The secret to your best-ever pound cake involves skipping a crucial step: preheating the oven before the cake goes in. Although preheating usually begins the baking process, heating the oven once the treat’s inside gently cooks it. What you end up with is a dense yet tender dessert that has a deeply browned crust. The oven’s low heat also prevents the cake from overbaking and drying out — which is a common baking mishap. Whether you’re serving it for an afternoon treat or special occasion, this cold oven pound cake will certainly satisfy your dessert cravings. Keep reading for how to make it.
How pound cake is traditionally made
This cake’s origins date back to the 1700s, when it was made with a pound each of flour, butter, eggs and sugar. However, more recent pound cake recipes use smaller quantities of these ingredients and include leavening agents to help the cake rise. Once the batter is combined, it’s poured into a cake pan and baked until golden.
The magic behind baking pound cake in a cold oven
Bringing the oven to temperature as the cake sits inside is an unexpected trick that creates a mouthwatering dessert. “By cooking the cake at a lower temperature for a longer period of time, you achieve an extra-deep brown, thicker, more flavorful crust — a product of the Maillard reaction [aka browning] and caramelization of the sugars in the batter,” Blair Lonergan, food blogger and recipe developer at The Seasoned Mom, explains. Baking in a low-temperature oven also prevents the treat from burning, which keeps the inside moist and tender. Recipes for this dessert involve placing the filled cake pan in the oven, and then setting the temperature to 350°F or lower. The cake needs well over an hour to slowly bake. But it’s worth it as you’ll have an old-fashioned pound cake that’s sure to earn rave reviews!
Surprise ingredient that enhances the cake’s flavor
Another way to flavor this cake is by adding pure almond extract to the batter. This extract is often made with the oil of bitter almonds, alcohol and water. While the extract is clear, its strong yet sweet flavor balances the sugar, butter and other ingredients in baked goods. When making homemade pound cake, Jessica Robinson, cookbook author and food blogger atA Farmgirl’s Kitchen, mixes in a teaspoon of almond extract. This is just enough to boost the cake’s rich and sweet flavor without leaving an overpowering after taste behind.
Related: This One-Bowl Chocolate Pound Cake Recipe Is a Dessert Lover’s Dream: So Rich + Easy
How to make cold oven pound cake
It’s clear that “low and slow” is a delicious way to go when making pound cake. Here, Robinson shares her family’s recipe for Cold Oven Pound Cake and describes it as “an easy to make dessert, perfect for any occasion.”
Cold Oven Pound Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. pure almond extract
- 3 cups all-purpose or cake flour + extra for lining cake pan
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup full-fat buttermilk
- Powered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Directions:
- Yield: 1 pound cake (12 servings)
- Grease 12-cup Bundt or cast-iron fluted cake pan with thin layer of vegetable shortening. Dust with scoop or two of flour and tap out excess.
- Sift flour into medium bowl. Whisk in baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In large bowl using an electric hand mixer or bowl of stand mixer, cream together butter and vegetable shortening. With stand mixer on low to medium add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time only until combined. Mix on low to medium speed. Add vanilla extract, almond extract, buttermilk and dry ingredients. Mix until batter is smooth and combined. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl occasionally. Scoop the cake batter into prepared cake pan and gently spread around evenly.
- Place cake into cold oven. Set temperature to 350°F.
- Bake about 1 hour 15 minutes. After first 45 minutes, gently rotate baking pan 180° to help cake bake evenly and continue cooking. Cake is done when toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean.
- Remove from oven and let cake cool about 10 minutes before carefully removing from cake pan. Let cake cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar (if desired) and slicing. Enjoy!
What to serve cold oven pound cake with
Once sliced, serve each portion of cake with your favorite accompaniments. Fresh berries and yogurt add a tangy flavor to the buttery pound cake. Alternatively, you can top the cake with whipped cream or ice cream for extra sweetness. Or, pour a warm caramel or fudge sauce onto the cake slice to make it decadent!
Keep reading for more flavorful cake recipes!
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Mini Bundt Cake Recipes That Are *Almost* Too Cute to Eat — Our 7 Best-Ever Treats
FAQs
Starting your pound cake in a cold oven also impacts the texture of the cake. A longer bake time and lower temperature allows the leavening more time to work before the cake sets, resulting in a taller, fluffier cake.
Is it better to bake pound cake at 325 or 350? ›
A steady 325-350 degrees is ideal when it comes to baking pound cake. Position the pan in the middle of the oven, and rotate it once, halfway through the baking time, as it bakes to account for any hot spots.
What is the difference between a butter cake and a pound cake? ›
Butter cakes (also referred to as creamed cakes) have a lighter texture and greater volume than pound cakes. Pound cakes (named because they originally contained one pound each of butter, sugar, eggs and flour) tend to be denser.
What makes a pound cake more dense? ›
The Eggs: Pound cakes require a lot of eggs to create that dense texture. Some folks say that you shouldn't use fresh eggs in pound cakes because they don't mix into the batter as easily and can result in overmixing. I've always used my chicken's fresh eggs for pound cakes and it comes out fantastic, so who knows!
What happens when you bake in a cold oven? ›
It's all part of the fun! But in all seriousness, using a cold oven when baking can help prevent over-browning or burning of the edges of the baked goods. It can also help in getting a more even rise in cakes and breads, making them look like they were baked by a professional pastry chef, even if you are a beginner.
How long to cool a pound cake before removing from pan? ›
How long do you leave pound cake in the pan? When it's done baking, let the cake sit in the pan for 10 minutes: no more, no less. It's enough time for the cake to firm up some after baking so that it doesn't fall apart, but not so much time that the cake gets stuck to the pan.
Is cake flour or all purpose better for pound cake? ›
Cake Flour: Cake flour is lighter than all-purpose flour and produces the best pound cake in my opinion. Since it's so light, the attention remains on the butter. All-purpose flour is simply too heavy for this pound cake recipe; the cake will be heavy as a brick. If needed, use this homemade cake flour substitute.
What pan is best for pound cake? ›
Bundt pans are a baking essential. Their unique construction allows an even browning on denser cakes, like pound cake, with the well-defined curves that are the hallmark of the form.
How long to beat butter and sugar for pound cake? ›
Beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light in color and fluffy; this will take about 5 minutes. (Granulated sugar and butter will be pale yellow when creamed.
Should you use salted or unsalted butter for pound cake? ›
Unsalted butter gives you complete control of the overall flavor of your recipe. This is especially important in certain baked goods where the pure, sweet cream flavor of butter is key (butter cookies or pound cakes). As it pertains to cooking, unsalted butter lets the real, natural flavor of your foods come through.
This helps create more consistent results for home bakers replicating a recipe. In general, salted butter is preferred for cooking (or simply spreading) as it adds more flavour and has a longer shelf life, while unsalted butter is the go-to for baking.
Why does my pound cake fall when I take it out of the oven? ›
Too much air and your cake will collapse because it simply can't hold onto all that air. Overbeating can add too much additional air and/or large air bubbles which the cake can't support, causing it to collapse in the oven.
How do you know when a pound cake is done without a toothpick? ›
Our Favorite Alternative to Toothpicks
Look at your knife set and find the one with the thinnest blade. Then insert the blade into the center of the cake. If the knife comes out clean, the cake is done. If batter or crumbs stick to the blade, let your cake bake a few minutes more and retest with a clean knife.
What happens if you don't preheat the oven before baking? ›
Preheating your oven helps ensure your food goes from refrigerator cold to blazing hot more quickly — spending as little time in the danger zone as possible. And even if this is a short amount of time, just know that some bacteria can multiply in the danger zone in as little as 20 minutes.
What happens if you put something in the oven before it's preheated? ›
“In ovens that preheated using both the top and bottom elements, food put in before the preheat cycle was up burned on top,” Cook's Illustrated found. So in most instances, your food is usually better off going in a preheated oven.
Is it necessary to preheat oven before baking cake? ›
In general, the rule of thumb when it comes to baking cakes is to preheat your oven to the directed temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before popping your cake in. That extra time will pay off when you pull out your perfectly baked cake!
Why do you put water in the oven when baking a pound cake? ›
Prepare cake pan by coating with butter and sugar. Set aside a different pan filled with a few inches of water (this creates moisture in the oven and prevents the cake from drying out while baking).
