Sara Lee pound cake is a ready-to-use freezer dessert everyone knows and loves. You can slice it for a simple strawberry shortcake, cut it into cubes and layer in a trifle or eat a forkful right from the tin! But it’s not hard to capture the iconic Sara Lee flavor in a pound cake recipe at home.
Here’s what you need to know about the real Sara Lee.
Table of Contents
Homemade Sara Lee Pound Cake Recipe
This recipe makes 1 loaf of pound cake.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature (113g)
- 1-1/2 cups sugar (300g)
- 3 large eggs
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (180g)
- 1/2 cup whipping cream (116g)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Lauren’s Tip: I use a food scale like this to measure certain ingredients by weight rather than volume.
Tools You’ll Need
Loaf Pan: Our Taste of Home bakeware is designed to evenly bake bread, cakes and other treats.
Stand Mixer: If you’re a regular baker, a KitchenAid mixer is well worth the investment!
Measuring Cups: No kitchen should be without a quality set of measuring cups and spoons.
Directions
Step 1: Cream butter and sugar
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugar until pale, light and fluffy; a minimum of 5 minutes. It takes longer than you think to cream butter and sugar the right way!
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Editor’s Tip: No, we’re not forgetting baking soda or baking powder. Instead, pound cake is leavened naturally by beating air into the butter and sugar.
Step 2: Add the eggs and vanilla
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, on your mixer’s lowest setting. Stir in the vanilla.
Step 3: Mix in the flour and cream
Gradually add in the flour and whipping cream in alternating amounts until fully incorporated. The finished batter should be smooth, creamy, and have an almost mousse-like consistency.
Step 4: Bake
Transfer the batter to a 9×5 loaf pan lined that’s been with parchment and sprayed with cooking spray.
Place the pan into a COLD oven. Do not preheat! Then set the oven to 325°F and bake for 60-75 minutes.
Editor’s Tip: Using a cold oven improves the texture and rise of dense cakes, like pound cake. It slowly and evenly warms the batter so the outside of the cake doesn’t dry out before the inside can come to temperature.
Step 5: Cool and slice
When the pound cake is golden and fully set, remove and let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan. Then, transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling before slicing and serving, as desired.
Editor’s Tip: To accurately test the doneness of a pound cake, insert an instant-read thermometer into the center. The pound cake is fully baked when it reaches an internal temp of 210°F.
How to Add Flavor to Pound Cake
Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home
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While old-fashioned pound cake will never go out of style, you can easily adapt this recipe with a variety of extracts and flavors to suit your personal taste preferences (and pound cake dreams). Here are a few ideas:
- Lemon Pound Cake: Add the zest of 1 lemon and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract.
- Almond Poppy Seed Pound Cake: Add 2 teaspoons of poppy seed and 1 teaspoon of almond extract.
- Orange Pound Cake: Add the zest of 1/2 an orange and 1/2 teaspoon of orange extract.
- Spiced Pound Cake: Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.
Source: https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/sara-lee-pound-cake-recipe/
