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.
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
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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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Thanks for the recipe! It is so yummy! Any suggestions on how the cake can remain soft to the touch after cooking? Once I take it out the pan, it is nice and soft to the touch but when it cools down, it becomes harder. Is that “normal” or is there something I can do to help it remain soft and bouncy?
Can the cake stay on the counter even with cranberry jam mixed in the cake?
Yes, it can still stay on the counter. Even with the cranberry jam mixed into the batter, it’s baked into the cake, so it’s fine at room temperature. Just make sure it’s fully cooled, then cover it well (cake dome or plastic wrap) and keep it in a cool spot. It’ll stay good for a couple of days.
No baking powder or baking soda?
Great question! Classic pound cakes traditionally don’t use baking powder or baking soda; they rely on creaming the butter and sugar really well to create the lift. So yes, this recipe is correct as written!
My third time making and not sure what happened. It rose so much it dropped over and then it fell with 30 minutes left.
That’s definitely unusual for this cake, since it shouldn’t rise very much at all. When it balloons up and then collapses, it’s almost always a sign that too much air was whipped into the batter during the creaming or egg-mixing stage, or the oven ran a bit hot and caused it to rise too quickly.
If you try it again, just keep the mixing on the lower side and make sure your oven is calibrated that usually solves it!
Is it possible you may have added self rising flour?
Can you make this without a mixer? I planned on making it for the holiday, so I probably should have asked earlier lol
Do you own a hand mixer?
No I dont
This is an amazing recipe!! Every time I make it for a party or gathering at my home, the whole cake is gone within minutes, with people asking for more.
I have one question: when the cake is done baking and is cooling, it falls slightly before I flip it. I follow the recipe exactly. Do you happen to have any suggestions on preventing this?
Thank you so much — I’m so glad it’s always a hit!
A slight fall while cooling can happen with pound cakes and usually means one of a few things: It may have needed just a few more minutes in the oven. If the center isn’t fully set, the structure can sink as it cools. Try baking 5–10 minutes longer (every oven runs a little differently). Make sure you’re not opening the oven door early, which can release heat and cause sinking. Cool it in the pan for the full 10–15 minutes before flipping. Flipping too soon can cause collapse.
Even with the little fall, I’m so glad it’s still turning out delicious but hopefully these tips help keep it tall and proud next time!
Cooked mine for 1hr 25 minutes at 300 since my oven runs hot the outside was almost burnt but the inside was still raw. Any suggestions?
It sounds like the oven may be heating unevenly browning the outside too fast before the center has time to bake through. Next time, try baking it at 325°F instead of lowering the temperature, but place the pan on the middle rack and loosely tent it with foil once the top starts to brown. That way, the inside has time to cook through without over-browning the outside. You can also check your oven with an oven thermometer sometimes “runs hot” means it fluctuates unevenly rather than just being higher overall.
Can I use more butter in place of the oil?
Yes you can however the oil has zero water content so oil and butter react differently in the cake.
I made the cake and everyone loved it as well it came out beautiful I mixed some strawberries in half the batter and few drops of red food coloring and called cream cheese strawberry swirl cake it was gone less than a week.
Thanks so much for sharing
Thanks so much, doll!
I made this cake and everyone loved it!! No one complained but I can be my own worst critic. To me the cake didn’t turn out as soft and moist as I would have liked it to. Any thoughts on what I could have possibly did wrong?
I’m so glad everyone loved it! If the texture felt a little less soft or moist, it could’ve been a few small things overmixing the batter, baking it just a few minutes too long, or using butter or eggs that were a bit too cold. Next time, try making sure all your ingredients are truly at room temperature and pull it from the oven as soon as a toothpick comes out clean with a few crumbs. That usually makes a big difference in keeping it tender!