Better Than Classic Pound Cake (One Bowl, Hand Mixed)
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Friends, where to begin?
I spent last Sunday’s rainy drive home from my sister’s house poring over new cookbooks, namely Deb Perelman’s latest: Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics For Your Forever Files.
Immediately upon returning home, I made a recipe from the book, broccoli rabe with broken burrata, which hit the spot, not only because I was craving vegetables after a few days of feasting on pie and punch, but also because it was so delicious, perfectly garlicky and a little spicy, the bitterness of the greens all rounded out by the dollops of creamy burrata melting into every bite.
I could eat those greens every night for dinner, and I thought for sure that would be the recipe from the book I would share with you all, because I went on to make it several more times throughout the week, but then I made the simple black bean chili, which we all loved.
I loved the method, too, which calls for broiling peppers, onions, and garlic, coarsely puréeing them, sautéing them briefly, then adding the remaining ingredients. It came together in no time but tasted far more complex than a simple weeknight chili.
I know you all would love it, but then, my friends, I made the better-than-classic pound cake.
My son was at the table doing math homework when the loaf was cool enough to slice into and upon taking a bite, he threw his head back, eyes closed, and slumped in his chair. Completely overwhelmed by the deliciousness, he finally uttered: It’s so good, Mom.
When the girls heard the mmmms coming from the kitchen, they emerged from their various corners to partake in the action and quickly concluded it was the best cake they had ever tasted. In the intro to the recipe, Deb says she wants this to be “the last pound cake recipe you’ll ever need.” She succeeded.
But Friends! Can I tell you the best part? It’s made in one bowl! The recipe calls for melted butter and although you may be tempted to beat the butter with the sugar until it’s light and fluffy, Deb strongly discourages that move, which will result in a much less rich crumb. We don’t want that.
What we do want is a cake that gets better by the day, which this one does, or, I should say, allegedly does — the cake has never lasted more than one day in our house, so I can’t speak to its keeping abilities, but Deb likes it even better on days two and three, so don’t be afraid to make it ahead of time if you’re expecting company this holiday season.
Smitten Kitchen Keepers: Such a good one. In addition to the dishes I mentioned above, I also made the charred salt and vinegar cabbage, which Ben and I loved. I’m still getting together a gift guide for the holidays, but in the meantime, I don’t think anyone would be sad about receiving Deb’s latest book, which is proving to be filled with treasures, from the writing to the recipes. If you are a fan of Deb’s, you’ve likely already added this one to your library, but if you haven’t: What are you waiting for?! Treat yourself.
How to Make Pound Cake, Step by Step
First, gather your ingredients:
Whisk together the melted butter, sugars (granulated and turbinado), and salt.
Then add the three eggs, one by one.
Next add sour cream, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean paste (or more vanilla extract if you’re not using the paste).
Whisk in the baking powder.
Finally, stir in the flour just until it is absorbed.
Transfer the batter to a loaf pan and sprinkle it with granulated sugar.
You could also bake the batter in mini loaf pans. See the recipe box for details.
Because the recipe calls for turbinado sugar (or brown sugar), I couldn’t help but experiment with using turbinado sugar on top (as opposed to granulated sugar), but …
… in the end, I much prefer the look of the granulated sugar on top. The turbinado sugar-topped cake is in the upper left-hand corner in the photo below:
I repeat, no one would be disappointed to receive a copy of Smitten Kitchen Keepers this holiday season. A mini loaf of better-than-classic pound cake on the side would be, well, icing on the cake.
PrintBetter Than Classic Pound Cake (One Bowl, Hand Mixed)
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
Description
From Deb Perelman’s latest book, Smitten Kitchen Keepers
Notes:
- You need a 6-cup loaf pan for this. I use this 9×5-inch USA Loaf Pan (1.25 lb), which works beautifully, but if you are using a smaller one, you may want to not use all the batter. Deb suggests scooping out some of the batter and baking a mini cake muffin or two.
- You can also bake the batter in mini loaf pans. I used three of these, but depending on the size of your mini pans (which come in many different sizes), you may need more or less.
- You could also use disposable pans such as these, which also come in various sizes, so do measure before ordering.
- Because the recipe calls for turbinado sugar in addition to granulated sugar, I tried sprinkling it over the surface of one of the mini cakes I baked, but in the end, I preferred the look of the cake topped with granulated sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 cup (200 g) plus 1 tablespoon (15 g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (110 g) turbinado or packed light-brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) kosher salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup (240 g) sour cream
- 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (use the smaller amount if you’re using vanilla bean paste, too)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, optional
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups (260 g) all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Coat a 6-cup (see notes above) loaf pan well with nonstick spray or butter, and line with a sling of parchment paper that extends up the two long sides.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, all of the turbinado sugar, and the salt. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean paste, if using, and whisk until smooth. Sprinkle the baking powder over the surface of the batter, and whisk many more times than are needed to make it disappear (to ensure it is very well dispersed through the batter). Add the flour, and stir with a spatula until just combined.
- Scrape the batter into the loaf pan, and drop the pan on the counter a couple of times to release any trapped air. Smooth the top, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (see notes above).
- Bake for 1 hour and 10 to 15 minutes, until a skewer inserted all over comes out batter free. If you are baking in mini loaf pans, start checking after 30 minutes. Depending on the size of your pan, it will take more or less time after that. My three minis were done in about 42 minutes total. Let it cool in the pan. Run a knife along the short sides of the cake, and use the parchment sling to remove the cake for slicing.
- Store the cake at room temperature for 5 days. Deb stores it in its loaf pan with the top uncovered so that it stays crisp. She presses a piece of foil against the cut side of the loaf only.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Amerian
Keywords: sour cream, vanilla, one bowl, pound, cake
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
139 Comments on “Better Than Classic Pound Cake (One Bowl, Hand Mixed)”
Thank you!! In-laws are coming over tonight, and I planned to make Food 52’s Lazy Mary Tart, but am trying this instead. It looks so good! And I’ll bake it in the vintage Corning bread pan they recently gave me when they downsized.
Fun! Hope you all loved it 🙂
Just wanted to ask you, would you suggest a replacement for sour cream? Sour cream isn’t easily available in our country. Maybe yogurt? I would love to know your thoughts!
★★★★★
I think yogurt should work well here.
I made it with full fat Greek yogurt and it’s delicious! I think buttermilk would work too, but I haven’t tried it
★★★★★
Great to hear, Deanna! Thanks for sharing this.
Came I make this pound cake in a Bundt pan and would I have to double it? How long do you think I would need to bake and at what temperature? If I think I should not tamper with a good thing, I’ll just make two in regular loaf pans. Thank you.
I think you should double it in a bundt pan. It will take likely at least 1 hour and 15 minutes, but I can’t say for sure given I’ve never tried myself. Good luck!
Can this be made with Gluten-free flour?
Worth a shot! I would use something like Cup4Cup or KAF’s gluten-free mix.
Delicious 😋
★★★★★
I love making Pound Cakes and was very excited to find a one bowl recipe with great ratings. It is a moist cake but to salty for me. I plan to make it again and cut out the 2 tspns of kosher salt & replace it with 1/2 tspn regular table salt to see how that works out
★★★
I came across this recipe this morning while searching for something else. I have made pound cake a few times and it is one of the most delicious classic cakes. ( I even have a marvelous marmelade pound cake recipe which is a fav) The only thing about pound cake is the technique: You have to get that right to get the perfect cake. So when I reviewed this recipe, I thought, “wow, this is easy!” And since your kids love it then surely this is worth trying! Sound like the perfect cake to give as a gift! Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Right?! It’s so nice when the method is easy. Thanks for writing 🙂
This was a very easy to make pound cake. I usually do NOT make sour cream pound cakes so I found this one to have a much looser crumb and to not be as dense as a “traditional” pound cake. Is that to be expected? I had to make thick slices so as to not have the slices completely fall apart. Thanks!
So interesting, Bill! I find the crumb on this cake to actually be on the tight/dense side. Questions for you: what type of flour did you use? And did you use a scale to measure? Did you make any other changes to the recipe?
Absolutely delicious! The salt level is perfect and it has a wonderful moist crumb!
★★★★★
Great to hear Marilee! Thanks so much for writing 🙂
So, now I am one of “those people” who do not use the right ingredients, and then complain that their cake did not come out as expected. But I realized at the last minute that I did not have sour cream, so I used whole milk yogurt, reasoning that the French yogurt cake is very much pound-cake-like. The result was a little brown (?) and the texture was fine, but it tasted a little yeasty, and the crumb was very dense. The tangyness may be due to the yogurt, but was it that it was too liquid? It almost seemed like it had too much butter?
Ana
Oh bummer, it must be the yogurt that’s messing with the flavor and color. The crumb on this cake definitely is on the dense side, but it is not tangy in flavor. To me it is not too buttery, but you could certainly reduce it next time around if you found it unappealingly buttery. Sorry this didn’t work out for you! I’m going to warn the others who asked about using yogurt and who I gave the green light to do so. Thank you for writing.
For those wanting to sun sour cream for other things: I have baked this thrice so far! Once as is, once with a 1:1 swap creme fraiche in place of the sour cream, and once with the sour cream amount equally divided between sour cream, creme fraiche, and yoghurt. It’s worth mentioning that creme fraiche has a higher fat content than sour cream, by about 10%. So if subbing entirely for yoghurt, you will miss that content. Both versions I played with were absolutely outstanding, and we actually preferred them to the original. This cake does get better with age. I also rubbed a huge amount of lemon zest into the superfine sugar before using. Delightful!
★★★★★
Thank you for sharing your notes Liz! So interesting and helpful. I know I would love the creme fraiche variation. And the lemon zest rubbed into the sugar also sounds wonderful. Happy holidays!!
Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe. Pound cake is a favorite in our house and this one gets our highest rating…YUM! For anyone out there who uses einkorn flour and always worries about whether or not they can substitute it for all-purpose flour, you absolutely can in this recipe, gram for gram. Next time I make this, I’m going to do a marble version. Can’t wait!
★★★★★
Great to hear, Wendy! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
I have been instructed to make this every week! Easy and delicious. I used half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose. I like that I only make a mess in one bowl!
★★★★★
Great to hear, Tracey! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Easy to put together and absolutely knocked it out of the park with texture and flavor. An absolute delight. Had friends over for coffee and baked this for us to snack on – they were raving. Thanks!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Nancy! Thanks so much for writing 🙂
My family loved this pound cake. It was so moist and delicious. This will be my go to recipe for pound cake.
★★★★★
Great to hear, Linda! Thanks for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks for posting this! I wanted a simple pound cake to go with Maida Heatter’s Hot Fudge Sauce recipe and this was perfect. I made it with buttermilk instead of sour cream, using just over ¾ C buttermilk. The ratio turned out perfectly. I even added about ½ C mini chocolate chips. Made in a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan, it took the full 75 min.
The addition of so much salt is interesting. I used only 2 teaspoons, and the raw batter tasted too salty. However, the baked cake was fully balanced, and didn’t taste salty at all.
If this hadn’t been Deb Perelman’s recipe, I would also have doubted the amount of sugar. But both of you prefer bakes that aren’t too sweet, and even with the sugar on top, the sweetness was very subtle.
Many thanks,
Amy
★★★★★
Great to hear, Amy! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes. I know I would love a buttermilk variation here. Will try. Happy New Year!
I made this with buttermilk too (3/4 cup) as I was out of sour cream. It was outstanding – dense but moist, exactly as pound cake should be. I found it needed 2-3 tbl more flour to reach the batter thickness shown in the photo (I suspect because buttermilk is less thick than sour cream). The crumb was wonderful – sliced perfectly, and was great topped with macerated strawberries and fresh whipped cream. Can’t wait to make this again for the 4th!
★★★★★
Fun! I love buttermilk in any baked good… I will try!
I just made this tonight after work and it came out tasting really great. I didn’t have the turbinado sugar for the top and it was great. The crumb on this cake was lighter then the traditional pound cake. Thenk you for the recipe. I’ve been wanting to make this ever since i saw your recipe.
★★★★★
Great to hear, Meena! Thanks so much for writing. Happy New Year!
I made this yesterday for the family and everyone, from 9 years old to 65, loved it. I used my USA loaf pan and forgot the parchment paper but it slid right out. I want to say that you and Deb Perlman have both contributed so many great recipes and wonderful meals that have been devoured by friends and family. Thank you!
★★★★★
Awwww so nice to hear this, Stacey. I adore Deb 💕💕💕💕
Love it! Very tasty and delicious! And effortless and easy!
★★★★★
Great to hear, Carla!
Delicious! Effortless and easy! Great flavor! I love no stand mixer, no creaming the butter and sugar, and no alternating milk etc. This is a keeper! Thank you
Right?! Isn’t the method so refreshing? Thanks so much for writing.
Hey Ali! Made this once and it was so delicious!! I have extra sour cream on hand and figured I might as well make a loaf for a future time. Any thoughts on freezing instructions? I figure if I bake it as normal, let cool, and then wrap in plastic wrap/put in a ziplock bag it should last. Any changes you’d recommend to that plan?! Thanks!
★★★★★
No changes to recommend! Your method sounds great. So nice to read all of this.
I made a recipe and a half for my large bundt pan (using 5 eggs). I might like this better than the classic pound cake I’ve been making for years.
★★★★★
Great to hear, Lisa! I’ve been meaning to try this in a bundt pan. Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes 🙂
This is THE BEST. Making it for the second time, and I went out and bought the cookbook, lots of good recipes there!!!
★★★★★
It’s a beautiful book! Great to hear all of this 🙂 🙂 🙂
I made my first “Better-Than-Classic Pound Cake” last night to bring to a friend today for her birthday…the recipe is very easy, and I love the fact that it is all prepared in one bowl and mixed by hand! I used a 9x5x2.75 inch loaf pan, and baked it for 1 hour and 10 minutes. It was perfect! It was moist, buttery and had just the right sweetness level…this recipe is a keeper. In fact, I have my second one baking in the oven right now…the aroma is heavenly…and this one is staying right here with us!
★★★★★
So nice to read this, Carmela! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes. Happy Baking! I could use a slice of pound cake right now 🙂 🙂 🙂
Best pound cake I’ve ever had. Even with having to sub the sour cream (the container wasn’t sealed when I went to open it >:( ) with greek yogurt and butter, it was moist, fluffy, and rich. Used pasteurized egg whites for the eggs. Definite keeper.
★★★★★
Great to hear that the yogurt sub worked! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes 🙂
This recipe is perfect. Came out absolutely delicious and was easy to bake with my two little girls. We made the mini versions to give as Valentine gifts. We ended up making them again this weekend because they are so good! Thank you for sharing.
How fun?! Thanks so much for writing and sharing this. Happy Belated Valentine’s Day 🙂 🙂 🙂
Easy to make received compliments everyone loved it. Thanks for sharing your recipes love using them.
★★★★★
Great to hear, Ed! Thanks so much for your kind words 🙂
Came out very greasy, not sure where I went wrong but maybe not measuring out flour in grams?
★★★
That definitely could be the issue.
This recipe was delicious and very simple! I was a little confused how to do the sling. I understood the part about going up the long sides, but was not sure where to cut the sling on the short side? I am a bit of a novice baker, so perhaps this is obvious to most people. Also, I did not have vanilla paste (and it still turned out well), but may want to invest in some in the future. It’s quite pricey, if you don’t bake a lot. Ali, thank you for another great recipe! I love your website!
★★★★★
So nice to read this, Jennifer! Thank you for your kind words 🙂 🙂 🙂 The next time I make a parchment sling, I’ll make a quick video … it’s easy, and I think a video would help better explain it than words.
Hi Alexandra, do you think it would work to add fresh blueberries and lemon zest? I’ve been sending off your sourdough bread to my niece who is in nursing school back east. She has requested a berry sweet bread of some sort. Not sure if blueberries would work in this recipe and travel well.
Hi Lisa! I think this is actually a great recipe to try berries and lemon zest in. I would use 1-1.5 cups berries and the zest of one lemon. Good luck!