Million Dollar Pound Cake
This rich and buttery Million Dollar Pound Cake recipe has been rotating through Southern kitchens for decades. It’s made with seven simple pantry ingredients and can be served on its own, with fresh berries and whipped cream, lemon curd, ice cream or countless other options. It’s a pound cake aficionado’s dream.
Easy Million Dollar Pound Cake Recipe
How Does the Million Dollar Pound Cake Rise? Other than eggs, there’s no leavening in this cake. This makes a key step in the process of making the batter to whip air into the butter. I use a rule of “fives” when making this pound cake. By that I mean, to give the cake a creamy lighter texture whip the butter on high for 5 minutes then add the sugar and continue to whip for another 5 minutes. This process has a magical effect on the cake batter which adds to the mystique of how such simple ingredients can produce such a pleasing result. How to make Southern Million Dollar Pound Cake from scratch:
- Flour – All-purpose flour.
- Butter – Salted butter.
- Flavorings – Vanilla extract and almond extract.
- Sugar – Granulated sugar.
- Eggs – Large eggs.
- Milk – Whole milk OR buttermilk.
How to Make the Best Million Dollar Pound Cake Recipe
This pound cake is fantastic for make-ahead baking as it freezes like a dream. This beloved cake was first made famous by Southern Living who dubbed it “Million Dollar Pound Cake.” I serve this pound cake in trifles, parfaits, or as is with a cup of hot tea or coffee. It’s a Southern classic that will never grow old. Follow the preparation technique carefully and this classic delight will be the star ending to any meal.
- Ingredients you’ll need to make this homemade Million Dollar Pound Cake recipe: All purpose flour, salted butter, sugar, whole milk or buttermilk, large eggs, vanilla and almond extract.
- Kitchen tools you’ll need: A stand mixer or a hand mixer, measuring cups and spoons, an angel food pan and cooling rack.
- It’s super helpful to have a stand mixer for making the batter for this pound cake recipe. It takes some time to beat air into the butter and it can be done using a hand mixer, but not by hand.
- Remember, it’s the rule of fives to make this cake. 5 minutes to whip the butter and 5 minutes to cream the butter with the granulated sugar. This adds air to the batter and gives it a beautiful rise.
- If you don’t have salted butter, you can use the same amount of unsalted butter and add 1/2 tsp salt.
- The amount of vanilla extract called for in the recipe is one Tablespoon, not one teaspoon. It’s not a typo.
- Please note this is a big cake. You’ll also need a large tube pan, sometimes called an angel food pan for baking. I use one with a removeable bottom, but it’s fine to bake it in a pan that doesn’t have that option.
- When freezing pound cake make certain it’s cooled completely before tightly wrapping in plastic freezer wrap.
- You can freeze it as a whole pound cake or cut it into slices for individual portions. Doing it that way makes it convenient to grab a piece from the freezer for a quick treat or when entertaining unexpected guests. It will easily last in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Store Million Dollar Pound Cake chilled in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or at room temperature for up to 5 days.
More Southern Style Pound Cake Recipes to Make
Southern Living Magazine made this pound cake famous and I love that a cake that’s decades old was featured in such a wonderful publication. More pound cake recipes you may like to try:
- White Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake is pretty as a picture.
- Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake is rich and decadent made with Dutch process cocoa.
- Orange Pound Cake packs a burst of citrus flavor.
- Homemade buttery Brown Sugar Pound Cake.
- Easy Buttermilk Pound Cake recipe.
- Fresh Strawberry Pound Cake with Vanilla Cream Glaze.
- Pecan Praline Buttermilk Pound Cake is drizzled with a praline glaze that takes it over the top.
- Coconut lovers Coconut Cream Pound Cake with Vanilla Cream Glaze.
- My Aunt’s Lemon Lovers Pound Cake is a family tradition.
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Helpful Kitchen Items:
Million Dollar Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 pound salted butter softened (4 sticks)
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk OR buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F. Butter and flour an angel food/tube pan with a removable bottom. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment whisk together the butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Whip for 5 minutes on medium-high.
- Switch to the paddle attachment. Add the sugar gradually beating on medium until light yellow in color. (Around 5 minutes)
- Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Lower the speed of the mixer and add the flour alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.
- After all has been added, beat for 1-2 minutes until the flour has fully incorporated.
- Spread evenly into the pan and bounce on the counter, if needed to settle.
- Place into the oven and bake for 1 hr 30-45 minutes OR until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes back clean.
- Cool for 15 minutes, then remove the outer ring.
- Cool completely on a cooling rack.
Delicious cake. Easy to prepare. Makes a big cake – for just the two of us. Freezes/defrosts perfectly, too. I baked this a couple of weeks ago, froze, then pulled it out a couple days ago. Using the last half of the cake to make a small peach trifle tonight, and will finish it off with a berry trifle in a couple of days.
How important is sifting the flour? I have all the ingredients but no sifter. Was wondering if that would completely alter the cake or not?
It’s important for this cake since eggs are the only leavening. At the very least, whisk it by hand to remove any clumps.
This is a really good pound cake . I would recommend anyone to try it . I bake a lot and my family loved it.
Thanks so much!
Have you tried making small loafs or cupcakes with cupcake liners? We love the pound cake and I make small pound cakes for gifts and not sure how it would work with paper liners.
I haven’t using this recipe. If you try it, let us know how it goes.
I made this last night for a charity auction and followed the recipe except I added 1 1/2 tsp of almond instead of just 1 tsp and I did use buttermilk instead of whole milk. It turned out smelled delicious and looked perfect. I may be bidding on my own cake on Saturday night at the auction. I will definitely make it again. Looking forward to trying some of the other pound cakes also
How wonderful, thanks!
I made this cake today to take to a pot luck dinner. Amazing! I followed the recipe as written except the oven temperature the cake had an oven buddy that needed 350 so the cake had to bake at 350 instead of 300 (as called for in the recipe). PERFECTION! I don’t know that I would change a thing next time. A new favorite cake. Loved it! 10/10 will be making again and again! So many compliments, a really great recipe. Thank you!!
Can you use cake flour instead is sifting?
To sift the flour, use a whisk, it doesn’t have to be labor intensive. You can use cake flour.
I love this recipe,,! I’ve made it numerous of times.
Melissa, do you have a recipe for quick orange glase please
There’s an orange glaze with this Orange Pound Cake recipe.
Hi MelissaI have tried several of Your cake recipes, perfect every time. I have got to try some something savory soon…. Question can I use 1/2 butter and 1/2 butter flavored crisco?
Hi Debra, I’m glad you’re finding some to enjoy. Yes, you can make that change.
Just wondering—have people had a preference as to using Whole Milk vs. Buttermilk? Thank you.
You’ll love this cake using either one. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand whole milk will work perfectly.
I followed the recipe by the book. It overflowed my tube pan down into the bottom of the oven. It came out about 3 in tall. But it had a wonderful flavor. It doesn’t taste fallen. I like it but it certainly didn’t turn out the way it should have. Could it be that I beat the batter too much? The batter was beautiful and it filled the bundt pan and looked exactly like your pictures. But it overflowed and burned in the bottom of the of the oven. Tell me what I did wrong and I’ll do it again. It has a great flavor.
Hi Phil, did you measure the ingredients properly? While this is a big cake, it should never overflow the proper size tube pan. You say tube pan in one place and bundt pan in another. The bundt pan that you used sounds as if it’s not big enough for this cake. A tube pan is also called an angel food cake pan. I would also add, when measuring flour it’s important to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level, not dip the measuring cup into the flour. When doing it that way, the flour becomes compacted and increases the volume. My best guess is, the pan used was too small.
It was a tube pan. Not sure how the word bundt was used. Autocorrect? Don’t like bundt pans. You may be right about the flour. I sifted the flour first then measured the 4 cups.
Probably Wrong? It’s the best pound cake I’ve ever had. I’ll make it again with buttermilk. Thanks!
If you made this in a tube pan it just shouldn’t have overflowed at all. Perhaps the flour volume was off there’s just now way for me to say with certainty. I hope round two goes better for you!
I discovered that I used self-rising flour instead of all purpose flour. My bad. Making it again tonight. Wish me luck! Phil S
i made this cake for my family and neighbor and it was love at first sight i will be making another one for this holiday thanks for this recipe
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, thanks!
Okay, i had a live gate relationship with my cake that i made last night. I know it was too much to put in my Bundt rubber silicone, so i put shine in another small pan. Followed the direction to a Tttt. Took them both out, and put it on a wire rack too cool off, cut the small one it was soooo dry. Ugh!! I started thinking maybe it’s too much flour as 4c is allot. Everyone i told i made it said that’s too much flour… i think it was that dry because i kept in the oven for 1hr and 30 mins and i dried it out. So this morning i cut the bigger one…. Let me tell you!!!!! It is soooo good, moist, all the flavors are their… i just dried out the little one. I was supposed to take that one out earlier. Thanks for the recipe…
The flour amount of 4 cups is correct. A loaf will take less time to bake than a full size cake, so, yes it sounds overbaked as this cake is never dry.
Get flavor and moist.
THE best I have ever tried!
Thank you so much!
Hi Melissa – I prefer to bake by using a scale to measure ingredients as opposed to volume because I find it to be much more accurate. Do you have the weights for your ingredients? For example, does your cup of flour weigh 120 grams (standard for AP flour) or, because it is sifted, is it 115 grams? Just wanting to make the best cake I can. Thanks!
Hi Julia, I don’t measure the ingredients in this cake using weight. If you test it, let us know how it goes.
I just had to let you know that I pre heated my oven and put my cake in, after about an hour I went to check on my cake and realized the oven wasn’t on, my dutiful husband had turned it off saying that he thought I left it on by mistake because I wasn’t in the kitchen at that time. I was truly upset and just knew I would be throwing this cake out, but I turned it back on and had no idea how long it should stay in because the oven was still hot when I put it in so it had baked a little. I kept checking it and when the toothpick came out clean I took it out. I must say that, that was the best pound cake EVER!! My daughter said that I should do it that way all the time. Even with a mishap this is by far the best pound cake, thank you for the recipe.
I love it! I’m so happy it turned out for you, thanks!
Absolute BEST poundcake that I’ve ever made and I’ll never tire of it.
Thank you, Kim! (Same here btrw ☺)
What sort of happened is that you baked your cake “cold oven” style. It helps create that coveted thick crust because the starch in the batter steamed when your oven cooled down. People do this on purpose all the time. (I learned this from Cook’s Country…lol)
This is the best and easiest pound cake I have ever made..have shared the recipe many times over..my husband has to have it every night with ice cream!
Thanks so much I like the way your husband thinks,too!
Can you use a Bundt pan instead of a tube pan with this recipe?
This is a big cake and a standard bundt pan may not hold it. I highly recommend using an angel food pan or separate some of the batter into a loaf pan.
You don’t grease the pan before you out in the batter?
Always, from the recipe: “Preheat the oven to 300°F. Butter and flour an angel food/tube pan with a removable bottom. Set aside.”
I have been baking pound cakes for a number of years. I ran across this recipe a few years ago and decided to try it. My grandmother was the @queen baker” of pound cakes in our family. I baked a cake using The Million Dollar Pound Cake recipe and my family thought it was my grandmothers recipe. This cake could not receive greater honors than this
I agree, that is high praise indeed!
Could I use only two cups of sugar in this pound cake recipe instead of three…. It is so very sweet delicious…
Please follow the recipe for the best outcome.
Excellent, we loved it. It’s a good thing it freezes because it’s huge!
This is my go-to pound cake recipe. Everyone that tastes it loves it! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much!
Hi, just saw this and it’s making my mouth water. Would this work with added Chopped apples/rum soaked Raisins? Would I need to adjust the recipe in any way? Also thinking of lemon & Blueberries.
I apologize if this has been asked and answered. There were just too many comments to shift through.
TIA!
I have many pound cake recipes in the recipe index including a blueberry one. A dry mix-in such as chocolate chips or dried fruit, yes. Fresh apples would be a different recipe. Browse the recipe index here for more pound cake recipes.
I have to try this pound cake
I only have 2% milk and we are currently quarantined. Can I use that instead of whole milk?
You can use it, half and half or heavy cream, if you wish.
This was about my fourth attempt at a pound cake and by far my best one. To me, this is an easy enough recipe without all the other dry ingredients and an almost full carton of eggs that other recipes call for. I just need to probably reduce the heat in my oven a bit or pull it out sooner. The sides of my cake were a bit overcooked but other than that it was perfect.