you can’t feel the granulated sugar in the butter anymore, which is around 5 minutes. This step also allows more air to be beaten in to the butter and sugar mixture, which will help with the volume of this cake (as you notice, there are no leaveners other than flour).
Then, the room temperature eggs and vanilla extract are added, followed by the all-purpose flour. The cake should only be mixed at this point until all of the flour has been incorporated. Then, the batter is poured into a heavily greased 12-cup Bundt pan and placed in a cold oven. The oven is then turned on and it is baked for an hour, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Once the pound cake has cooled, it is dusted with powdered sugar.
Tips for Vanilla Pound Cake
- Use only pure vanilla extract for this vanilla pound cake
- If your eggs are not room temperature, a quick way to bring them to room temperature is to place the eggs in a glass and fill it to the top with warm water. Let the eggs sit for 10 minutes in the warm water and they will be room temperature and ready to use in your recipe.
- The cake will keep up to 72 hours. Store in an airtight container.
- You can also freeze this cake up to 45 days, sealed in an airtight container.
Want more Bundt cake recipes? Check out these recipes:
Made vanilla pound cake?
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Vanilla Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter slightly softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Cream the 1 cup unsalted butter and 2 cups granulated sugar 5 to 6 minutes. The sugar should not feel grainy.
- Add in the 5 large eggs, one at a time.
- Add in the 2 teaspoons vanilla extract then the 2 cups all-purpose flour in 3 separate additions. Do not overmix.
- Heavily grease a Bundt pan and place the Bundt pan in a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 350℉ and bake one hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let sit in Bundt pan for 20 minutes, then turn out to a wire rack to cool pound cake completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
- Use only pure vanilla extract for this vanilla pound cake
- If your eggs are not room temperature, a quick way to bring them to room temperature is to place the eggs in a glass and fill it to the top with warm water. Let the eggs sit for 10 minutes in the warm water and they will be room temperature and ready to use in your recipe.
- The cake will keep up to 72 hours. Store in an airtight container.
- You can also freeze this cake up to 45 days, sealed in an airtight container.
- Makes 12 large slices or 16 smaller slices.