Name: Easy Pound Cake
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces/170 grams) cake flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 1/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces/248 grams) sugar; 4 large eggs , room temperature; 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 16 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and hot

Why This Recipe Works

Classic pound cake recipes tend to be very particular, requiring ingredients at certain temperatures and finicky mixing methods to ensure a proper emulsion of the eggs and batter. (If you’re off, you end up with a curdled batter and a dense, heavy cake.) For a simpler, foolproof pound cake, we discovered that hot melted butter (rather than softened) and a food processor were key. The fast-moving blade of the processor plus the hot melted butter emulsified the liquid ingredients quickly before they had a chance to curdle. Sifting the dry ingredients over our emulsified egg mixture in three additions and whisking them in after each addition allowed us to incorporate the dry ingredients easily and ensured that no pockets of flour would mar our final cake.

Before You Begin

The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8½ by 4½ inches; if you use a 9 by 5-inch pan, start checking for doneness 5 minutes early. To dress up the cake, try our Citrus Glaze (see related recipe).

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in bowl.

Process sugar, eggs, and vanilla in food processor until combined, about 10 seconds. With processor running, add melted butter in steady stream until incorporated. Pour mixture into large bowl.

Sift flour mixture over egg mixture in 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition until few streaks of flour remain. Continue to whisk batter gently until almost no lumps remain.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top. Wipe any drops of batter off sides of pan and gently tap pan on counter to release air bubbles. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 50 minutes to 1 hour, rotating pan halfway through baking.

Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Run small knife around edge of cake to loosen, then flip cake out onto wire rack. Turn cake right side up and let cool completely, about 2 hours, before serving. (Cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days. Wrapped cake can be placed in zipper-lock bag and frozen for up to 1 month.)