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This old fashioned sour cream pound cake recipe is wonderfully buttery, with a crunchy exterior, and tender crumb on the inside! I love serving this pound cake with some fresh berries and whipped cream. You can bake this pound cake in a bundt pan or loaf pans for an easy impressive dessert everyone will love.

slice of sour cream pound cake on a plate with berries

When you hear the words “pound cake” I think that should conjure images of a dense buttery cake that’s also soft, and tender all at the same time. I think what I love about a good pound cake, is that there’s no fussing around with layers, and frosting, and making it all pretty. Bake it in a bundt pan and it’s just pretty on it own! No filters needed, know what I’m saying?

All this pound cake needs is a simple dusting of powdered sugar on top. Maybe make some homemade whipped cream on the side with some fresh berries, or maybe strawberry topping and it’s the perfect summer dessert if you ask me.

This buttery pound cake with sour cream which creates a moist, tender crumb and with a beautiful crust that can’t be beat. I flavored it simply with a little vanilla extract but you could easily add some almond extract or a little zest if you want to.

I used this Citrus Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe as my jumping off point for this sour cream pound cake recipe. Did you know that citrus pound cake was the first recipe every featured on the blog many moons ago?! I remember I didn’t even take a photo of it and just wrote a couple paragraphs of its awesomeness and shared the recipe. Boy have we come a long, long way baby.

I’ve know got so many wonderful variations of this pound cake on the blog – like sock it to me cake, lemon pound cake, or this decadent chocolate pound cake.

Obviously for this sour cream pound cake I have all the photos, including step by step ones, so you can make this pound cake this summer and enjoy. All you need after this is a good cup of coffee to serve with it!

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sour cream pound cake slices on a cooling rack

Sour Cream Is The Key!

Tangy sour cream adds richness and creates a moist, tender crumb that can’t be beat. Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products you can use so the extra fat content is going to make for a wonderfully rich, moist pound cake.

Be sure to use full-fat sour cream for the best texture. I don’t recommend using a fat-free sour cream in this cake as it won’t provide that extra fat content.

whole pound cake on a wire rack with two slices cut

Ingredients Needed

Flour – You just need good ol’ all purpose flour here. I do like to sift the dry ingredients first to help lighten up the cake batter.
Salt
Baking powder
Baking soda
Sour cream – Full-fat sour cream is best, but also plain full-fat greek yogurt will also work.
Vanilla extract
Unsalted butter – You want room temperature butter so it’s creamed with the sugar well. This helps create air bubbles in the cake batter so you end up with a fluffy cake that rises well.
Granulated sugar
Eggs – You want room temperature eggs so it blends easily into the cake batter

How To Make This Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in the salt. Set aside.

Heather’s From Scratch Baking Tip

You want to make sure to not over-measure your flour. Stir your flour first in the bag then spoon into your measuring cup. Do NOT pack it down into the cup or you will end up with way too much flour causing your cake to be dense and dry. For best results, using a scale and weighing your flour is best for 100% accuracy.

bowl of dry ingredients in bowl with whisk

In a second small bowl, stir together the sour cream, and vanilla. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer (or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment), cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes on medium high speed.

Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl well after each addition and mix until blended.

Heather’s From Scratch Baking Tip

You want room temperature eggs going into the bowl or it could cause your butter mixture to seize up and curdle. I place my eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before using them. If you mixture does still break, it will smooth back out once the flour mixture has been added.

creamed butter and sugar in bowl with egg on top

Add the flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately to butter-sugar-egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture until uniformly incorporated- do not overmix.

Why Do You Need To Alternate Your Ingredients?

Alternating the ingredients an adding the flour and sour cream in gradually can help with not overmixing. Over-mixing will result in too much gluten being formed (the structure-building protein in the flour) that can result in a tough, chewy cake instead of a soft, tender one.

side by side photos of alternating adding flour and sour cream to pound cake batter

Grease and flour one 12-cup capacity bundt cake pan Pour batter into pan.

Instead of baking in a bundt pan, divide the batter between two loaf pans and bake for about 40-45 minutes.

Greasing Your Bundt Pan

I wait until the end to grease my bundt pan because it can slip down the sides if you grease it too early. I prefer to use either shortening and then dust with a coating of flour. Or I prefer using a cooking spray with flour in it, like Baker’s Joy. It’s my go to spray for bundt cakes! I do NOT recommend using butter as it can actually make your cake stick MORE. Oil-based sprays or vegetable shortening is best!

Bake in a preheated 350°F degrees oven for approximately 50-60 minutes, until top is golden brown and when the cake is done when a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert on to a cooling rack. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

Be sure to test the cake with a toothpick or skewer. You should not see any raw batter on it but just a few moist crumbs. I also like to press the top of the cake and it should bounce back. If it stays indented, then it’s not done and needs more time.

I like to simply dust the cake with some powdered sugar. Or with a little bit of homemade whipped cream and berries.

You can also serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or serve with a drizzle of chocolate ganache, hot fudge, or caramel sauce.

side by side photos of unbaked and baked old fashioned sour cream pound cake

Recipe Variations

If you love this sour cream version, then be sure to my lemon pound cake.

And when it’s summer time try my blueberry pound cake version with fresh blueberries and lemon, or add fresh, chopped strawberries like in my strawberry pound cake. And you can’t forget my my peach cobbler pound cake version with a brown sugar cinnamon topping.

cut away view of the sour cream pound cake

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