Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe
Everyone needs a solid, no-fail, easy to make, and can be used in a multitude of ways pound cake recipe. This Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe is just that, yet I added a few tricks from my bag of culinary and baking knowledge. This isn’t your Old-Fashion Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe or Grandmother’s Pound Cake recipe. The results from this cake recipe will surprise you. From the crumb | texture, flavor, and all the ways you can use this Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe. National Poundcake Day is March 4th, maybe it’s time to bake a cake, pound cake!
What Makes a Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe Unique?
A pound cake is a unique cake, as most recipes use a ratio of butter to sugar to flour in their recipe. While that is also the case with this recipe, I wanted to increase the flavors, intensify that baked, almost caramelized flavor, making this pound cake recipe stand out, however, it is used. To add that extra pop of flavor, I added malted milk powder, to this cake a pop of baking umami. This secret ingredient (not so secret now), increases the baked cake flavor and elevates the sour cream | sweet butter flavors while improving the sweetness in the finish. To take this idea and concept a step further, I incorporated white miso into the batter, adding just the right amount of flavor enhancer, bringing out the sour cream tang with a slightly different fermented funk, while keeping the level of salt to the mix. I know, this isn’t your grandma’s pound cake recipe anymore…
Using sour cream helps this cake recipe not only stay moist longer, but it also adds a slight tang/twang to help cut some of the richness from all the rich butter and sugar. If you don’t have sour cream, one can substitute whole Greek yogurt (plain flavored) in its place, or a mixture of the two cultured dairy items.
Butter is also an important ingredient. As butterfat makes the cake tender, adds that buttery richness, that only butter can add to a cake, using a European style organic butter will increase the fat content in this baked deliciousness. I am a huge fan of Straus Family Creamery. Their European style butter has a higher percentage of butterfat, as the cream is first cultured, adding more flavor to the final butter as well. Since so much butter goes into this pound cake recipe, it becomes a signature ingredient. Go the extra distance and use the best butter you can get. This will ensure you get the that rich, delicate crumb, buttery goodness, and that tender, toothsome texture.
Baking with Ancient Grains
I also use almond flour, increasing the nuttiness of the recipe, while only slightly changing the crumb of the cake. If there is a nut allergy, increase the all-purpose flour to either 3 cups or use a different type of flour, such as an ancient grain such as einkorn, spelt, or Khorasan. These grains are full of nutrients and add a wonderful nutty element to the cake recipe. The finished texture is not noticeable at all, yet the results in flavor, mouthfeel, and nutrition will be detected.
You’ll notice this recipe is written by weight not volume. For baking, food science becomes more important. Measuring all the flour, butter, and ingredients by weight makes this recipe easy to multiply, depending on the crowd or number of people you are baking for, while also improving the reproducibility of this Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe. Investing in a high-quality kitchen scale, that is accurate to the gram is highly recommended. I find using the metric system so much easier than cups | pints | teaspoons to X amount grams. Measuring by volume isn’t as accurate and has many variables, including more cleanup.
This Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe can be used lots of different ways and transformed into many different desserts. It is wonderful on its own, with a dollop of whipping cream, some fruit coulis. The cake can be cubed up and used in a Trifle, or cut into shapes and layered in decorative glasses | cups, with lemon curd, fresh berries and | or a jam. The desired application of this recipe will change what baking pan is used. It can be baked into a classic Bundt pan, split into three loaf pans or a larger rectangle baking dish. Try scooping the cake batter into greased muffin tins to make cupcakes. Depending on what it’s ultimately baked in, the cooking time will change with the different length | width | height. Because of this reason I use an instant-read thermometer to check the internal temperature, instead of a toothpick, as the toothpick will always come out clean, whether the cake is perfectly cooked or totally overcooked. Cooking to a temperature eliminates guesswork, giving the baker a more factual reference point to know if the cake is done if it needs longer, a better sense of how much time, and if it is overcooked. As everyone’s ovens are calibrated differently, the size of the oven and what cooking settings your oven has (such as convection with a fan to help distribute the heat more uniformly), cooking by temperature for baking will become a “why haven’t I been doing this my whole life moment!”
What to serve with this cake recipe? Why not layer it with Rhubarb & Rodenbach Grand Cru Jam, and top with Hopped Strawberries for a Summer feast. Or use this pound cake recipe as a base for a Beer Ice Cream Cake.
Special Equipment for a Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe Recommendations:
Baking Pan:
- Nordic Ware Bundt Pan
, is a perfect size and creates a wonderful golden-colored pound cake
- 1/2 Size Pan, 4-Inch Deep
, is a great size baking pan if you are using this Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe for a trifle or layered cake
- Non-Stick Carbon Steel Loaf Pan, 9×5-Inch
, is a perfect size and creates a wonderful golden-colored pound cake
, is a great size baking pan if you are using this Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe for a 
Scale to Weigh Ingredients:
Baking Thermometer:
Makes: 1 large Sour Cream Pound Cake (1/2 hotel pan), feeding about 10 guests or 2 nine-inch round cakes
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 10 guests | 15 minute |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 60 - 75 minutes | 3 hour |
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This might be the best Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe I have ever tasted or made. Using food science, improved baking techniques, creates an easy to make and delicious recipe that can be used many different ways.
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- 330 gram butter, unsalted preferably European Style, organic, grass fed, at room temperature
- 580 gram sugar, organic
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16 gram
Malted Milk Powder, available here: Nestle Carnation Original Malted Milk (13 oz.)
- 6 gram flax meal, ground
- 30 gram miso, white
- 6 each eggs, extra large at room temperature
- 275 gram sour cream, preferably organic, grass-fed
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract preferably Bourbon based
- 285 gram flour, all-purpose unbleached, preferably organic
- 100 gram flour, almond, ground fine
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, Himalayan Pink
- Preheat oven to 325°F | 163°C, preferably on the convection bake setting.
- Coat a baking pan, either a large bundt pan or a four-inch 1/2 hotel pan with softened butter or a non-stick spray. Set aside.
- In a bowl of an electric mixer, add the butter, sugar, malted milk powder, ground flax meal, and white miso. Fit the mixer with a paddle attachment and cream the mixture together on medium speed.
- Scrape down the sides if they need it, making sure all the ingredients are well combined and the butter is fluffy. This should take about 3 - 5 minutes.
- Crack the eggs into a liquid measuring cup, then add eggs, one at a time, to the creamed butter mixture, mixing well after each egg addition.
- Next, turn off the motor and add in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Return the mixer to medium-high and mix until fully combined.
- In a medium bowl, measure the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking soda, and salt together. Using a whisk, blend the dry ingredients together well.
- Remove the mixing bowl from the mixer, cleaning the paddle of any remaining mixture with a spatula. Add the flour mixture, folding into the liquid mixture with the spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl well.
- Once the ingredients are just combined, pour batter into the greased Bundt pan or another baking dish. Using the spatula, evenly spread the cake batter out, spreading to all corners of the baking pan. Then tap the baking pan onto the counter, to help settle the batter, removing any air pockets and double-checking that the batter is level.
- Place into the center of the preheated oven and bake for 60 to 90 minutes (depending on the size, shape, and height of the baking pan) until the cake has pulled back from the sides of the pan and the internal temperature of the center of the cake reads 205F.
- Let the cake cool for 20 minutes and then turn the cake out on a cake rack to fully cool, at least 4 hours.
Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe Variations:
- Instead of using almond flour, substitute the nut flour for a different nut flour, coconut flour, or an ancient grain like einkorn, spelt, or Khorasan. These grains are full of nutrients and add a wonderful nutty element to the cake recipe.
- Barley or pearl barley flour can also be substituted for the nut flour, making this pound cake very beer pairing friendly with a malt-forward brew.
- Substitute Greek yogurt (plain, whole milk) for the sour cream, if you don't have sour cream or want to mix it up.
- Coconut butter can be replaced instead of butter, to give this cake recipe a tropical undertone. I would use coconut flour and even add 1/2 cup of grated unsweetened coconut flakes, substituting half of the sugar for blond coconut sugar to the recipe, making a Coconut Sour Cream Pound Cake.
- To make a light hopped flavored version, try adding | substituting some Hopped Sugar for the organic sugar.
Other Beer Cake Recipes:
