Buttermilk Pound Cake Recipe

Try the bourbon cake with pecans next!

Jump to:

• ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
• 🧾 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• 🥫 Storage
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Frequently asked questions
• 💭 Tips for success
• 📚 Related recipes
• 📞 The last word
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

This easy buttermilk pound cake recipe is always moist, dense, and delicious! It's the perfect base for berries or other fruit because it's not too sweet.

It's also flavorful enough to stand on its own with or without the glorious brown butter glaze that I've included here.

This is a classic southern cake recipe that you'll want to keep handy for those moments when you just need an awesome dessert.

🧾 Ingredients

• Butter
• Sugar
• Large eggs
• Vanilla
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Buttermilk
• Confectioner's sugar

🔪 Instructions

Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the green recipe card below.

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add eggs.
3. Beat in vanilla.
4. Combine all purpose flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
5. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
6. Pour batter into a bundt cake pan, using a rubber spatula to get all of the batter into the pan.
7. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
9. Turn the pan over and let the cake slip out onto the wire rack to finish cooling.

Brown butter glaze

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, watching carefully until it turns golden brown.
2. Mix the butter and vanilla extract with the confectioners sugar until smooth.
3. Add a little milk if you need to thin it down.
4. Spoon glaze over the warm cake.

🥫 Storage

Store the pound cake at room temperature in an airtight container. It should be fine for 4 days or so. Freeze for longer storage - up to 3 months.

👩🏻‍🍳 Frequently asked questions

Here are the questions I am most frequently asked about this recipe.

💭 Tips for success

This classic southern recipe is absolutely one of the simplest desserts you can make. There aren't many ingredients and you probably have all of them in your pantry right now.

Expert tip: If you have a fancy pan with a lot of carved edges it's better to use the baking release spray - it's easier to get all the surfaces covered.

• It is imperative that all ingredients are at room temperature before beginning!
• Use a heavy bundt cake pan. It will bake more evenly and have a better texture.
• Add a little lemon zest if you like.
• Grease the bundt pan well, whatever you use.
• You can use 2 loaf pans instead of the bundt pan - start checking for doneness at 50 minutes.
• Butter is not the best thing to grease the pan with. The milk solids in the butter can cause sticking.
• Make sure the cake is all the way done. The center will register 210F on a insta-read thermometer or you can stick a toothpick in it to see if it comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
• Let cool in the pan at least 10 minutes, or as directed in your recipe.
• Slow ovens for longer periods usually work better than hotter temperatures.
• Bake a day ahead of time so that the flavors have a chance to mellow and blend.

You can slice it and place softened ice cream between the layers (or jam or mousse). You can cube it and use it in a punch bowl cake. Really, so many possibilities!

📚 Related recipes

I used to hate buying a quart of buttermilk for a recipe and then just using a cup or two. Here are some recipes to help you deliciously use up the rest of the buttermilk.

• Honey Buttermilk Bread is a reader favorite! It's a light, slightly sweet loaf that rises beautifully. A good one for beginners.
• Buttermilk Banana Bread is so moist and delicious!
• Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins are so tender with big juicy blueberries!
• Southern Buttermilk Biscuits are light and flaky - these are the real deal, y'all.
• White Texas Sheet Cake is moist with a delicate coconut flavor - so good! Nothing like it.
• Chocolate Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Port Wine is absolutely one of my favorite cakes. SO delicious!

📞 The last word

If you are reminiscing with someone about the southern desserts of your childhood this one will just about always make the list. There's something so comforting about this no-nonsense cake that it plays a role in almost every southern cookbook ever written.

And really, it deserves to be there. It is as equally comfortable swathed in plump, fresh berries or juicy ripe peaches as it is served with a sweet glaze or scoop of ice cream.

This is the cake equivalent of a worn quilt and a favorite movie with thunder rumblings and rain spattering against the window - pure comfort.

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!

If you love this recipe please give it a 5 star rating. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

First published May 1, 2019. Last updated July 3, 2021 with minor edits to copy.