Cake Flour/ Cakes/ Desserts

Vanilla Pound Cake

Vanilla Pound Cake topped with vanilla frosting and fresh blueberries.

Vanilla Pound Cake has the perfect texture of an old fashioned pound cake with just the right amount of vanilla flavoring. A traditional pound cake is heavy with a nice outer crust and a moist center. This recipe ticks all the boxes.

A classic cake recipe from my Great Grandmother. She used shortening instead of lard and baked her cake at 300 F. I made a few tweaks, but every bite still brings back so many fond memories.

Most pound cakes call for all purpose flour, but this one is just perfect with cake flour. I mean its the kind of cake you say, I’ll just have one slice. Then, you find yourself standing over the kitchen counter with a fork snacking until someone catches you. Yep, you may think it won’t happen to you, but wait and see. A good cake is hard to turn down. 🙂

Now that summer is coming to an end and fall is right around the corner. I decided to decorate with blueberries and a lovely vanilla frosting. Soon, I will be baking with pumpkin and cinnamon in a house decorated with pinecones and fall scented candles. But, today I’m enjoying freshly picked hydrangeas with peach tea. Oh yes, and a couple slices of vanilla pound cake.

Sliced vanilla pound cake topped with blueberries.

Tips for Vanilla Pound Cake

  • Measure your ingredients with a scale for the correct amount.
  • Sift your flour.
  • Use room temperature unsalted butter, NOT melted.
  • I baked this cake in a 10×4 inch, 16 Cup Angel Food Cake tube pan, you can use a bundt cake pan, just make sure it is a tube pan.
  • Grease the pan with lard and coat with flour before adding cake batter.
  • Cream butter and sugar together first, before adding in the lard.
  • Make sure to mix eggs in one at a time.
  • To prevent curdling alternate adding the milk and flour mixture into the batter while mixing.
  • Spoon batter into the cake pan, then bang pan on counter a couple times to level the batter.
  • Once cake is baked, let it cool on a rack for ten minutes. Then using oven mitts invert the cake pan onto cooling rack and allow it to drop.
  • If you let the cake cool too long in the pan before inverting, it may get moist and the outer crust will stick to the pan.
  • Let the cake cool completely before decorating with frosting and berries.
  • Store cake in an air tight container at room temperature. You can also slice the un-frosted cake, wrap each slice individually with plastic wrap and freeze for later.
  • If you’re a chocolate lover try this Chocolate Pound Cake Recipe.
Baked old fashioned pound cake.
Traditional pound cake recipe on farmhouse table.
Pound Cake topped with vanilla frosting and blueberries.
Old Fashioned Pound Cake Slice with frosting and blueberries.
Slice of pound cake topped with blueberries.
Vanilla Pound Cake topped with vanilla frosting and fresh blueberries.
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Vanilla Pound Cake Recipe

Vanilla Pound Cake is an easy traditional pound cake recipe with a fluffy moist texture and lovely soft vanilla flavor. Easy Old Fashioned Pound Cake!

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cake, pound cake, vanilla
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 12 slices

Ingredients

  • 3 Cups (375 g) Cake Flour
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/8 tsp Kosher Salt
  • 16 Tbsp (226 grams) Unsalted Butter softened
  • 3 Cups (600 grams) Granulated Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup (113 grams) Lard
  • 5 Large Eggs
  • 1 Cup (250 ml) Whole Milk
  • 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat Oven to 325 F (162 C), then grease and flour a tube pan. ( 10×4 inch, 16 Cup Angel Food Cake Tube Pan)

  2. Using a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment on medium speed cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. (2-3 minutes.)

  4. Add in lard, mix until smooth. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl as needed.

  5. Next, add one egg at a time, mixing until incorporated.

  6. Then, pour in milk alternating with spooning in flour mixture until a cake batter is formed. (alternating prevents curdling)

  7. Mix in vanilla.

  8. Spoon cake batter into prepared cake pan. Give the pan a slight bang on the counter to level batter.

  9. Bake on middle lowest rack for 1 hr and 15 minutes. Edges of cake will be golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake will come out with only moist crumbs not a wet batter.

  10. Once cake is baked, let it cool on a rack for ten minutes. Then using oven mitts invert the cake pan onto cooling rack and allow it to drop.

  11. Let the cake cool completely before decorating with frosting and berries.

4 Comments

  • Reply
    Evon
    September 9, 2019 at 8:03 am

    When do you put in 1/2 cup lard? What lard is used ?

    • Reply
      Jenn
      September 9, 2019 at 8:45 am

      Lard is added in Step 4. You can use any store bought lard brand you choose or shortening.

  • Reply
    V V Massey
    September 12, 2019 at 2:21 am

    Is there a texture or taste difference between the lard and shortening? Are the eggs and milk room temp? Thank you for using the weights.

    • Reply
      Jenn
      September 12, 2019 at 6:17 pm

      For me lard offers a softer texture and much better flavor than shortening.If you are opposed to the lard, you can swap it out for more butter. I just keep coming back to lard for this recipe 🙂 Yes, I usually use room temperature milk and eggs. But have done with cold milk without any problems.

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