Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe

Name: Sour Cream Pound Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 14 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 250 g butter, softened; 350 g caster sugar; 5 eggs, at room temperature; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 300 g plain flour; ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda; ½ tsp salt; 240 g soured cream, at room temperature

Sour Cream Pound Cake

A dense, buttery pound cake with a tender crumb from soured cream, baked in a tube pan for 1 hour 10 minutes.

1 hr 30 min prep and cooking plus 15 min cooling 1 hr 45 min start to finish Serves 14 servings Medium

Why Sour Cream Pound Cake Works

The first sign it is ready is the smell: butter, vanilla and a faint tang like a warm custard tart, drifting out of the oven. A pound cake gets its name from the old formula of a pound each of butter, sugar, flour and eggs, and the version with soured cream is a modern refinement that gives a softer, moister crumb and a hint of tartness.

Everything should be at room temperature, including the eggs and the soured cream. Cold ingredients curdle the butter and sugar creaming, and give a coarse, heavy cake. Take them out an hour before you start. Cream the butter and sugar for 5 minutes, which is longer than it feels like it should be, until the mixture is nearly white and doubled in volume.

Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for a full 30 seconds after each. This builds the emulsion that holds the air in the batter. Rush it, and the mixture looks curdled and the finished cake is dense and greasy. Then fold in the flour alternately with the soured cream in three additions, and stop as soon as it is combined.

Bake at 160°C / 320°F in a tube pan, so the heat reaches the middle. The cake is done when the crust is deep golden, cracked along the top and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes and turn out.

Build the Meal Around Sour Cream Pound Cake

Fresh berries
Whipped cream
Hot tea
Coffee

Making Sour Cream Pound Cake, Step by Step

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Heat the oven to 160°C / 320°F. Grease and flour a 25 cm tube pan.
Beat the butter and sugar for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, 30 seconds each, then the vanilla.
Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Fold into the batter in 3 additions, alternating with the soured cream.
Spoon into the pan and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out.

Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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A Few Notes

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

Cream for a full 5 minutes.

Stop mixing when the flour is combined.

Storing and Reheating

Keeps in an airtight container for 5 days. Freezes well.

Questions and Answers

How long does Sour Cream Pound Cake take to make?

20 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 10 minutes of cooking, plus 15 minutes of cooling, so allow 1 hour 45 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 14.

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

368Calories

5gProtein

42gCarbs

20gFat

1gFibre

26gSugar

160mgSodium

Vegetarian

Sour Cream Pound Cake

Build the Meal Around Sour Cream Pound Cake

Making Sour Cream Pound Cake, Step by Step

A Few Notes

Storing and Reheating

Questions and Answers

Nutrition per Serving

Your notes on this recipe

Cooked this? Keep a note for next time

Build the Meal Around Sour Cream Pound Cake

Making Sour Cream Pound Cake, Step by Step

A Few Notes

Storing and Reheating

Questions and Answers

Nutrition per Serving

Your notes on this recipe

Cooked this? Keep a note for next time

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