I spent months testing cake batter mixing methods and ingredients to achieve Pound Cake Perfection. This Sour Cream Pound Cake is a variation of my favorite all-butter cake.
Perfect Sour Cream Pound Cake
If you’ve read through my “Cake Batter Course” you know that it took lots of work and testing to come up with a really great pound cake recipe. If you’re interested, over 7 classes (blog posts) you can learn all about the ingredients and mixing methods for cake batter. It’s pretty detailed stuff, but what you learn about baking can be applied to all your recipes, not just cake batter. And it’s free here on Baking Sense.
How I adapted my classic pound cake recipe to make Sour Cream Pound Cake:
Anyway, for this pound cake I used sour cream in place of whole milk as the liquid in the batter. Since sour cream is acidic it adds a nice flavor to the cake and the acidity tenderizes the cake crumb.
If you have read through the “Cake Batter Course” (first of all THANKS) you might notice that even though I’ve added an acidic ingredient to the recipe, I haven’t used any baking soda. I purposely did this because I didn’t want to neutralize the acidity of the sour cream. I wanted a little edge to the flavor.
This really is a melt-in-your-mouth cake. It’s also a super easy recipe to make. I use my favorite reverse creaming method and it’s mixed in one bowl.
This cake bakes up nicely in the traditional loaf shape or you can bake it in a Bundt pan for a pretty presentation. I think you only need a sprinkle of powdered sugar for a pretty finish. But is would also be delicious with fresh berries and cream for a more indulgent dessert.
If you like this recipe as much as I do, please consider giving it a 5-star review.
Sour Cream Pound Cake
I spent months testing cake batter mixing methods and ingredients to achieve Pound Cake Perfection. This Sour Cream Pound Cake is a variation of my favorite all-butter cake.
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs plus 4 yolks, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (4 oz, 120 ml) sour cream, divided
- 1 ¾ cups (8 oz, 225 g) cake flour
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 cups (10 oz, 285 g) granulated sugar
- 2 sticks (8 oz , 225 g) unsalted butter, room temp
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9"x5" loaf pan or 12 cup Bundt pan.
- Combine the eggs, yolks, vanilla and half of the sour cream in a small bowl, whisk to combine and set aside.
- Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar to the flour and mix at low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter to the flour and mix until combined. Add the remaining sour cream and increase the speed to medium high. Mix for a full 2-3 minutes. The batter will lighten in color and texture. If using a hand mixer add another minute to the mixing time.
- Scrape the bowl and beater thoroughly. On low speed, add the egg mixture in 3 increments, scraping the bowl after each addition. Mix just until the eggs are incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake at 350°F until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (about 55 minutes).
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Rachel
I just made this pound cake and it’s moist with just enough sweetness. The taste and texture is eggy and spongy. Is that how the recipe was supposed to be?
Eileen Gray
Hmmm, it’s hard to know exactly how someone else would describe the texture. I wouldn’t say eggy and spongy. I think of this cake as tender, buttery and melt in your mouth. Do you have a photo?
Rachel
Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture because I gave the pound cake away. I think it was due to having so many eggs/egg yolks in the cake and less flour. Most recipes call for about 3 cups of regular flour.
Eileen Gray
Did you use large eggs? More flour would make the cake drier and heavier and regular flour rather than cake flour would make a chewier cake.
Rachel
Yes, I used large eggs, followed the recipe exactly and I weighed the dry ingredients. Thanks for trying to trouble shoot.
Eileen Gray
Sure. Thanks for visiting the blog.
Linda Sandlin
I love pound cakes and was happy with my sour cream pound cake until I finished trying your recipe. It is the best recipe ever! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
Eileen Gray
Thanks, Linda! I love a good pound cake too. They’re just so satisfying.
Huda
Hi dear .. Is the granulated sugar in the cups measurement accurate? I can see 8 oz of cake flour equals to 1 ¾ cups in ur recipe and 10 oz of sugar = 1 ¼ cups? please let me know as am planning to bake it this week ..
thanks a lot
Eileen Gray
Yes, the weights & measures of all ingredients are accurate. Sugar is more dense than flour so a cup of flour will weigh less than a cup of sugar. Just use either the volume or weight measures as listed and the recipe will work.
Sharma Williams
I absolutely love this recipe. I wanted to make a red velvet pound cake using this recipe as a base but replacing the sour cream with buttermilk and adding 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder and red food colouring. As Baking soda and white wine vinegar is required in a red velvet cake would adding this change the structure of the cake?
Many thanks.
Eileen Gray
Hi Sharma, first of all, I like the way you think! Off the top of my head I would say this is possible. But you might have to do a few test runs to get the recipe just right. As far as replacing sour cream with buttermilk, the main consideration is that buttermilk has more water than sour cream does. My Pound Cake Perfection recipe has 1/4 cup of milk. I would suggest you start with 1/4 cup of buttermilk. However much cocoa powder you use, reduce the flour by the same amount. As far as the vinegar & baking soda-You need just a 1/2 tsp of baking soda to neutralize the acid in a cup of an acidic ingredient. Depending how much vinegar you use, I would think just 1/8 tsp of baking soda would work (since you also have the buttermilk in the recipe you should hopefully be safe from making a soapy flavor). The red food coloring shouldn’t have too much affect. But I would use a paste coloring, not the liquid coloring you get in the grocery store. That way you’ll add less liquid. Please let me know how it works out. I might do some experimenting of my own.
Sharma Williams
Thank you so much for your response. I will definitely try a few test runs and let you know how I get on.
Margaret
How did the red velvet version turn out.
Eileen
I haven’t tried a red velvet version yet. Not sure if Sharma ever tried it. It is on my list of recipes to develop. Just haven’t gotten there yet.
Shirley Gandhi
Hi… I have a hand mixer only… Was wondering if the reverse creaming method would work in this case. Am worried it may lead to over mixing the batter. Please do let me know if I can use the same method or stick to the regular creaming method.
Eileen
Hi Shirley, I have used a hand mixer to do reverse creaming. It may take a little longer to get the butter worked into the flour since the beaters tend to be fairly open. Make sure your butter is softened to room temperature and add the sour cream right away to make it easier to mix in the butter. The great thing about reverse creaming is that you can’t really over mix the batter before the eggs go in. But, also as an FYI, this recipe could certainly be made with the traditional creaming method.
annie
The recipe say 1/2 cup of sour cream
ur but in the direction it said the other 1/2 cup of sour cream, so is there a cup of sour cream?
Eileen
Hi Annie – The sour cream is added in two increments. Half goes in with the eggs and the other half is mixed with the flour and butter. I’ve reworded the recipe to make it clearer. Thanks for the feedback.
Poppy
I usually bake pound cake on a 12 cup tube pan. How would the recipe for sour cream pound cake need to be changed in order to get a bigger cake?
Eileen
I think this recipe would work in a tube pan. If you want a larger cake you could make 1.5x the recipe. Or you could bake it as is and it will be a slightly shorter cake. You’ll have to adjust the baking time for a larger cake.
seema
hi,
i want to try this recipe,but i have a doubt. doesnt the cake smell eggy?
Eileen
No, it doesn’t.
Regine
Which version you prefer? The original one with milk or this one with sour cream? Which one has a better texture (which for me means more light or more spongy)? Thanks.
Eileen
Hmmm, I really like both. The Sour Cream cake has the slightest tang to it and it is more tender and probably a little more dense (in a good way). These pound cakes are not light and spongy, they’re tender and melt-in-your-mouth. That’s my favorite kind of pound cake. If you like cake that is more light and spongy I would recommend my Vanilla Cake.
Anu
Hi Eileen – thank you for the so many posts you have on the science of ingredients, to educate simple household daily cooks like myself. I have a question on the baking pan/tray size for this recipe. Recommended is the 9×5 or 12 cup Bundt pan. Would this work in a 9×9 square pan…? Since square cube like sizes of the cut pieces are desired. Would maybe 325 degrees work? Also, check doneness 10 mins prior?
You inputs will help me largely, to prepare this for a gathering.
Thank you.
Anu
Clarification to my question, sorry I wasn’t clear – When we bake in a 9×9, do we have to drop temperature to 325 and check doneness 10 mins prior?
Thanks!
Eileen Gray
If you bake in a 9×9 pan the cake will be more shallow. So, yes, I would check it much earlier. Maybe 15-20 minutes earlier. I don’t think you need to change the oven temp.
Anu
Thanks, will try that this weekend to see how it comes out.
Darlene
Hello I just tried the recipe but did find in the egg whites at the end. It seems to make it fluffier and light.
Eileen Gray
Sorry, I’m not sure what you’re saying. Are you saying you folded in the egg whites? Did you whip them? That would make the cake fluffier and lighter. Personally, I like a pound cake to be more dense (in a good way) than a layer cake. But do the recipe however you like best!
Rachel Chan
Hi, I would like to try this recipe. But before I do so. I’m wondering how would this cake taste like? I’d never try sour cream cake before I’m not so sure what to expect. And the amount of eggs would the eggs and amount of sugar would the cake be tii dense and sweet? I personally like a moist, and fluffy yet abit dense cake.
Should I whipped the egg white instead? Should I whipped it with sugar or just purely the whites will do?
Leslie
Hi Eileen,
I wished I had stumbled upon your excellent site years ago! It would have saved me a lot of failed experiments! Thanks so much for being so generous to share!
I would like to ask 3 questions:
1. If I want to add 50g of fine almond flour to the recipe, do I remove 50g of the cake flour or just add on top of it?
2. If I want to add 50g full cream milk powder, what adjustments do I need to do?
3. As per the reverse creaming method, I have already read through your 7 steps (which is awesome) but I am still wondering what the end point should be before adding the liquid? There aren’t many videos online. This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH5H9JbV7DU&t=10s shows that the butter and the flour is only just combined before the liquid is added. From your description, it is quite different. Are we aiming for a buttercream type consistency before the liquid is added?
Eileen Gray
1. I would substitute the almond flour 1:1 for the cake flour.
2. Sorry, I don’t know what full cream milk powder is.
3. I generally add the liquid when the butter is partially incorporated.