Super Lush Sour Cream Pound Cake (Loaf)

Look - I hate calling things the best. Because it's probably not the best pound cake you're ever going to have (it might be). But this vanilla pound cake recipe? It is my best. The recipe was given to me by one of my best friends Chelsea, and the first time we had it, my head almost exploded.

We love this pound cake recipe so much in my house that I always have to make two, because my husband can easily finish a whole one by himself. This is the cake I make when I need something that is super easy, incredibly sturdy, and can just be wrapped up and thrown into the car. I make it for desserts, for people who have had babies, to bribe my husband into doing jobs for me, and just for ourselves to have quite a lot of the time.

This sour cream pound cake recipe is everything that I want in a cake, packaged up into a nice polite loaf cake. It is super buttery, with the most amazing, dense but tender crumb. You can make it days ahead and it is still fine. It is delicious unglazed, or you can finish it with a simple lemon glaze for a delightfully crusty finish.

Don't let the long bake time on this throw you off. The actual process of this is super easy. There are two sizes of pan that you can use, and I have broken the whole process down for you!

If you are after something with a little chocolate, I took this vanilla batter and marbled it with chocolate for the most amazing marble cake recipe!

Sour Cream is our friend.

The trick to that amazing crumb? Sour Cream. This could be called a sour cream pound cake - there is more sour cream in the recipe than there is butter.

Sour cream adds a slight moisture to the recipe without making it gummy or claggy. The fat in the sour cream adds richness, and it gives the cake a very slight tangy flavour. It's just the best. You'll see what I mean when you make it.

I haven't tried subbing greek yoghurt sorry so I don't know if it would work. Greek yoghurt is lower in fat than sour cream is, so it may not have the same outcome.

What pan should I make a Pound Cake in?

I have made this cake so many times over the last few years, and ended up scaling up the recipe slightly for my personal use so that it can be made in a pullman pan. A pullman pan has nice square sides and holds a little more batter than a regular loaf pan.

However, I know that not everyone will own a pullman pan, so for the sake of this recipe, I have scaled it back so that it uses a regular sized 1 pound loaf pan (which is typically measures 8.5" x 4.5" x 2.5" (21.5 x 11.5 x 6.3cm). This is the same loaf pan that I use for my banana bread recipe.

I also made the larger scale recipe in a 1.25 pound loaf pan (9" x 5" x 2.5" / 23 x 13 x 6.3cm), and it worked well too - but if you love making loaf cakes as much as I do, I really recommend investing in the pullman pan.

Here are the three pan sizes used in the images:

• 1 Pound Loaf Pan: 8.5" x 4.5" x 2.5" / 21.5 x 11.5 x 6.3cm
• 1.25 Pound Loaf Pan: 9" x 5" x 2.5" / 23 x 13 x 6.3cm
• Pullman Pan: 9" x 4" x 4" / 23 x 10.1 x 10.1 cm

If you have the regular 1 pound pan, make the pound cake as written in the recipe. If you want the scaled up version for making it in a pullman pan, there are quantities in the notes section of the recipe.

Scaling up the recipe for a pullman pan.

As you can see in the below diagram, the pans yield different shaped loaves, and you can probably see why I like the shape that the pullman loaf makes so much.

I just scaled up the recipe to use 4 eggs instead of 3, but kept the baking soda quantity the same - this is not a typo. Because of this, the larger quantity recipe will give a slightly denser cake, which is how I prefer my pound cake, but it is already such a tiny quantity of baking soda I didn't want to reduce it any more than it is. Both ways work fine. You can see the crumb produced in the photo below.

How to get a perfect crack on a pound cake

Pound cake baked in a loaf pan often has that classic crack or divot down the middle which gives a cute v shape when you cut into a slice. This is super easy to achieve - there are a few ways of doing this, but I do it by piping a line of softened butter down the middle.

Basically the cake is going to crack regardless, so by piping butter down the middle, you create a point of weakness from the melted butter and it means that you can control where the cake cracks.

This is totally an optional step - you can see in the images below that I made two cakes, both with and without, to show the difference! The one with the butter piped on it cracks much more cleanly.

I have also seen people cut a little line of butter, or use oil on a bench scraper or a knife to run a line down the middle. Basically you are just trying to create a little spot of weakness.

How to finish a pound cake - to glaze or not to glaze?

I LOVE finishing this cake off with a glaze - I use my go-to 2 ingredient lemon glaze. I make one batch of it, and once the cake is cool, I paint it all over the outside surface using a pastry brush then leave it to dry.

This gives the most amazing crusty (in a good way) glazed finish.

The cake is absolutely delicious unglazed and finished with a sprinkle of powdered sugar so if you want to do that too, then go for it.

How to tell when a pound cake is baked

This cake bakes with the low and slow method - when Chelsea sent it to me she had written 'bake for many many minutes'. I bake it at 165°c / 330°f and it takes about an hour and 10 minutes in my oven.

The best way to check that it is done is to insert a skewer or a knife into the cake, and make sure that it comes out clean (a few moist crumbs are ok). If it is at all wet, keep it in the oven to continue baking.

If the cake starts to brown too much for your liking (this can depend on your oven), tent the top with a piece of foil.

Storage and make-ahead tips

One of the many things I love about this pound cake recipe is how well it stores. Kept in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap, it can easily last a week. When we eat it at home we just store it cut side down at room temperature but this depends on your environment and how you are comfortable storing food.

This cake can comfortably be made 2-3 days in advance and still be an amazing texture (in fact, I think that it gets better the day after you have baked it)

Frequently Asked Questions

What tools and equipment do you use?
You can find a full list of the tools and equipment I use on my products page

Which pan did you use?
I used a 1 lb loaf pan for this recipe, and there are also notes underneath the recipe on how to scale this recipe up to use a pullman pan.

Can pound cake be frozen?
Yes - tightly wrapped, pound cake can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Can this recipe be scaled?
Yes - I almost always double it when I am making it. I find that it is best to make it in a stand mixer if you are making more than one batch to ensure the butter and sugar get creamed properly.