This brown sugar pound cake is a keeper boos, especially when fall rolls around. I love starting the season with comforting recipes, and this one is a Southern staple that everybody’s grandma kept scribbled in a notebook. My brown sugar pound cake bakes up with a light molasses flavor and a soft crumb. Some days I slice it plain or top it with a dollop of whipped cream, but this time I poured a delish brown butter glaze over the whole thing. It’s simple, nostalgic, and real good. Get into it.
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How to Make Brown Sugar Pound Cake
These step-by-step photos show how to make brown sugar cake, but be sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and detailed instructions. Skip to the → Brown Sugar Pound Cake Recipe
1. Cream the butter, sugars, and salt
Beat them until light and fluffy, then mix in the eggs one at a time until fully combined.
2. Add the remaining ingredients
With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour, then mix in the sour cream and vanilla just until everything is incorporated.
3. Pour the brown sugar batter into a Bundt pan and bake
Bake until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Cool briefly, then invert and let the cake cool completely.
4. Make and pour the brown butter glaze
Whisk the browned butter, powdered sugar, and milk until smooth, then drizzle over the cooled cake.
PRO TIP: To make brown butter, all you need to do is melt the butter in a saucepan. After it melts, it will continue to cook and start to brown. But don’t walk away, boos! Stir frequently and watch it closely to make sure it doesn’t burn.
Full Brown Sugar Pound Cake Recipe
Brown Sugar Pound Cake Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups light brown sugar packed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 cup sour cream room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
For the Glaze:
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and browned until specs appear
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and prepare your bundt pan with shortening and flour or non-stick baking spray. You will need at least a 10 cup bundt pan for this recipe.
- In your mixer bowl, cream together butter, both sugars and salt on high speed until light and fluffy for 5 minutes.
- Next add in eggs, one at a time, and mix until well incorporated.
- Slow mixer to lowest speed and carefully add in flour then add in sour cream and extract and cream until just combined.
- Pour cake batter into bundt pan and bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out moist but mostly clean.
- Cool cake for 10 minutes then invert cake onto cooling rack and cool until room temperature.
For the Glaze:
- Whisk together brown butter, confectioner’s sugar and milk.
- Drizzle glaze over cooled cake and serve.
Video
Notes
How to Store
- Room Temp: Keep your pound cake covered on the counter for the first day. Just park it somewhere cool and out of the sun so it stays soft.
- Fridge: After that, move it to the fridge in an airtight container or wrap it up well. It’ll stay fresh for up to a week, but let’s be real boos… mine never makes it that long, ha!
- Freezer: Wrap the whole cake or slices in plastic wrap, then foil, and freeze for up to 6 months. If you’re making it ahead, freeze it without the glaze. When you’re ready to serve, thaw it overnight at room temp and glaze it fresh.
Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Prep your pan. Use my cake release if you want your brown sugar bundt cake to come up super clean.
- Use the proper pan. You want to use a 10-cup bundt pan to make your pound cake. I love this one from Nordic Ware!
- Start with room-temperature butter and sour cream. Both will mix more easily with the other ingredients.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before adding the glaze. This keeps the glaze on the cake rather than melting off.
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I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Recipe Help
I mean, you can boo, but it won’t be a brown sugar cake anymore. The whole point is that slight molasses flavor from the brown sugar.
The biggest culprits are over mixing, over baking, and not measuring properly. Keep that mixer on the lowest speed when you add the flour and stop as soon as it comes together. Bake on the center rack and start checking early in case your oven runs hot. And ALWAYS spoon your flour into the cup and level it off so you don’t pack in too much.
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Jocely, you give ingreds. for glaze, but don’t mention instructions for the brown butter. Do you brown the butter before mixing the ingreds.?
Yes thank you for catching that. Something was cut off in the original recipe. Yes it is browned before until you see specs form.
how is this a brown butter glaze made with confection sugar
Something was cut off in the original recipe. Yes it is browned before until you see specs form.
I just read your interview and it was very insightful. Now this cake — love all the brown sugar and that butter glaze!
so, for the brown butter glaze, are you supposed to just melt the butter, or cook the butter for a few minutes until it foams, the brown solids form at the bottom so in fact you get brown butter? the directions are not that clear. “melted” is not the same as “cooked until brown” kindly clarify thanks. i noticed the same question in the comments for the pumpkin pound cake with brown butter glaze and the answer was not that clear either thanks
Yes thank you for catching that. Something was cut off in the original recipe. Yes it is browned before until you see specs form.
Will you be posting Thanksgiving recipes?
Yes a few!
This cake looks absolutely decadent (and moist!!). This will probably be made somewhere in the very near future. And I agree, baking is very much a reliever of stress. 🙂
Indeed!
I don’t see anywhere in the recipe about browning the butter for the glaze???
Yes thank you for catching that. Something was cut off in the original recipe. Yes it is browned before until you see specs form.
the head notes mentioned molasses, but it is not in the ingredients or directions?
Hi Mari, brown sugar has molasses in it.
Congrats on your success! Well deserved! I’m definitely going to make this, thanks!
Thank you so much!
This cake looks delicious. But how does the glaze turn brown just buy whisking butter, confectionary sugar and milk? Is there another ingredient that I’m missing? Are we cooking it on the stove?
Yes thank you for catching that. Something was cut off in the original recipe. Yes it is browned before until you see specs form.
Oh my!!! With a strong cup of espresso, this looks to die for!! In a house full of picky eaters, we are united on brown sugar. This is sure to be a big hit!