Make a Buttery, Moist, Perfect Pound Cake
By Rochelle Bilow and Alison Roman
Photo: Ditte Isager
If you’ve ever had a piece of subpar pound cake, you know how depressing it can be. What should be sweet and soft is nothing more than a heavy, dry piece of bread masquerading as cake. But a good piece of pound cake? That’s a whole different ball game. “Pound cake should be light, with a finely textured, moist, and even crumb,” says Claire Saffitz, BA‘s associate food editor and baker extraordinaire. She has created, tested, and made dozens of pound cakes, plus she’s well-versed in the science of baking (yep, it’s a science). We caught up with Saffitz in the test kitchen to outline the eight steps necessary for pound cake perfection. Are you making any of these common mistakes?
1. Don’t Just Scoop Your Dry Ingredients
“Whisk your dry ingredients to remove lumps,” says Saffitz, “Then use the fluff, spoon, and level method.” The what? To execute this technique, use a fork or whisk to fluff up the flour, then spoon it into the measuring cup. Finally, level it with a knife. This method is superior to the scoop method, because simply dunking and filling the measuring cup can result in too-densely packed flour.
Related: Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Citrus Glaze.
Photo: Jonathan Lovekin
2. Let Your Eggs and Butter Come to Room Temperature. If They’re Not…Wait!
Not only should your eggs and butter be at room temperature, but they should also all be the same temperature. Adding cold eggs to warm butter will cause them to seize. Set the eggs and butter out on the counter for several hours before you plan to bake. Also, never cheat by softening butter in the microwave. It will get too hot—and partially melted butter doesn’t perform properly in the creaming stage.
3. Take the Time to Thoroughly Cream Your Batter
This is the most important tip to remember for perfect pound cake. How do you know if your ingredients are “thoroughly” creamed? Expect to use your stand or electric mixer for at least five minutes—or more. Don’t stop when the mixture looks combined. “It should be very pale in color; almost white,” Saffitz explains. And yes, you really do need to use butter for pound cake. The sharp edges of the sugar granules slice through butter, creating air pockets that expand further when baked. Only butter captures and holds these pockets, so there really is no substitute. (Well, except for coconut oil, which performs similarly. This recipe uses a combination of both.)
4. …But Don’t Overmix
Once your butter and sugar are creamed, add the dry ingredients in stages. Saffitz recommends stopping the electric mixer when you begin to see white streaks running through the batter. Use a wide spatula to gently fold in the rest of the flour. “Gently” is key here; overmixing with a heavy hand will cause the batter to deflate, and all your hard work creaming will be reversed. The result will be a dense, tough cake.
Related: Cardamom Pound Cake.
Photo: Ditte Isager
5. Never Forget to Butter and Flour Your Pan
Use softened butter to grease the entire interior of your loaf pan. You can apply the butter with a pastry brush, a wad of wax paper, or just your fingers—but be sure to coat every crevice, including the corners and seams where the edges meet the bottom. Then add flour and turn the pan to coat it entirely. Turn the pan upside down and tap it gently to remove excess flour, rotating the pan as you tap. “Think of the butter and the flour as ball bearings between the cake and the pan,” says Saffitz.
6. Don’t Overbake You Cake
A steady 325-350 degrees is ideal when it comes to baking pound cake. Position the pan in the middle of the oven, and rotate it once, halfway through the baking time, as it bakes to account for any hot spots. To ensure that the heat of the oven circulates properly around the cake, do not bake anything else in the same oven—those roasted veggies will have to wait. As soon as the kitchen begins smelling delicious, insert a cake tester or toothpick into the thickest part. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. Most pound cake recipes should be baked for over an hour, but don’t be shy about testing it as soon as it begins to smell. What about cracked tops? “Don’t worry about it,” says Saffitz. A cracked dome is an indication of a job well done when creaming: The air pockets that you worked so hard to create are what caused the cake to expand.
7. Cool the Cake Partially in the Pan—But Don’t Forget to Turn It Out
After you’ve removed the cake from the oven, set it on a wire rack and let it cool in the pan for 20 minutes. A screaming-hot cake is too delicate to be removed from the pan. But don’t wait too long to take it out; you don’t want condensation to form, or the cake to steam in the baking vessel. Gently invert the pan and remove the cake, then let it finish cooling completely on the rack. As a bonus, with all surfaces exposed to the air, it will cool faster.
Related: Pound Cake with Grand Marnier-Poached Apricots.
Photo: Hirsheimer & Hamilton
8. Don’t Be Afraid to Add Flavors
If it’s a classic vanilla cake you’re after, do yourself a favor and scrape a vanilla bean into the batter; the flavor is superior to that of extract. Feel free to add other flavors with extracts, spices, and zests: Some options: almond extract and vanilla beans, a couple of tablespoons of liqueur (like Grand Marnier), half a teaspoon of orange blossom or rose water, grated lemon peel, and any warming baking spice (like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom). Don’t add more than 2 tablespoons of liquid, however; the batter will become wet and dense. To serve your pound cake, dollop on lightly-sweetened whipped cream or jam. Also, says Saffitz, “It is delicious when griddled.”
Put all that knowledge to good use with our staff-favoriteChocolate Coconut Pound Cake recipe.
Serves 8.
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup virgin coconut oil, room temperature
1½ cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅔ cup buttermilk
¼ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Preheat oven to 325°. Butter an 8x4” loaf pan; line with parchment paper, leaving a generous overhang on long sides. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside.
Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat oil, ¼ cup butter, and 1½ cups sugar until pale and fluffy, 5–7 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions; beat until mixture is very light and doubled in volume, 5–8 minutes. Add vanilla.
Reduce mixer speed to low and add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients (do not overmix; it will cause cake to buckle and split). Scrape batter into prepared pan and run a spatula through the center, creating a canal. Sprinkle with coconut and remaining 1 Tbsp. sugar.
Bake cake, tenting with foil if coconut browns too much before cake is done (it should be very dark and toasted), until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 70–80 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan 20 minutes before turning out.
Do Ahead: Cake can be baked 5 days ahead. Keep tightly wrapped at room temperature.
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