Cream Cheese Pound Cake Loaf

Cream cheese loaf cake is a breeze to mix and bakes up soft and moist. The resulting loaf pound cake is perfect for serving guests.

Southern cream cheese pound cake loaf is tender and delicious and pairs perfectly with coffee or tea.

two slices of cream cheese pound cake served on a white plate with strawberries

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If you want moist, decadent loaf cake and you haven’t been adding cream cheese to your batter, you are in for an incredible treat!

Standard pound cake recipes become something magical with the addition of this one ingredient.

The first pound cakes were made in Great Britain in the early 1700s but made their way across the pond by the end of the century.

Classic pound cake recipes get their name from the traditional use of one pound each of butter, eggs, flour and sugar. The basic recipe is easy to remember and yields consistent results of moist cake.

Pound cakes are simple yet lovely. They pair well with powdered sugar and fresh berries or other fresh fruit, with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

But good pound cakes can hold their own when served plain with a cup of coffee or tea.

Pound cake is a dense, somewhat heavy cake (compared to, say, a sponge cake), but it shouldn’t be dry, a problem you may have encountered when making traditional pound cakes.

All of that changed when I began adding cream cheese to the batter of my homemade pound cake!

The recipe and the process are still simple, but the result is a silky, moist slice of heaven that every southern grandmother would fawn over. I think you will too!

More Cream Cheese Baked Goods:

a loaf of cream cheese pound cake on a cutting board, with two slices cut out

Secrets to Perfect Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This moist, decadent cream cheese loaf cake is made from scratch, but this great recipe comes together quickly.

Following these tips will ensure you serve your guests a gorgeous slice of perfect cream cheese pound cake loaf every single time.

  • Use room temperature ingredients. For best results, bring your butter, eggs and cream cheese to room temperature! This will ensure that everything blends together smoothly. If you keep your flour in the fridge or freezer, bring it to room temperature too.
  • Mix it! Mix it real good! Blend the butter, cream cheese and sugar until it is light and fluffy before you move forward with the rest of the recipe.
  • Add eggs slowly. Mix in the eggs one at a time. It will take you a few extra minutes but it guarantees that everything is mixed in beautifully.
  • Grease the pan. Make sure your loaf pans are well greased so the load cake releases easily.
  • Tent with foil. This cream cheese loaf cake has a long baking time. If it begins to brown too much, tent it with aluminum foil during the last half of the cooking time.
  • Let it cool. Let the cream cheese pound cake loaf cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack for at least 2 hours before slicing. It’s so hard to wait but the cake will release easier and will look gorgeous even before you slice into it!

If you don’t have cream cheese, consider making one of my favorite sour cream pound cake recipes. These also use a tube pan or bundt cake pan, which is ideal if you don’t have loaf pans:

two slices of cream cheese pound cake on a white plate with two strawberries, and the remaining loaf of pound cake on a cutting board in the background

How to Make Cream Cheese Pound Cake Loaf

It’s really easy to make loaf pound cake with cream cheese.

Simple Ingredients You’ll Need:

  • Unsalted Butter
  • Cream Cheese
  • Granulated Sugar
  • Eggs
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Almond or Lemon Extract (optional)
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Baking Powder
  • Salt

Add Photo Here

How to Make this Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe:

(Full printable recipe is available below)

Cream the butter and sugar. First, you’ll beat butter and cream cheese together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a handheld electric mixer) on medium speed.

When combined, add the sugar and mix until fluffy.

two photos; one shows butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer, and the other shows ingredients mixed together, including sugar.

Add the eggs. Next, you’ll add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the side of the bowl as needed.

Add vanilla extract and almond or lemon extract, if using. Mix just to combine.

collage of two photos; one shows the eggs added to the batter and the other shows vanilla extract and almond extract added to the pound cake batter.

Mix the dry ingredients. Then, you’ll whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate medium bowl.

With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.

two photos; one shows dry ingredients whisked together in a bowl. the other shows dry ingredients mixed into the cream cheese pound cake batter.

Bake the pound cake loaf. Last, you’ll divide the cake batter among two prepared loaf pans.

Two greased loaf pans with cream cheese pound cake batter in them, ready to be baked.

Bake for 65-75 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean.

Cool completely before slicing and serving.

close-up view of a sliced loaf of cream cheese pound cake

Notes and Adaptations:

  • Almond extract is optional in this cake. Lemon or orange extract are both great alternatives if you prefer, or you can omit these and stick with just vanilla extract.
  • These loaves freeze well. Cool completely before tightly wrapping well with plastic wrap, then freeze.
  • Cake should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
overhead view of two slices of cream cheese loaf cake served on a white plate alongside two fresh strawberries

Recommended Equipment:

Yield: 2 loaves

Cream Cheese Pound Cake Loaf

two slices of cream cheese pound cake on a white plate with strawberries

This soft and tender cream cheese pound cake loaf is perfect for enjoying as a coffee cake, or as a dessert topped with berries and cream!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
  • 8-oz cream cheese, softened
  • 3 cups granulated sugar
  • 5 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp almond or lemon extract (optional)
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease two 8x4" loaf pans well.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and cream cheese until combined.
  3. Add sugar, mixing until well-combined.
  4. With the mixer on low speed, add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the side of the bowl as needed.
  5. Add vanilla extract and almond or lemon extract, if using. Mix just to combine.
  6. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
  7. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.
  8. Divide batter among two prepared loaf pans. Bake for 65-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean.
  9. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

Notes

  • Almond extract is optional in this cake. Lemon or orange extract are both great alternatives if you prefer, or you can omit these and stick with just vanilla extract.
  • These loaves freeze well. Cool completely before tightly wrapping well with plastic wrap, then freeze.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

20

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 366Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 95mgSodium: 243mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 1gSugar: 31gProtein: 4g

Nutrition information is automatically calcualated and is not guaranteed for accuracy.

Want more delicious recipe ideas?

Check out even more mealtime inspiration on my Pinterest boards!

collage of two photos featuring cream cheese pound cake loaf

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17 Comments

  1. This cake burns terrible even tented with foil use a DIFFERENT recipe wasted all this to get 2 burnt cakes!

    1. Chrysti Benner says:

      I’m sorry to hear that your cakes burnt, Teresa! I know how disappointing that can be. A couple of things to check–did you use 8×4″ pans? If you used 9×5″ pans, that would affect the bake time as the batter would be shallower. Also, light-colored pans are better than dark pans for preventing burning. One last thing to consider is that some home oven temps aren’t calibrated properly, so using a thermometer in the oven can be helpful.

  2. Colleen McIlhenny says:

    Do you omit the vanilla flavoring if using almond flavoring?

    1. Chrysti Benner says:

      I still use the vanilla extract and just also add the 1/4 tsp of almond extract. If you didn’t want to use any vanilla, you could probably increase the almond extract to 1/2 tsp on 1 tsp. Hope that helps! 🙂

  3. Sharon Czubowicz says:

    I made these into mini individual pound cakes using a mini loaf pan love it!!

    1. Chrysti Benner says:

      I bet they are so cute, Sharon! Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    2. Chastyne Fields says:

      What time did you bake your mini loaves for?

  4. Can I use fresh blueberries?

    1. Chrysti Benner says:

      Hi Marsha! I think that would work fine. Enjoy! 🙂

  5. Used 8×4, 65 min. 350F , follow recipe, came perfect. I do not bake, this is my 3rd cake. I love this recipe.
    Thanks

    1. Chrysti Benner says:

      Thank you, Armando! I’m happy to hear it came out perfect for you! 🙂

  6. Can cake flour be used instead of AP flour?

    1. Chrysti Benner says:

      I think that should work fine, Annez–enjoy! 🙂

  7. This is a fantastic recipe! I usually have to tent for the last 15 minutes, but the cake turns out beautifully. Perfect balance–not too sweet! It’s moist with a bit of a crust. Perfection!

    1. Chrysti Benner says:

      Thank you so much! I love hearing that you enjoyed it and that it turned out perfectly for you! 🙂

  8. Well, I didn’t have 8×4 loaf pans but I really wanted to make this. I didn’t have milk, so I did a search for cake with no milk and this recipe came up. Looked really good and I already had all of the ingredients on hand (except the loaf pans). I used a tube/bundt pan, baked at 350 for 65 minutes. The top was still slightly moist so put in for 15 additional minutes and it was perfect. It turned out delicious! Thank you.

    1. Chrysti Benner says:

      Hi Vickie! Thanks so much for letting us know about baking it in a bundt pan–I’m glad it worked well for you! 🙂

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