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Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake is an old-fashioned recipe that yields a big, beautiful moist cake for special occasions like Valentine’s Day or any time of year!
Pair this pound cake with my Boozy Macerated Strawberries or my Simple Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce Recipe.
Quick Look: Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
- ⏲️ Prep Time: 15 minutes
- ⏲️ Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- ⏲️ Total Time: 2 hours (not including 2 hours 20 minutes cooling)
- 👨👩👧👦 Servings: 16
- 🌽 Cuisine & Heritage: Classic Southern American
- 🍽️ Calories: 538 calories per serving (more nutritional info in recipe card)
- 🥦 Dietary Info: Vegetarian; can be made Dairy Free & Gluten Free
- 🟢 Difficulty: Easy
- 🔥 Cooking Method: Oven Baked
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: This cream cheese pound cake has a dense yet tender texture, lightly sweet flavor, and a crunchy crust.
- 🔑 Top Tip: Use a stand mixer for easiest mixing and bake in a bundt or tube pan for best results.
- 🍷 Drink Pairings: Pair this with coffee or sweet iced tea, a glass of chilled sparkling wine, or a mug of herbal tea for a comforting finish.
- ❄️ Storage: Store leftover cake in a cake carrier for up to 3-5 days. Freeze leftovers for 3 months.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple ingredients come together quickly for an easy cake batter and ultimately, the BEST old-fashioned cream cheese pound cake imaginable.
- Two Step Method: This simple method produces a delicious, old-fashioned pound cake that tastes as good as one made by any southern baker!
- Perfect Texture: The cake is dense yet moist, and the crumb is surprisingly light with a slight tang.
- Ideal for Gatherings or Bake Sales: In particular, this cream cheese pound cake recipe makes a big cake. If you are baking this to take to a gathering, for a school bake sale, or just have a large family who love dessert, this is your easy recipe.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“So happy to finally find a pound cake recipe that the whole fam loves! Tried this one out and added lemon extract and everyone said it tastes super delicious. Thanks for the recipe!”
Table of Contents
- Quick Look: Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake Old Fashioned Recipe
- Ingredients
- Variations & Substitutions
- How to Make Cream Cheese Pound Cake
- Recipe FAQs
- Serving Suggestions
- Expert Tips
- More Southern Cake Recipes You’ll Love
- Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake Old Fashioned Recipe
Over 25 years ago, I tore a page from a Southern Living and it went into my infamous giant stack of ‘recipes to try’. However, I wouldn’t actually make this recipe until about three decades later when I moved to Charleston, South Carolina.
For those of you new to Not Entirely Average, I am not a baker, so upon baking this old fashioned pound cake for the first time, I was surprised and delighted to see how few ingredients I needed.
The best part of this method is the fact that there are two steps, so in terms of cake recipes, this is an easy one. It’s also now my go-to easy pound cake recipe for whenever I have to say thank you to somebody or if company is coming.
Ingredients
- Vegetable Shortening: You’ll need a little shortening to grease the pan. You can swap this for a tablespoon of melted butter if you prefer.
- Unsalted Butter: You can swap unsalted butter for salted butter, but keep in mind that each stick of salted butter adds about ¼ teaspoon of salt, which will slightly change the flavor.
- Cream Cheese: Be sure to use the block-style cream cheese, not the spread. It adds a richness and creaminess that butter alone won’t deliver.
- Bleached Cake Flour: Using cake flour instead of all-purpose gives the cake a lighter texture and more tender crumb. You can use all-purpose, but the texture may be a little heavier and tougher.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations & Substitutions
- With the addition of flavorings, you can easily change the flavor of a regular pound cake to something bright. Oftentimes, I will add lemon zest and lemon extract to achieve a lemon cream cheese pound cake.
- Many southern recipes also use nut extracts and floral extracts. Next time I may experiment with violet or butter pecan. The best results are using the main ingredient and supporting flavors your eaters will enjoy.
How to Make Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Scroll down for the full printable recipe or stick around for the step-by-step breakdown with photos to walk you through every delicious detail.
1
Prep the Pan
Preheat the oven to 300°F and use a pastry brush to brush about a tablespoon of melted butter all over the sides, bottom, and tube of a Bundt cake pan or tube pan. Use about a tablespoon of the cake flour to flour the pan, making sure to get the entire inside coated.
2
Beat the Butter & Sugar
Into the bowl of a stand mixer, place the softened butter and cream cheese. Beat only to combine them, about 45 seconds to 1 minute. The mixture will be smooth.
Gradually add in granulated sugar. Here’s where the mixing matters; you’ll need to beat it for 5 minutes, until the butter, cream cheese, and sugar is very light, and very fluffy.
3
Add Eggs & Flour
Next comes the addition of 6 eggs. Add one at a time and beat until just blended, about 30 seconds. Pre-sifted cake flour is added and beaten until smooth, about 30 seconds. Lastly, vanilla.
4
Bake
Pour batter into the prepared cake pan using a rubber spatula to scrape any remaining batter left in the bowl. Place the cake into your preheated oven and bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
5
Serve & Enjoy
Cool in pan 20 minutes. Remove from pan, and let it cool completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Slice and enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
As it suggests, the proportions of a pound cake are right there in the name. Traditional pound cakes call for one pound each of four ingredients; a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs, and a pound of flour. It’s dense and delicious!
Let all the ingredients come to room temperature first, as it helps them incorporate properly. Then, be sure to beat the butter and sugar together for at least 5 minutes. the air you incorporate as this stage is the only thing that will help the cake rise, so don’t cut this mixing short! Also, be sure to bake the cake in a tube or bundt pan for even cooking.
The function of leavening agents in baked products is to hasten the expansion of dough or, in the case of a cake, the batter.
Leavening agents such as baking soda, baking powder, and salt produce a volume increase which improves the appearance as well as the texture of the final product.
In this recipe, creaming the butter and the sugar will create what is referred to as a mechanical leavener. The process of creaming integrates tiny air bubbles into the mixture as the sugar crystals physically cut through the structure of the fat. Eggs are also leavening agents because they integrate air into the batter.
Despite being absent the typical components we think of as acting as leaveners, this cake will rise with the addition of these mechanical leaveners (air and eggs).
Serving Suggestions
If I add anything to this cake, it’s fresh fruit like fresh berries (in particular fresh strawberries), a thin drizzle of lemon glaze, freshly whipped cream, a tablespoon-sized drizzle of smoked honey, or a dusting of powdered sugar. My Dad would argue ice cream merits a mention here, but I’m a purist. I get better results the less I dress this cake. Enjoy with a cup of coffee, and that’s all you need!
Love easy cake recipes? You’ll definitely enjoy this Semi-Homemade Cranberry Orange Christmas Cake!
Expert Tips
- If you own a stand mixer, pull it out and fit it with the paddle attachment for this recipe. It does a far better job, faster and for longer, than the handheld electric mixer.
- If you do not have a stand mixer, handheld will work just fine. Do commit though to the full 5 minutes of beating time required when beating the butter, cream cheese, and sugar together. It’s about it being mixed well, and adding that air!
- To really achieve a perfect pound cake, I do not recommend loaf pans for this method. This recipe will require baking in a 12 cup Bundt pan or a 10-inch tube pan. A traditional loaf pan, even with the thick batter divided, has never baked up correctly for me.
- Want to top with a glaze? Combine the juice of a fresh orange, the juice of a fresh lemon, and roughly 2 cups of powdered sugar until you achieve a drizzle-able but still slow-to-spread consistency.
More Southern Cake Recipes You’ll Love
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Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Equipment
- stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or an electric handheld mixer
- 12 cup Bundt pan or 10-inch tube pan
Ingredients
- vegetable shortening, for greasing pan; may substitute 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
- 1½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 3 cups + 1 tablespoon bleached cake flour, sifted; I am using Swans Down
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F. Generously coat a 10-inch tube pan with shortening and dust with flour. Alternatively, melt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter and use a pastry brush to 'paint' the butter up the sides, the bottom, and the tube (and dust with flour).
- Beat butter and cream cheese with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth, about 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add eggs; beat until just blended, about 30 seconds. Add flour; beat until smooth, about 30 seconds. Stir in vanilla.
- Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan or tube pan. Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
- Cool in pan 20 minutes. Remove from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Because of the high sugar content of this cake, it will develop a delicious, crunchy crust on top, that may separate from the cake as it cools.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- If you own a stand mixer, pull it out and fit it with the paddle attachment for this recipe. It does a far better job, faster and for longer, than the handheld electric mixer.
- If you do not have a stand mixer, handheld will work just fine. Do commit though to the full 5 minutes of beating time required when beating the butter, cream cheese, and sugar together. It’s about it being mixed well, and adding that air!
- To really achieve a perfect pound cake, I do not recommend loaf pans for this method. This recipe will require baking in a 12 cup Bundt pan or a 10-inch tube pan. A traditional loaf pan, even with the thick batter divided, has never baked up correctly for me.
- Want to top with a glaze? Combine the juice of a fresh orange, the juice of a fresh lemon, and roughly 2 cups of powdered sugar until you achieve a drizzle-able but still slow-to-spread consistency.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
With much gratitude and appreciation, this recipe courtesy of our friends at Southern Living Magazine!
I had a pound cake recipe that I loved and lost it in a move. The recipe was similar to yours with one difference it was started in a cold oven. Why start in a cold oven vs preheated???
Good morning, Beverly and thanks for the comment/query! So, you know when you cut into a pound cake how dense it is? That solid wall of crumb? There are MANY pound cake methods that require the cake to begin in a cold oven for the purpose of that dense, tight crumb pound cake is known for. Starting cold means preventing the cake from rising quickly. Or at least that is the science I have had explained to me behind it. The recipe I share here is from Southern Living Magazine, those folks who test, taste, and test again! This is among just a handful of recipes for pound cake I have seen which do NOT specify starting in a cold oven. I get great results every time I bake this, so would love to know how you enjoy it versus the method you unfortunately lost. Jenny
I would like to make this recipe, but I would love to add lemon zest and fresh lemon juice. How much should I add of each?
Ana Maria, I have added lemon zest to my batter before. I left it as ‘us enjoying it with the zest of one whole lemon.’ I have not added lemon juice to the batter, rather made a simple glaze of lemon juice and Confectioners’ sugar (using the entire zested lemon) and found the combination spot on. If an entire lemon seems a lot to you, keep in mind that this is a heavy and very dense cake. Assuredly, if anything, it could handle additional. I stop at one lemon because it is not a lemon pound cake, rather a sweet cream cheese pound cake enhanced by the addition of lemon which I do not want to become the main flavor profile.
Such a delightful explanation of what makes our pound cake so special. I was taught to bake at age 10; pound cake was always waiting when our guest(s) arrived. I tend to add a bit of finely zested lemon to my pound cake. We usually serve it ‘plain’ because fruits of the season normally accompany each piece.
Thalia, you must be an expert baker if you were taught so young and I envy you for that. I wish I’d paid attention to those recipes as a child but I just wasn’t interested in cooking and baking until later in life. I just finished answering a question of another reader regarding the same cake – she too, wishes to enhance the cake with lemon. If you have a moment, and would not mind, I appreciate when readers share their baking successes with other readers. How much zest do you personally introduce to your pound cake batter, and why? Also, do you introduce lemon juice in any way? How?
Thank you for sharing I’m going to be baking this real soon.
Carolyn, I hope you sure do bake this soon, and I hope you’ll let me know how you enjoy it! Thanks for taking a minute out of your day to drop me this sweet note! Jenny
At this time of year I particularly like pound cake with homemade Meyer lemon curd. The last time I made one I baked the curd right in (there’s no law saying you can’t put more on top of each slice later on!). I will make pound cake a million ways but this cream cheese recipe is one of my favorites.
Barbie! Thank you for this sweet message, and you’re correct – no law says you cannot ‘dollop!’ Should you decide to bake this gem, please take pictures and send them as I would love to see how pretty this turns out for you. Love you my Sister from Madisonville Road! x – Jenny
Can I use a 9 x 13” pan and how long would I bake it?
Linda, the capacity of a 9 x 13 is 14 cups, so would more than accommodate this volume of batter. Typically, the tube plays an essential role in distributing the heat. Their high walls also provide a surface for some batters to grip as they rise. Normally I would tell you that it would be cheaper to buy a tube pan than to chance throwing out baking mistakes trying to find the right length-in-baking adjustment. That said, the lower height of layer cake or lasagna-type pans (about half as high as tube pans) allows for a different type of (and still efficient) heat diffusion. Cakes will still bake through, but you’d need to begin testing for doneness at 1 hour and continue to test every 10 minutes beyond that. If you bake the cake in a 9 x 13, do let me know how you fare. I would love to be able to add a caveat to my post from a reader who has done this successfully, as I have not. Jenny
I make a pound cake almost identical to this recipe, and often bake in a 9×13 pan with excellent results in about an hour of baking time.
Portia, this is great to know as I’ve already been asked about other sized baking pans. Any other tips you can share for readers when baking in a 9 x 13? For example, cool in pan or test for doneness specifically in the middle of the cake? So grateful for your thoughts! Jenny
What a drool-worthy cake to end a meal! Thanks a bunch for sharing at Fiesta Friday party! I hope to see you next week.
Jhuls, thank you! Do you know what? I’m NOT a very good baker, but this cake would have you thinking I was a classically trained Patisserie chef…!!! Thanks for taking the time to send me this 🙂
Great recipe! Thank you for sharing, Jenny!
~Lisa, Visiting from Grammy Grid 71, #21
Thank you, Lisa! Thank you for the nice comment and thank you for visiting!
Old Southern Living recipes are my go-to and pound cake is always so perfect in the spring! This one looks delicious!!
Kate, thank you for this sweet comment, and I 100% agree! I plan to give this a strawberry rhubarb compote shortly to accompany!
Looks and sounds scrumptious!
Thank you for saying so, Irene! It’s now my ‘official’ pound cake recipe.