Perfect Gluten Free Pound Cake was originally posted in March 2019 and has been updated with new pictures, a new video, and plenty of helpful tips and ideas.
I've been making this perfect gluten free pound cake for as long as I can remember. It's dense, but soft and tender with a wonderful almond flavor. Serve it with berries and freshly whipped cream for the perfect dessert.
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Pound cake is one of my favorite types of cakes to make and eat. It requires no adornments (like frosting) to be tasty, but a little macerated strawberries and whipped cream never hurt anyone. I think my favorite part about pound cake is how dense it is. But that's not saying it's not soft and very tender, not at all dry. When I make this pound cake, I always put both vanilla and almond extract in it. I just love an almond pound cake and this one, with the cream cheese and all the butter, is just outrageously good.
ingredients needed
- Cream cheese -- not the typical ingredient in pound cake, but cream cheese makes this one absolutely shine with its luxurious mouthfeel.
- Butter
- Eggs
- Kim's gluten free all purpose flour blend
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract -- a little almond extract goes a long way.
How Pound Cakes Rise
How in the world does a cake rise without leaveners? Is it magic? Well, to me pretty much all baking is magic, especially when you can transform a dough or batter into something that looks nothing like it started out as. But a pound cake gets it "magic" not from baking powder or soda. It gets its rise solely from eggs and lots of 'em. Beating the eggs in one at a time aerates the batter, which is what gives the cake its lift.
here's how to make this cake
- Cream the butter and cream cheese together for 2 minutes. Slowly add the sugar and increase the speed to medium high and beat for 7 minutes, until very light in color and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Increase to medium speed and beat for 2 more minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour just until combined.
- Add the almond and vanilla extracts and stir to incorporate.
- Pour into a greased and floured Bundt cake pan or angel food cake pan, leveling the top with an offset spatula.
- Bake at 300 degrees F for 1.5-2 hours, or until a skewer or long toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached.
- Set cake in pan on wire rack to cool for one hour.
- Loosen from sides with a butter knife or spatula. Invert onto serving platter.
- Allow to cool completely and serve with whipped cream and fresh berries.
pound cake faqs
Add cream cheese to the butter when creaming. This makes for a dense, but soft and tender (not dry) pound cake.
Originally, pound cake was made with a pound of each of the ingredientsu002du002dflour, sugar, butter, and eggs.
In this recipe, no chemical leaveners (baking powder or baking soda) are required. The method of whipping air into the batter means the cake will rise with just the eggs in the recipe.
Recipe Notes
A couple of things to remember when baking this pound cake (or any pound cake):
- Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. No super cold butter here, but also don't leave your butter sit out too long or it will be greasy and not able to cream well with the sugar.
- When instructed to beat for 7 minutes, don't ignore this step or cut the time short. It means a world of difference between a well risen pound cake and one that's squat.
- Make sure to beat each egg in one at a time, allowing one minute for each to fully incorporate. Remember, there are no chemical leaveners in the recipe.
- The baking time is an estimated amount because of different pan sizes. Use a long skewer in between the middle of the pan and sides to check for doneness. If it comes out wet, add about 10-15 more minutes and check again.
- Allow to cool for about an hour in the pan before attempting to remove it from the pan and onto a wire rack to cool completely. Doing this will ensure it won't fall apart.
- If your pan is a little on the smaller side, you may need to add some of the batter to another pan, such as a small loaf pan. Otherwise, be prepared for some of the batter to ooze over the sides. I would suggest baking the cake on a larger sheet tray just in case.
- Experiment with flavorings. Don't like almond? Just use vanilla extract or beans. Or try chai, blood orange, coffee (using instant espresso powder). Add grated chocolate for a chocolate flecked pound cake. The options are endless!!
more gluten free bundt style cakes
- Pumpkin pound cake
- Apple bundt cake
- Chocolate fudge bundt cake
- Mini hummingbird bundt cakes
- Cranberry orange bundt cake
If you've never made a pound cake, start with this one. You'll wonder what took you so long!!
Perfect Gluten Free Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (3 sticks or 339g) salted butter, at room temperature
- 8 oz (226g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3 cups (600g) granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 cups minus two tablespoon (402g) Kim's all purpose gluten free flour blend
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Grease and flour a Bundt pan or tube pan and set aside.
- In bowl of electric mixer using paddle attachment, cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth, about 2 minutes. Slowly add sugar and when all sugar is added, increase speed to medium high and whip for 7 minutes until very light in color and fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl.
- On low speed, add eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Once all eggs have been added, scrape down sides of bowl and increase speed to about medium and whip for about 2 minutes.
- With mixer on low, slowly add flour into butter/egg mixture. Add extracts at the end. Don't overmix. Remove bowl from mixer and use a spatula to fold in any remaining flour that didn't get distributed.
- Bake at 300℉ for 1½ to 2 hours. Start checking at about the 1½ hour mark by inserting a long wooden skewer in the middle of the cake and if it still feels wet when removed, it needs to bake longer. After that, keep checking at 10-minute intervals.
- Remove cake from oven when skewer comes out with just a few crumbs attached to it. Set cake in pan on wire rack to cool for at least an hour. Then loosen it with a butter knife from the edges. Put a cake plate on top of the cake pan and holding both, flip it over so that the cake comes out of the cake pan onto the plate.
- Allow to cool completely and serve at room temperature.
Notes
Adapted from Southern Living's Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Zudina says
Hello Miss Kim! I just baked this pound cake and it’s so delicious! The crumb came out perfect and the flavor is just right. I will definitely be baking this again. I didn’t bake it on mother’s day, but I did bake it for my mom and she was very impressed that is gluten-free! Thank you!
Kim says
So glad you liked it!
TJ says
I consider myself an accomplished baker and had high hopes for this.. The flavor is expected for a pound cake but the cake itself did not hold up after baking. The crispy crust separated from the cake immediately after removing it from the oven. The cake itself was very dense and gummy. My butter was not too soft and the rest of the ingredients were room temp. I wonder if adding baking soda or baking powder would help with the structure.
PE says
I'm about to attempt this recipe, but you say 1 1/2 sticks butter. That is 12 tablespoons-not oz.
It would take 3 sticks of butter to make 12 oz. (There are 16 oz in 1lb. butter)
So, do I use 1 1/2 sticks or 3?
Kim says
I'm so sorry! It's 3 sticks (12 tbsp), not 12 ounces. Thank you for noticing that and I will correct it in the recipe right now.
Hoke Hinson says
Greetings,
Thanx for the recipe much like
One we usually except using gluten free flour. Question:
We usually start with cold oven with temp set to 300'. Directions state bake at 300'.
Please clarify.
Thanx
Kim says
This one starts with a preheated oven.
MD says
Hi Kim, I made this today it baked for an hour and a half and the wooden skewer came out clean. it was all puffed up but then deflated and is very undercooked in the center. my question is , is there an internal temperature we can check that you’re aware of to ensure that it’s cooked thru if the skewer comes out clean? thank you!
MD says
Upon further inspection the whole interior is like translucent, super dense and very oily. Clearly, I went off the rails somewhere, I’m just not sure where I thought I followed the instructions exactly, especially the time taking to whip the butter and then the eggs in. Any ideas?where I went wrong? thank you
Kim says
Hmmm. I've never had problems like this before, but if it's really oily it could be that your butter was too soft. Also, what is the size of your Bundt pan? If it's on the small side, that could also cause the same problems you're having.
MD says
thank you so much for your reply I will definitely try it again with butter that’s not too soft. Your recipes are excellent I’ve been baking GF for five years and these are by far the best we’ve had. Thank you so much for sharing all you know!
Kim says
Awe, thank you so much! I really appreciate your kind words 😍
Lynne Knopp says
Great recipe! I buttered the pan though I didn’t see that in the directions. I made it exactly as written except I cut the recipe in half and used a bread pan. It was perfect for 4th of July Strawberry “Shortcake”. Thanks for a great recipe!!!!
Kim says
Oh my gosh, Lynne. I'm so sorry I didn't put to butter or grease the cake pan! This was one of my older posts and I need to go through and update it and make sure everything is correct.
Thank you for catching that and I'm glad you liked it 🙂
Sarah says
I am going to make this tomorrow. I have a question about the butter. It says 1 1/2 cups which would be 12 oz. but the recipe says 10 oz. So is it 10 or 12 oz. of butter? I want to get it right. Thanks
Kim says
I'm so sorry! My math was off. You are right, it's supposed to be 12 oz of butter and I've corrected it 🙂
Sarah says
The gram measurement is still for 10oz of butter.
Kim says
Noted and fixed. Thanks!
Maureen says
Hi Kim,
I just made this last night and it was soooooo amazing! The crust had that lovely crackle that homemade pound cake has and I can’t get enough of it. I also cut the recipe in half and made it in a loaf pan and it was perfect! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Kim says
Thank you, Maureen! This is one of my family's favorite cakes 🙂
Sarah says
What size pan do you use?
Kim says
Hi, Sarah! I use this pan here, which I'm pretty sure is a 10 cup capacity.
Lindy Rodriguez says
Can i use the gluten free Pillsberry all in one flour for this recipe ?
Kim says
I don't see why not 🙂
Amy Coduti says
Thank you. I was just recently diagnosed with IBSC and celiac Disease. The first thing I thought of was so long poundcake. It has and will always be my favorite. This is perfection. No scary side effects on my health and so full of yummy flavor. I took this to a party and they were wall blown away by how it tasted, even more so when I told them it was gluten free. I can not thank you enough.
Cathy Smith says
I would love to try your recipes using your recipe mix for the flour but I can't use cow milk and not sure where to get powdered goats milk. Any ideas where I could get it or is there something else I could use in its place. Thanks in advance.
Kim says
Hi, Cathy! I found powdered goat milk on Amazon. Click here for the link. I also found powdered coconut milk and here is the link for that.
Hope that helps 🙂