Sour Cream Pound Cake is a rich, buttery cake with a tender crumb and moist texture. An easy, delicious pound cake recipe with tangy flavor!
Whether it’s delicious Vanilla Pound Cake, decadent Chocolate Pound Cake, or tangy Sour Cream Pound Cake, pound Cake Recipes prove you don’t need fancy ingredients to get incredible flavor! The perfect Dessert cake that you can serve for Brunch too!
Table of contents
Sabrina’s Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe
Sour Cream Pound Cake is a classic dessert that can be made at home with simple ingredients. It’s a perfect treat for any occasion, from a lazy Sunday morning to a special celebration with family and friends. This rich, buttery cake has a tender crumb and moist texture, thanks to the addition of sour cream in the recipe.
Even if you are new to baking, this cake can be whipped up in no time. With just a few common pantry ingredients, including butter, sugar, eggs, and sour cream, you can make a cake that is moist, flavorful, and beautiful. You don’t have to whip up any fancy frosting either, the bundt pan makes it look show-stopping with just a sprinkle of sugar and spice to finish it off.
What is Pound Cake?
Pound cake is a type of cake that originated in Europe, dating back to the 1700s. The name pound cake comes from the traditional recipe that calls for a pound each of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. While modern recipes may vary in their ingredients and proportions, the basic elements remain the same. Pound cake is known for its dense texture and buttery flavor, making it perfect for layering, adding toppings, or enjoying on its own.
Ingredients
- Butter: It’s simply not a true pound cake recipe without butter, and a lot of it! While a traditional pound cake uses a pound of butter, this recipe replaces half the butter with sour cream. There is a full cup of butter though, so don’t worry, it’s definitely got that classic rich, buttery pound cake taste.
- Sour Cream: Full fat sour cream gives you the same richness you love in pound cake but also adds a delicious tangy flavor. The acidity of sour cream helps give the batter some extra air too so not only does this cake taste amazing, it melts in your mouth too!
- Sugar: Another key ingredient in any pound cake recipe is sugar, in fact traditionally you use a whole pound of sugar. Three cups of sugar is a bit over a pound but the tangy, rich flavors balance it out so its the perfect amount of sweet and buttery.
- Eggs: Now you might think 6 eggs seems like a lot, but it actually takes about 8-9 large eggs to equal a pound! Don’t worry though, this delicious cake is still plenty rich and moist with just 6 eggs.
- Vanilla: Vanilla extract add just a hint of warm sweet aromatic vanilla flavor, and it enhances the creamy, buttery flavors.
- Flour: This cake has just over a pound of flour so it stays true to the classic recipes. All purpose flour is best because it holds up well with all the heavy, rich ingredients so it isn’t too moist or dense.
- Topping: This Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe is so flavorful all on its own, it just needs a light dusting of powdered sugar. Nutmeg and cinnamon both have a beautiful flavor that is like warm, earthy sweetness, so use either or both to add a special finishing touch!
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- Bundt Pan: Using a bundt pan makes your finished result so pretty and welcoming, especially with powdered sugar dusted over the top.
- Baking Spray: Since baking spray contains flour along with oil, it is a great choice to grease your pan when baking, and this recipe is no exception.
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment: Your stand mixer with a paddle attachment will make easy work of all these ingredients. Use your largest mixing bowl to bring everything together nicely.
- Sugar Duster: A sugar duster is a handheld shaker that will allow you to dust sugar on your cake with better control of how much comes out and exactly where it goes on the cake. If you don’t have a duster, a small metal strainer will work in its place.
How to Make Sour Cream Pound Cake
Time needed: 1 hour.
- Prep
Preheat your oven. Generously spray your cake pan with baking spray or oil and dust lightly with flour.
- Wet Ingredients
Cream the butter and sugar on high speed in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Begin adding the sour cream, the eggs one at a time, and finally the vanilla extract, and beat until smooth.
- Dry Ingredients
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a different bowl.
- Combine
Turn the mixer to the lowest speed and mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Bake
Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan. If uneven, use a spatula to gently even out. Bake cake until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean with moist crumbs.
- Cool
Allow the cake to cool in the pan, then invert onto a cake plate or stand.
- Serve
Combine nutmeg and powdered sugar, then dust the sugar over the cooled cake and serve.
Can Pound Cake be made ahead of time?
One of the great things about this tasty pound cake recipe is that it can be made ahead of time. You can refrigerate it for about 2-3 days and it will taste just as fresh as day 1, or you can freeze it for up to 3 months! Once it has cooled completely, remove it from the pan but do not add the powdered sugar topping. Wrap the cake in two layers of plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator or freezer. When you’re ready to serve it, bring the cake to room temperature before dusting with powdered sugar and nutmeg or cinnamon like normal.
Nutritional Facts
Recipe Tips & Tricks
Enjoy buttery Pound Cake made easy by following these helpful tips.
- Achieving Fluffy Cake
- Always ensure your baking powder or baking soda is fresh. Test its effectiveness by dropping a bit into hot water. If it bubbles, it’s good to go!
- Avoid Over-mixing Batter
- Over-mixing can lead to dense pound cake. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until they are combined for the best results.
What to Pair With Pound Cake
Pair your rich Pound Cake with some juicy, tangy fruit on the side, or over the top. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, raspberries, or cherries would all make a great choice. Serving Pound Cake with milk or Chocolate Milk is an easy, classic beverage choice, but you could also pair the buttery cake with something citrusy or fruity. Give homemade Orange Julius a try, or a tart and sweet Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie.
How to Store
- Serve: Once cooled, remove from the pan before serving and storing. You can store baked pound cake either in an airtight container or wrapped with aluminum foil at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Store: If you’d like to extend the shelf life of the cake, you can also store it in the refrigerator for up to a week. Wrap it with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.
- Freeze: Wrap the cooled pound cake tightly in 1-2 layers of plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil. It will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. To thaw, simply remove the cake from the freezer and let it come to room temperature before serving.
Ideas to Serve Sour Cream Pound Cake
Whether you are looking for a tasty treat to serve at your next gathering or want to indulge in something sweet on your own, Sour Cream Pound Cake will not disappoint. This buttery, rich cake makes a great coffee cake during brunch with some berries or fruit. Or you could make it extra sweet and special with a drizzle of Caramel Sauce or pipe on some thick Cream Cheese Frosting.
Frequent Questions
Adding sour cream to a cake recipe like in Sour Cream Pound Cake helps to create a tender and moist texture while also adding a subtle tangy flavor. The acidity in the sour cream also reacts with the baking powder and baking soda to produce a lighter, fluffier cake.
Both buttermilk and sour cream can add moisture to cake recipes. However, sour cream tends to be a richer and more decadent ingredient, which can make cakes even more moist and tender than buttermilk.
Sour cream can be used as a substitute for milk in cake recipes, but it is not a direct replacement. When using sour cream instead of milk, it is important to adjust the recipe accordingly as sour cream has a thicker consistency and a tangier taste than milk. In this cake recipe, it actually replaces some of the butter instead of the milk.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Pound Cake:
- 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 cup sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
For Dusting:
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg , or cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray an 10-inch bundt pan with baking spray.
- To your stand mixer add the butter and sugar on high speed for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add in the sour cream, eggs (one at a time), and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients on the lowest speed setting until just combined.
- Add the batter to your bundt pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 75 -90 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool completely, then invert and place onto a cake stand.
- Mix your powdered sugar and nutmeg in a small bowl then add to a sugar shaker or duster and dust over the baked and cooled cake.
Nutrition
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Variations
- Lemon: Add 1 tablespoon of lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the batter for a bright, citrusy twist. You can also finely grate lemon zest and mix it with the powdered sugar for the topping, or serve the cake with Lemon Curd.
- Chocolate Chip: Mix in 1 cup of chocolate chips to the batter for a decadent treat. Melt another cup of chocolate chips and drizzle over the cake to serve. You can use dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or even white chocolate chips.
- Berries: Fold in 1 cup of fresh blueberries, or other berries, into the batter for a fruity burst of flavor. To prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom, toss them in flour before gently folding them into the batter.
- Cinnamon: To give this cake an even more warm cinnamon flavor besides the topping, you can make a cinnamon sugar swirl. Combine 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon with ½ cup sugar. Pour half the batter into the pan then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over top. Add the remaining batter to the pan and bake as usual.
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