My Big Mama’s cream cheese pound cake recipe has been passed down through generations, so when I say it’s the best of the best, I mean it, boos. Her cream cheese pound cake is moist, buttery, and legit melts in your mouth. My love for pound cakes started with Big Mama, and sharing her recipes is my favorite way to keep that love going.
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Cream Cheese Pound Cake Ingredients
- Cream cheese: Use softened, full-fat brick-style cream cheese. The spreadable kind in the tub won’t work for this recipe. To soften it, unwrap and leave on a plate for 30 to 60 minutes. You can also cut it into small cubes to soften faster, or microwave it unwrapped at low power in 5-second bursts, checking between each.
- Wet ingredients: Unsalted butter, vegetable oil or shortening, eggs, and vanilla extract. I like European-style butter for that rich buttery flavor. Canola oil works too, and you can swap the vanilla extract for vanilla bean paste. Your butter should be soft enough to indent with a finger but still hold its shape. For fridge-cold eggs, put them in a bowl of warm tap water for 10 minutes, then dry and crack.
- Dry ingredients: Granulated sugar, cake flour, and kosher salt. Cake flour gives you a softer, finer crumb. Sift it first, then spoon it into your measuring cups and level it off. If you’re out, use my homemade cake flour. Leave out the added salt if using salted butter.
- Garnishes: Nine times out of ten, I serve mine with powdered sugar and fresh berries. But y’all can also add whipped cream, ice cream, caramel sauce, strawberry preserves, lemon curd… the list goes on and on!
How to Make Cream Cheese Pound Cake
These step-by-step photos show how to make Big Mama’s pound cake with cream cheese, but be sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and detailed instructions. Skip to the → Easy Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
1. Cream the butter, oil, and sugar
Beat the butter, oil or shortening, and cream cheese until smooth, then slowly add the sugar and beat until very pale and fluffy.
2. Mix in the eggs one at a time
Let each egg blend in before adding the next, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl so everything mixes evenly.
3. Add the flour and salt on low speed
Slowly mix in the cake flour in two additions, then add the salt, stopping as soon as the flour disappears.
4. Finish the cream cheese pound cake batter
Add the vanilla, scrape down the bowl, and mix just until combined.
5. Fill your prepared Bundt pan
Spoon the batter into a well-greased and floured Bundt pan and smooth the top.
6. Bake, cool, and garnish
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the thickest part comes out clean, then let the cake rest in the pan before turning it out to cool completely and adding your toppings.
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PRO TIP: Even non-stick baking pans need a little extra love y’all. This homemade cake release is a Godsend, but you can totally use a spray or go old school with shortening, then flour in the pan like my Big Mama did.
Full Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
Want to Save This Recipe, Boo?
I’ll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or shortening
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temp, one brick
- 2 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups sifted cake flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- powdered sugar for garnish
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 325°F then liberally spray a 12-cup bundt pan with non-stick baking spray or grease with butter or shortening and then flour.
- In your mixer bowl, add butter, oil or shortening, and cream cheese and beat for 2 minutes on high speed. Slowly add in sugar beat on high speed for an additional seven minutes until very pale yellow and fluffy. There is no leavening in this cake because we add ample air to this cake by having a very long creaming period.
- Next, add eggs, one at a time, combining well after each addition and scraping down the sides as needed.
- Turn your mixer down to its lowest speed, and slowly add flour into batter in two increments then add salt. Be careful not to over beat.
- Lastly, add in vanilla extract, scrape down sides and mix until just combined and turn off mixer.
- Pour cake batter into prepared bundt pan, and bake for 1 hour and 15 -20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert cake on serving plate for at least an hour or until the cake is cool to the touch.
- Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Video
Notes
How to Store
- Room Temp: Let the plain cake cool completely, then wrap tightly or keep in an airtight cake container for up to 4 days in a cool kitchen.
- Fridge: If your kitchen is hot or you added perishable toppings, refrigerate the cake tightly wrapped or in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Toppings can shorten that storage time. Bring slices to room temperature before serving.
- Freezer: Wrap the whole cake or individual slices tightly in plastic wrap, then foil, and place in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months for the best texture. Thaw wrapped overnight in the fridge, then bring to room temp. For a warm slice, microwave in short 10-second bursts just until warmed through.
Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Once the flour is mixed in, stop the mixer. Use a spatula to fold in any flour left at the bottom of the bowl so you don’t overwork the batter.
- Let it take its time, boos. This pound cake is larger and heavier than a typical cake layer, so it needs longer in the oven to cook through. Don’t turn up the heat to hurry it along! You’ll brown the outside before the middle is ready.
- Check about halfway through baking. If the top is already getting dark, loosely cover it with foil, leaving room so it doesn’t touch the cake.
- If the cake sticks, don’t force it out. Gently loosen the edges and center tube with a thin silicone spatula, then try turning it out again. If it’s still stuck, set the pan upright on a hot, damp towel for a few minutes to help it release.
Recipe Help
No boos! You’ll taste soft, buttery vanilla cake with a little tang, something extra.
Yes! Divide the batter between two greased and parchment-lined 9×5-inch loaf pans, filling each no more than two-thirds full. Bake at 325°F and start checking earlier than you would for the Bundt.
Most old fashioned cream cheese pound cakes don’t have baking powder or baking soda, so you gotta rely on that creaming time period. Don’t skimp on mixing the butter and sugar! That’s how you work air into the batter.
It probably needed more time in the oven. Test the thickest part before taking it out, and keep baking if the toothpick has wet batter on it. Keep the oven door closed early on too so the cake sets.
Too much flour or overbaking can dry it out. For a moist cream cheese pound cake, measure the flour carefully and start checking at the shorter end of the baking range. If it’s already dry, a spoonful of strawberry jam or a dollop of whipped cream can help it out!
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Hello, with the pan greasing do you use regular flour or cake swan flour.
Hi Janelle! You can use regular all-purpose flour to grease and flour your pan. No need to use cake flour for that! Just make sure every little nook and cranny is coated so your cake releases beautifully.
Ok I was a little skeptical about the 3 sifted cups of cake flour. I’ve been testing pound cake recipes for 55 years and I found a winner. I lost my Grandmother’s recipe so I’ve been searching for something similar. I know she didn’t have cream cheese but we beat the butter, sugar and eggs until it screamed for mercy then folded in the flour gently. She always added lemon zest so to honor her I did too. Perfect flavor, Perfect texture all round great recipe. It’s going in the family recipe book. Thank you for sharing.
Awe, thank you Aggie, that means a lot to me!! Also, thanks for the laugh, scremed for mercy had me chuckling to myself.
Love!
Thanks so much, doll!
I usually make my poundcake starting with a cold oven. Is there any reason not to do that with your recipe?
Great question! Since this recipe was developed and tested in a preheated 325°F oven, I’d stick with that method for the most reliable results. Starting in a cold oven changes how the cake heats and rises, so the baking time and final texture could be different.
I know cold-oven pound cakes are a tried-and-true method for many bakers, but I haven’t tested this particular recipe that way. Since there’s no added leavening and we’re relying on that long creaming time for lift, I wouldn’t want to steer you wrong.
I don’t use seed oils at all but would like to know which one avocado oil or olive oil for your cakes or neither. Which one?
Between the two, I’d recommend refined avocado oil. It has a very neutral flavor, so it won’t compete with the buttery, vanilla flavor of the cake.
I wouldn’t recommend extra virgin olive oil here since its flavor is more pronounced and can change the taste of a classic pound cake.
That said, if you have shortening on hand, that’s still my first choice along with the butter for the texture this recipe was developed to have. If you’d rather avoid it, refined avocado oil would be my next pick.
How you make the cake release recipe.
Hi Maurice, you can find it here: https://grandbaby-cakes.com/homemade-cake-release/
I made this awesome pound cake a month ago and it was absolutely delicious and came out so golden brown and stayed moist for days.
So glad you enjoyed it, Pam!
I absolutely love your cakes. I have been following you for a while now. Your cakes have been my go to for any event that I have, especially a church event. I just have one question. I have heard that to keep a cake from being dry you can brush it with simple suryp. Is this true? Or is leaving your eggs and butter out longer what makes a cake stay moist?
Thank you so much for your sweet words and for trusting my cake recipes for your family and church events. That truly means the world to me!
As for your question, simple syrup can definitely help keep a cake moist, especially if you’re making it a day ahead or decorating it in advance. It’s a great trick, but I don’t find it’s necessary for most of my cake recipes because they’re already formulated to be very moist.
What really makes a difference is using room temperature butter, eggs, and dairy, creaming the butter and sugar well, and being careful not to overmix or overbake. Those steps have a much bigger impact on the final texture than leaving the ingredients out longer than needed.
So if you’re making one of my cakes, I would focus on those techniques first. If you want to brush on a light layer of simple syrup for a special occasion, you certainly can, but I would use it sparingly since these cakes are already designed to stay nice and moist. Happy baking!
Oh my, your pound cake is the best of the best. I made it for our Easter dinner at church and a professional chef told me it was the best that she had ever had! Thank you Jocelyn!
For a professional chef to say that? You really did your thing with that cake. I’m so glad it turned out beautifully for your Easter dinner at church.
Thank you so much for trusting the recipe and sharing that with me.