Cream Cheese Pound Cake
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Apr 10, 2025 
Best Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe – Learn How to Make Pound Cake light and fluffy. Our Easy Pound Cake requires only 8 ingredients (mostly pantry staples) + is great with toppings!
Cream Cheese Pound Cake is the BEST!
A pound cake is the perfect simple dessert. It’s rich and buttery, with a delicate vanilla flavor and tight, moist crumb. It’s a hearty no-fuss cake; you don’t have to decorate or worry about transporting it to events.
Our Cream Cheese Pound Cake is a marvelous platform for creativity. Although it tastes amazing on its own, you can mix add-ins into the batter before baking, or dress it up with toppings and sauces!
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
Why do I think Cream Cheese Pound Cake is the best? It’s because of what the cream cheese does to the flavor and texture of the pound cake…
Pound Cakes are meant to be heavy cakes. It’s said the original pound cake recipe was made with one pound each of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. However, pound cakes can be a little too dense and heavy, in my opinion. That’s where the cream cheese comes in.
Adding cream cheese to the cake batter lightens and lifts the batter while baking, because cream cheese tends to puff as it bakes. This makes the pound cake slightly softer and airier than traditional pound cake.
It also adds a very mild twang to the otherwise pure rich vanilla-butter flavor. The little bit of tanginess balances the flavors, so the pound cake does not taste too sweet.
I like to bake pound cakes in a bundt pan, because it creates a larger cake with a decorative finish. Also, bundt pans usually have a good non-sticking coating on the inside that makes it easy to flip the cake out of the pan.
However, if you do not own a bundt pan, you can make this recipe in two standard 9-inch loaf pans. In loaf pans, the baking time should be reduced to 70-80 minutes.
Ingredients You Need
If you get anxious about holiday baking, this easy Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe is a great place to start. You only need a few key ingredients to make something that tastes impressive.
- Butter – Softened. Always go with unsalted butter when you have the choice.
- Cream cheese – Softened. Full fat. To enhance the flavor and texture.
- Sugar – To dust the pan and sweeten the pound cake.
- Flour – The base of the batter.
- Eggs – To bind and lift the batter.
- Vanilla extract – For deep nostalgic flavor.
- Baking Powder – To help the cake rise.
- Salt – To enhance the overall flavor.
How To Make Pound Cake
Ready to learn how to make a perfect pound cake? Find the full Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Glaze For Pound Cake
You can also make a simple glaze to pour over the pound cake by mixing…
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 – 4 tablespoons milk (or heavy cream for a thicker glaze)
- 1-2 teaspoons flavor extract (This could be vanilla, lemon, rum, coconut, strawberry, etc.)
Be sure to whisk the glaze well, so there are no clumps. Then pour or drizzle over the cake.
If the cream cheese cake is warm, the glaze will most likely soak into the cake. If you want it to sit up on top of the cake, make the glaze very thick, using less liquid and more powdered sugar. Then wait until the cake is completely cool to apply the glaze.
Other Homemade Toppings
Once you bake homemade pound cake from scratch, you might want to dazzle it up when it’s time for dessert.
Here are a few topping ideas
- Salted Caramel Sauce
- Chocolate Ganache
- Chocolate Gravy
- Warm Blueberry Sauce
- Raspberry Syrup
- or Fresh Cut Fruit
Frequently Asked Questions
Pound cakes do take a long time to bake. However, if yours is taking longer than expected, you may have a faulty oven thermostat.
Place a new hanging oven thermometer off the center rack in your oven, and adjust the temperature accordingly. (Your oven manual, or youtube, can show you how to recalibrate your oven.)
Absolutely! Wrap it very well with plastic wrap, then a layer of foil, and freeze for up to 6 months.
Sure! Try not to mix in any ingredient that would add extra moisture (like chopped fruit). However, you can certainly add in chocolate chips, chopped nuts, or dried fruits.
No, this cake can stay out at room temperature for 3 to 5 days, but you can keep it in the fridge if you would like to. Wrap it well and refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Looking For More Festive (Yet Easy) Cake Recipes?
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- Pina Colada Sheet Cake
- Kahlua Coffee Cake Recipe
- Homemade Strawberry Cake from Scratch Recipe
- Lemon Ricotta Cake (Crepe Cake Recipe)
- Easy Magic Custard Cake Recipe
- Best Lemon Buttermilk Cake Recipe
- Perfect Southern Caramel Cake Recipe (with Salted Caramel Frosting)
- Better Than Sex Cake (Retro Cake Recipe)
- Best Carrot Cake Recipe
- Chocolate Pudding Cake
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- Pistachio Pudding Poke Cake
More Easy Pound Cake Recipes
- Pumpkin Pound Cake with Chocolate Ganache Recipe
- Pecan Praline Pound Cake Recipe
- Buttery Sweet Potato Pound Cake
- Mint Chocolate Chip Pound Cake Recipe
- Chocolate Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze
Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened (3 sticks)
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 6 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (stir in bag, spoon in cup, level)
Instructions
- Set out the butter, eggs, and cream cheese to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Move one oven rack to the center of the oven and remove any racks above it.
- Pull out a standard 12-cup capacity bundt pan. Grease the bundt pan with extra butter or shortening, then scoop 1/4 cup sugar into the pan and shake it around until the fat is well coated in sugar. Dump out any excess sugar. Set aside.
- Place the softened butter and cream cheese in the bowl on an electric. Beat on high until the mixture is totally smooth. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the remaining 2 3/4 cups sugar. Beat on high again for 3-5 minutes to cream the ingredients until very light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl again.
- Turn the mixer on low and beat in the eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt. Then slowly add the flour a little at a time, until fully combined. Once the batter is smooth, turn off the mixer, as to not overmix the batter.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center rack for 80-90 minutes. After 80 minutes, test the cake by inserting a toothpick deep into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, take the pound cake out of the oven.
- Let the cream cheese pound cake rest in the pan for 15 minutes. Then carefully flip the cake onto a platter or baking rack.
I forgot to leave a STAR rating with my first comment.
This is now my GO TO pound cake recipe!!! I’ve made it twice. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Following the recipe and notes to the letter makes all the difference.
I’ve made this cake a least 5 times & I’ve got 2 in the oven now for Thanksgiving, 1 for my Mom n laws house. My family loves this recipe THANKS
This is one fantastic pound cake! I love the crunch sugaring the pan gives the cake. I added a teaspoon of almond extract for even more flavor. I’ve made this several times now, and it has been a great hit. This recipe is in the official cake vault.
So very yummy! Buttery, moist for a pound cake, the outside crust is a treat on its own! I cut the recipe in half and used a loaf pan but didn’t change the recipe itself. Hubby ate his like strawberry shortcake with strawberries in syrup and Cool whip. Big smiles! 🥰 Thank you!
Turned out Wonderful
I made this and it was perfect!!!
Easy and so delicious! Didn’t stick to the pan at all; I used pastry flour in the recipe, and “baker’s secret” spray to coat the pan before the sugar (instead of lard/shortening) but otherwise followed exactly. Sooo yummy.
thank you so much for this recipe!!! it was easy to follow the instructions you provided! this was my first time ever making a pound cake. I will defiantly be using this recipe again!
Hello all! When i say this recipe is AMAZING, this will be the one & only pound cake recipe you’ll ever make. My family devoured this cake over night. The texture is so smooth, THANK YOU for this recipe
Yummmmy😋😋
This recipe came out perfect! The only difference was that I greased and floured a tube pan instead of dusting with sugar.
My go to cookbook with all all our favorite recipes is in storage, having a craving for pound cake I decided to try this recipe, let me just say that I will be replacing the recipe that has been in my book for over twenty years. Absolutely light and delicious!