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Perfect Every Time – Almond Pound Cake – tender and buttery, this pound cake is always a winner. Great toasted, served plain, with ice cream or added to trifles or as a layer in an ice cream freezer cake.
For more than 30 years I’ve been baking Granny’s Pound Cake using my mother-in-law’s recipe. I always receive compliments and requests for the secret that makes it so good. You know the old saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it?” For all those years I figured the perfect pound cake didn’t need me messing with it. But, over the past year I started to wonder … what if? The “what if” turned into tiny tweaks and changes and now I have a new favorite pound cake! It’s not dramatically different from the original recipe but the flavor seemed to be enhanced and the crust more pronounced.
This is one of the most versatile cake recipes you can make.
First, it’s remarkably easy to make. It’s wonderful served plain, warm from the oven or you can slide a slice in the toaster, which is my husband’s favorite way to eat Pound Cake. The aroma is absolutely intoxicating. It’s also great served with a dusting of powdered sugar, or a scoop of ice cream, and be sure to try a fresh fruit garnish, or cut it into cubes and layered in a trifle. The cake can also be baked in two loaf pans and frozen with remarkable results. Almond Pound Cake baked in loaf pans make-out-of-this world delicious Icebox Cakes.
For a sunny summer treat, substitute lemon juice for the almond extract, and add a drizzle of lemon icing on top. It’s great with blueberries thrown in too!
I love to sift a little powdered sugar on top and let my guests decide if fruit or ice cream is best on the side.
On the first Sunday of each month we host a family dinner with our adult children, their spouses and children.
My husband and I cherish those special Sunday dinners. We know how lucky we are to have our family living close by and even luckier that they carve time out of their busy schedules to spend an evening with us. I made this cake for our recent family gathering and by the time the leftovers were divvied out, we were left with two small slices. Needless to say, it is loved by all!
You should try this with a scoop of Dulce de Leche ice cream – oh my!
If you haven’t tried baking with Vanilla Bean Paste, you should try it in this cake.
The rich paste combined with my favorite almond extract produces the most amazing flavor. I’m seriously smitten with this cake! I thought about updating my old post for Granny’s Pound Cake but decided to leave her legacy intact. It’s a great cake recipe too, with just a slightly different flavor profile.
Finally, my husband said he wishes I wouldn’t always give this cake away. He has a birthday coming up, perhaps I should make an Almond Pound Cake just for him!
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Tender and buttery, this pound cake is always a winner. Great toasted, served plain, with ice cream, layered in a trifle or as a layer in an icebox cake. This is the most versatile cake you'll ever make
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature (3 sticks)
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups cake flour, sifted after measuring
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 6 jumbo eggs, or 7 large eggs
- powdered sugar for garnish if desired
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Grease and flour a large (12 cup) bundt pan or two loaf pans.
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla bean paste, almond extract and salt. Beat just until incorporated.
- Alternate adding eggs and flour beating just until the yolk disappears and the flour is incorporated. Do not over beat at this point.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Remove from the mixer and fold a few times with a rubber spatula pulling up the batter from the bottom of the bowl.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top to distribute evenly.
Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes. Check at about 90 minutes then go from there.
- Allow the cake to cool before inverting onto a serving plate. Store leftovers in a cake-taker or freeze in an airtight container.
If you can't find 6 jumbo eggs, I have tested this cake with 7 large eggs with wonderful results.
Substitute 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice for the almond extract and drizzle the baked and cooled cake with an icing made of lemon juice and powdered sugar.
Here are some of my favorite tools and products used for this cake:
The small print: If you decide to purchase something at Amazon after following my affiliate link, I receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, which I use to pay for web hosting and services for this blog.
Here are a few more Pound Cake recipes you might like:
- The BEST Coconut Pound Cake ~ from Barefeet in the Kitchen
- Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake ~ from The Cafe Sucre Farine
- Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake ~ from The View from Great Island
- Chocolate Pound Cake ~ from Saving Room for Dessert
Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a beautiful, wonderful weekend.
Tricia
I made this twice. The first time I made half the recipe because I was making it at home to see if it was good enough to be served at the restaurant where I work. I loved it, so I made the full recipe at work and it had dense streaks through it. It wasn’t underbaked. It also seemed to really deflate afterwards and was much more dense that the cake I made at home. I’m trying to prevent the same problem from happening again. All ingredients were at room temperature, and I mixed it low and minimally after adding the flour. I saw on the King Arthur flour website that this problem can occur if the butter and sugar are creamed at too high a speed. Do you think this is what happened or could it be something else?
Hi Lisa – the only thing that comes to mind is maybe it was not mixed well enough? Not a criticism as I’m sure you’re a great baker. The cake deflates a little, just like most cakes do. But I’ve never had dense streaks. My second guess would be under-baked but you feel sure that wasn’t the case. I hope you’ll try again. Perhaps it was a fluke. I have made this cake dozens of times over the years – so much so that I call it a Perfect Every Time Almond Pound Cake. It normally has very consistent results. Again sorry you had troubles – maybe check the oven temperature?
This is to die for
Thank you Eleanor! We LOVE this cake and make it for everything 🙂
Could you use almond flour instead of regular?
Hi Maria. I have not tested this recipe with all almond flour. If you do not have a problem with gluten, I would try substituting only half the flour to start out with. Perhaps if you test with all almond flour, only make half the recipe into a loaf cake. Hope that helps. Let us know how it turns out for yoU!
Can you make this recipe as a loaf cake? I would like to make someting that serves 8 instead of 16. Thank you.
Hi Laura – yes this cake works well in a loaf pan. It makes two loaf cakes, but you can freeze one for later. Enjoy!
I make a similar cake. I use Crisco to rub the bundt pan well and instead of flour, I sprinkle sugar in the bundt pan and use it like I would flour. It makes the “crust” of the cake a bit crunchy and is wonderful with fruit or plain
Hi Sharon – the sugar sprinkle sounds like a wonderful idea. My husband would love that!
Tricia-your cake is incredible. Could you replace a bit of the sugar with almond paste or would it change the texture of the cake?
Hi Patricia – I think it’s worth a try – maybe make a smaller / half size loaf cake and see how it does. I adore baking with almond paste but haven’t tried it here. Thanks for the great question and good luck!
I make my own almond paste and add it in along with I triple the almond extract! I have made this recipe several times and it is always a great hit!! So glad I found this recipe!
Thank you Sharon – I love your changes/additions and bet it was so good! I adore almond flavored desserts – and guess you do too! Thanks for taking the time to come back and comment and for trying our recipe!
wonderful delish pound cake and its my fav and go to. i seem to be over cooking it and its coming out very dry. help
Hi Kari. Not sure what you are asking. Maybe check your oven temperature? Oven thermometers are pretty cheap and worth the investment if it prevents dry cakes. Good luck and let me know if you have additional questions!
Hey. Sorry for not being clear. I have a gas stove, does that make a difference in the cook time? The top also had major cracks in it.
Hi Kari – you have a gas oven correct? That should not affect the cake. However, I would start checking the cake at about 1 hour and 15 minutes for doneness. Use a long wooden skewer inserted in the middle. It sounds like it is just being over-baked. Good luck. This is a great cake but may need an adjustment to the total time in the oven. Thank you!
Any changes for high altitude?
Hi Jenny – great question but it has been years since I had to make adjustments for high altitude and I’m just not sure. I know that’s not the answer you needed. Good luck!
I am excited to try your almond pound cake recipe however, I don’t have vanilla bean paste. Will it be the exact same measurement when using vanilla extract?
Thank you!
Hi Lori – it is absolutely fine to use vanilla extract – I’ll update the recipe so that it references both. Thanks for the great question and hope you love it. Such a great cake!!
This looks beautiful! Have you ever made it in cake pans? Making wedding cake for friends and really want to do an almond cake-would oven degree and cooking time alter much? Thank you for sharing and I am looking forward to trying this recipe!
~Stacey
Hi Stacey! I have not made this recipe into a layer cake but I bet it would be terrific. I would cut the cooking time in half, at least, and watch it closely. This cake freezes beautifully so if you give it a try, I would definitely bake ahead to make sure this will work for the wedding. Pound cakes are more dense than a typical wedding cake, but hope that’s what you are going for. Good luck and thanks so much!
How much vanilla extract should i use to substitute for vanilla bean paste?
Hi Katie – use equal amounts vanilla extract to vanilla bean paste. Sorry to be so late in responding – we are traveling out of the country. Hope you like the cake as much as we do!
Can I use regular all purpose flour?
Hi Martha – regular flour will work fine – just be sure to sift it twice. Thanks for giving our recipe a try! And sorry to be so late in responding, we are traveling out of the country.
I can’t find Vanilla bean paste at my gricer’s, can I substitute vanilla extract?
Hi Martha – vanilla extract in equal amounts works great – sorry to be so long in responding but we are traveling out of the country. Good luck!
This is a delicious cake. The texture is amazing. Whenever I bring t to a gathering, people rave about it. I am wondering if I might be overcooking it a bit. I get a hard crust on the top. Is that normal? Or should I cut the baking time down a bit? Thanks for this amazing recipe!
Hi Diana – thanks for the feedback. The cake should have crust but it shouldn’t be hard. Perhaps you could lower the middle rack in your oven so the cake is actually in the middle of the oven, not just the rack. Hope that makes sense. I would also cut the baking time by just a few minutes, and you can also try tenting the cake with foil for the last 30 minutes of baking. Thank you for trying this recipe. It’s always a hit everywhere I take it too. Thanks!!!
I never leave comments on recipes but I have to for this cake. This is the most delicious cake I’ve had in ages! It’s super easy to make to. I’ve made it in a regular bundt pan twice; both times it came out perfect.
I decided to try making these smaller in the Wilton 6 mini bundt cake pan. I found this recipe makes at least 18 mini cakes. You only need 2-3 tablespoons of batter per cake. Bake it at 300 F for 45 minutes. Now you have the perfect individual cakes for tea parties!
Thank you for this fabulous and amazing recipe!
I am thrilled you loved the recipe Rebecca. We adore this recipe and I cannot count the times I’ve made it. Love that you made minis! I’ll have to try that soon – such a great treat for a party or gathering of any kind. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment – it made my day! Woohoo!!!
Thank you, Tricia.
This recipe is a keeper!
My only challenge was the baking time. I used an aluminum tube pan, since I don’t own a bundt pan, and at the stated 300 degrees Fahrenheit (I used an oven thermometer to ensure I was at the right temp), the baking time was 2 1/2 hours. That said, the final outcome was well worth the wait. A moist cake with lovely texture and perfectly almond-y. My new favorite pound cake!!
Thanks so much for the feedback Madge – this cake is our favorite! Great to know this can be done in a tube pan too. Thanks for trying our delicious recipe!
Hi
Nutritional facts are very important to me.
Pat:
I’m with you…I track my calories, fat, sugar, etc. so make it a point to figure out nutritional info for most of what I cook.
I calculated the nutritional content with Club OS (an app included with my gym membership) for this recipe, so that I can see how far off the rails I’ve gone when indulging in that second (um, third) slice!! 🙂
Happy to share!
Servings: 16
Nutritional information per serving:
Calories: 462
Total Fat: 22.85 grams
Saturated Fat: 13.53 grams
Trans Fat 0 grams
Cholesterol: 124 grams
Sodium: 172.04 grams
Total Carbohydrate: 59.03 grams
Dietary Fiber: 0.44 grams
Sugar: 38.56 grams
Protein: 5.47 grams
Hi, I’ve noticed that this recipe doesn’t use baking powder or baking soda. How does the cake rise??
Hi Mariana – pound cakes don’t rise a great deal from batter to finished cake. It is supposed to be more dense than a regular cake – and I think that’s where it got the name of “pound cake.” The cake does rise and has an amazing texture. I included a picture of the batter so you can see how thick it is. Hope that answers your terrific question! Thanks for reading the recipe and I really hope you give it a try. It has been tested numerous times – and I continue to make it every chance I get. Enjoy!
I have two pans that would make a total of 16 mini loafs how long would I bake them for?
Oh I am not sure Talia – but I would start checking them about 45 minutes in and watch closely. Not sure how thin these are. If baking in two loaf pans, I usually bake the same amount of time – 1 hour 45 minutes. If these are mini loaves they must be a lot thinner. You will be able to tell by looking at them and can make the final determination with a toothpick. Hope that helps! You’re going to love the taste!
What a perfect silky soft crumb. Lovely recipe Tricia.
Have a beautiful week ahead.
🙂 Mandy xo
Thank you Mandy!
Beautiful cake, Tricia, and I love these kind of simple, unfrosted cakes that can be enjoyed with tea or served with fresh berries and cream. Delightful! Reminds me a little of the Heritage Bundt cake I love but with cream cheese instead of milk. I need to try this soon 🙂 Pinning!
Thanks Susan – I love the simple recipes too. Sometimes they just taste better. Hope you love it as much as we do!
It’s late and I have jet lag, what I meant to say was that I need to hire you as a photographer for my blog because your photos are stunning.
I bet you are glad to be home after all your traveling lately. Can’t wait to read your wrap up of your amazing adventures. Thanks again!
This pound cake looks perfect and so delicious. The cream cheese puts it over the top. I need to hire you as an photographer for my blog. Your photos are stunning. Have a relaxing weekend.
Aww thanks so much Gerlinde. I wish we lived close by so we could share. Hope you have a lovely weekend too!
Oooh…I heart pound cake, and this one looks amazing. Love the almond flavor! 🙂
Me too Betty. Almond anything calls my name but especially this cake. Have a lovely weekend!
It just looks like cake perfection. Who can argue with granny!! I simply have to make this and feel a trip to the store to buy almond extract is in order! Beautiful simplicity at its best!
Thanks Dom. I hope you love it as much as we do. Enjoy and have a lovely weekend.
Hello! I only have medium sized eggs, should I use eight? Thank you!
Hi Sarah – no I think the cake will be fine with 7 medium eggs, unless you think they are really small. Hope you enjoy! Let us know how it turns out for you.
Hi Tricia
How about drizzling a salted caramel sauce on top of cake.
I bet it would be delicious Jackie! The cake is sweet so ice cream is usually our favorite topping but caramel is always a good choice too. Thanks and hope you get the chance to make it.
Hi Tricia, this looks like a keeper for sure, looks delicious. Love the photo of the powdered sugar falling!! Have a great week-end.
Thanks Cheri – you too!
Absolutely perfect and such beautiful photos (as always! 🙂 I love pound cake and how versatile it is. Perfect on it’s own, but also great with so many other things. Pinned!
Thank you Jennifer! Pound cake is a favorite with my family and especially my husband. Have a wonderful weekend!
It looks and sounds totally amazing, Tricia! I haven’t made pound cake with cream cheese before and now I know I must. The almond twist on it is perfect for me and I know it’s got to be an amazing dessert for your monthly family dinners (which sound like such a fun and special time). I am pinning and need to try soon! Have a great weekend!
Thanks Monica! I bet you will love the almond flavor in this cake. Hope you have a beautiful weekend and thanks again 🙂
What smooth and creamy crumb! The cake looks fabulous, Tricia.
Thank you Angie! Have a happy weekend.
Tricia this is just pure cake perfection! The texture looks incredible, and I adore almond in every shape and form, I am so excited to get out my bundt pan and make this!
Thanks so much Sue – this cake is a winner and really is perfect every time. Enjoy!
Hi the cake looks yummy but how come without baking powder?
I adapted this from my mother-in-law’s recipe and it always works great without it. It has a great tight texture and is made the old fashioned way. If you google something about putting baking powder in pound cake, you’ll see a ton of results about the old recipes. If you mix it correctly, you’ll get a good rise on the cake without the extra chemical leavening. Here’s a good explanation: What Happens If I Don’t Put Baking Powder in a Pound Cake?