OLD FASHIONED BLUE RIBBON POUND CAKE
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Old Fashioned Blue Ribbon Pound Cake. Tall, buttery, moist, dense. This pound cake is classic and very close to an original pound cake recipe.
Old-fashioned desserts seem to be making a resurgence. My Pound Cake series has been very popular as well as other old-fashioned desserts that I’ve shared. My Old-fashioned Butter Roll, Old-fashioned Sugar Pie, and Old-fashioned Rice Pudding are some of the most popular recipes on callmepmc.com.
Old Fashioned Blue Ribbon Pound Cake
I started this series on reviewing Pound Cake recipes because pound cakes are my very most favorite thing in the world to make. I dunno why, but they are. Pound cakes are delectable and unbelievably easy to make with a few basic tips. Overall, I’ve had very good feedback on this series which makes me really happy. I’ve enjoyed baking and testing all the pound cakes and sharing the recipes with you.
I do sometimes get negative comments and it makes me unhappy when a recipe doesn’t work out. I want to stress a few things when attempting not only this Old Fashioned Blue Ribbon Pound Cake and my other pound cake recipes, but any cake recipe in general. Review my post Baking Cakes: Problems and Tips. Some quick tips I have also listed below.
The recipe is correct as written. There are no baking soda or baking powder in it. Traditionally, eggs were the only leavening agent used in pound cakes. Baking soda and baking powder do more than aid in making baked goods rise, they also change the texture of them. To get that traditional pound cake texture that’s crusty on the outside with a dense, moist, soft inside make the recipe as written.
I always use salted real
Pound Cake Tips
- Measure carefully, especially the flour. How do you measure flour? To correctly measure flour, first, sift the flour. Then using a spoon or scoop lightly scoop flour out of its container into a measuring cup. Continue filling the cup until it is overflowing, then using the back of a
butter knife level the flour. Scooping the measuring cup directly into the flour to fill can result in up to 25% more flour than lightly spooning the flour into the measuring cup. More flour in a recipe will make it dense and dry. - Read all about how to Calibrate your oven in this post.
- Use good quality ingredients. Read some of the differences in name-brand and store-bought ingredients here.
- Use real
butter . Refer to number 3 above. - Allow your eggs and
butter to come to room temperature. - I drizzled Lemon Sauce over the cake while the cake was still warm.
- Read all my tips for Baking the Perfect Pound Cake
- *PLEASE NOTE – COOKING TIMES VARY DEPENDING ON IF YOUR OVEN IS CALIBRATED AND IF YOU USE A LIGHT OR DARK PAN. TEST THE CAKE BEFORE THE RECOMMENDED TIME. IF THE CAKE IS TOO DRY, YOU BAKED IT TOO LONG.
- I use this Tube Pan.
- I just want to add again the recipe is correct as written. There is no baking soda or baking powder in it.
- Please refer to this article when changing pan sizes: Baking Times for Different Cake Pans
Recipe for Lemon Sauce {click here}
SHOP THIS POST
Equipment
How to serve Blue Ribbon Pound Cake
This Old Fashioned Blue Ribbon Pound Cake makes a tall and impressive cake. It’s ideal for potlucks and parties. Serve it with in-season berries, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
The following pound cakes are some of my most popular. You can get all my pound cake recipes here.
- Million Dollar Pound Cake
- Trisha Yearwoods Lemon Pound Cake with Glaze
- Best Triple Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
- Famous Ritz Carlton Hotel Lemon Pound Cake
- Whipping Cream Pound Cake
- Amaretto Pound Cake
- Sour Cream Pound Cake
- BLUE RIBBON BANANA BREAD MUFFINS
- Blue Ribbon Chewy Molasses Ginger Cookies
- ORANGE BUNDT CAKE
- MY TOP TEN MOST POPULAR POUND CAKE RECIPES
- Blue Cheese Biscuits
Old Fashioned Blue Ribbon Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups butter, no substitutes salted or unsalted, at room temperature
- 3 and ½ cup granulated sugar
- 10 large eggs at room temperature
- 4 cups all-purpose flour sifted (always sift, then measure)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Allow butter and eggs to come to room temperature.
- Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan. The cake is too large for a regular bundt pan. You need a 10-15 cup bundt pan like this which is larger than a standard bundt. If you don't have a tube pan or large bundt pan, you can make cupcakes with the extra batter. Don't fill the pan closer than 2 inches from the top, or it may overflow. You can use shortening and sugar or use cake release from Wilton! You may need to line the sides of the tube pan with waxed paper so that it is above the top of the pan 2 to 3 inches as shown in the photo. This is a very tall cake.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream 2 cups butter until soft and there are no lumps.
- Add 3 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar and cream until light and fluffy.
- Add one at a time, beating until just mixed in before adding the next egg.
- Lower speed on mixer to low and slowly add 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour.
- Add vanilla and mix in completely.
- Spoon batter into prepared tube or bundt pan. (If using a bundt pan, make sure it’s large enough for batter to double in size.)
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- *PLEASE NOTE – Cooking times vary depending on several factors: if your oven is calibrated and cooking accurately, if you use a light or dark pan, and if you set the cake pan on a cookie sheet to cook. TEST the cake before the shortest recommended time and adjust from there. This is a wonderfully moist cake but it will be dry if you cook it too long.
- Test for doneness with a wooden pick. Insert pick in the center of the cake, if pick comes out clean or with dry crumbs, it is done.
- Remove cake and allow to cool on a wire rack 30 minutes before inverting onto a serving platter.
- The recipe is correct as written. There are no baking soda or baking powder in it.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
My husband’s mother always made pound cake for his birthday and it’s still his favorite. She passed away before I met him and neither he nor his siblings have her very old southern recipe. All they could tell me is that it had a pound of butter, a pound of eggs, no baking soda or powder, etc. After 20 years of searching online, I found your recipe and it’s as close to hers as I’ll ever find. I’ve made yours twice now a third will be tomorrow, and have had great success and compliments every time (even from his sisters). THANK YOU for sharing and for your tips, too!
Kindly,
LJ
Oh That makes me so happy!!! It makes my heart smile that it’s close enough to their mother’s pound cake that it brings back memories. And kudos to you for baking it perfectly too! ❤️
Where the salt
The recipe is correct as written. You can add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt if you prefer.
Can I substitute buttermilk for some of the eggs
I don’t recommend it.
is says to add sugar and cream…however i don’t see cream in ingredients, please help
Hi, sorry for the confusion, to cream in baking terms means to blend together until light and fluffy using medium speed. I hope this clears it up for you, Enjoy!
This is such a great recipe, I make it all the time. I love recipes with very few ingredients.
One variation I’ve been experimenting with is substituting 1 cup of barley flour for one cup of the flour. It gives a great nutty flavor!
Ah, interesting! I’ll try that! Thanks!
Could you substitute cake flour for this recipe?
Yes, the ratio is ‘Add an extra 2 tablespoons per cup of cake flour to equal the quantity in 1 cup of all-purpose flour’
This is a classic perfect pound cake!! I have made it several times with perfect results and always met with compliments!! I plan to try making it diabetic friendly with Splenda and will let you know how it turns out. I also usually add almond extract in addition to the vanilla and it gives it a very nice flavor.
I have baked this pound cake many times and it always turns out great.
I made a lemon pound cake for Christmas and it was awful!! The recipe was handed down on my husband’s mother’s side. It was eggy and very dense! I used a hand mixer….. That’s all I have…. But I’m wondering if a stand mixer would have made a difference!
It could have not been beaten enough especially since you mention it was very dense. I won’t print it or share it if you want to email it to me to look at. I’ll try to figure out what went wrong. callmepmc@gmail.com
Mine came out good/tasty, very high and beautiful texture, but too cakey, rather than the dense crumb texture typical with pound cakes. I used self rising flour.. would that be the culprit?
Yes, self-rising flour doesn’t work in pound cakes. I surprised it didn’t overflow out of the pan.