High Altitude Almond Pound Cake

When it comes to cakes, I really love a good and simple pound cake, sometimes even more than a beautifully decorated layer cake with fluffy buttercream. Pound cake is pure comfort food. The rich, dense, buttery crumb and the golden crust is just impossible to resist. And an almond pound cake? I can’t say no to that.

My high altitude almond pound cake recipe is made with plenty of butter, but also tangy buttermilk, and has a cake crumb that’s moist and dense, and deliciously almondy. Finished with a drizzle of sweet almond icing and crunchy chopped almonds. It’s a perfect cake for your holiday baking during these cold weather months.

Looking for more classic cake recipes? You’ll love this fluffy angel food cake, chocolate fudge cake with ganache, and almond wedding cake.

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History of Pound Cakes

Pound cakes, when they were invented, contained just four ingredients: a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs and flour.  No other flavorings were usually added, and no leavening was used.  The cake got its rise solely from creaming the butter and sugar for a long time, and then slowly adding the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.  Those pound cakes were actually fairly dry (at least compared to our modern expectations of how moist cakes should be), but the leftovers were meant to have a long shelf life.

Pound cake is something I’ve always loved, and my mom used to make one or two around the holidays. She served it with a spiced red fruit sauce (with an impossible-to-pronounce Danish name) and whipped cream.  Those slices of cake were so tempting, and so easy to snack on, since you really don’t need a fork for pound cake.

A Pound of Each

If you don’t often weigh ingredients, you might be surprised to know that most pound cake recipes on the internet vary quite a bit from the “one pound of each” rule.  Most pound cakes these days contain three cups of sugar (which is 1 1/2 pounds), maybe six eggs (which is 3/4 of a pound), and anywhere between 1/2 – 1 cup of butter.

To develop my recipe, though, I precisely weighed out one pound of each of the four main ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs and flour. Today’s almond pound cake recipe, though, uses about a half-pound of each main ingredient, so that you have just enough batter for a single loaf cake. For a large, standard-sized bundt cake, you can double this recipe.

The making of pound cake takes patience with all that time spent beating air into the butter, sugar and eggs. But it’s all worth it when you take that first delicious bite.  The family recipe that my mom used was rich, decadent, dense and buttery, as every good pound cake should be. Just writing this paragraph makes my mouth water as I contemplate that buttery cake crumb, that deep, amber-hued golden crust, and that rich pure flavor of simple ingredients that are in perfect harmony.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

• Unsalted Butter. A pound cake wouldn’t be a pound cake without butter. The butter adds richness, moisture and flavor, as well as lightens the cake when it’s beaten with the sugar.
• Granulated Sugar. Sweetness and moisture.
• Eggs. The eggs provide richness and structure, as well as a little leavening.
• Cake Flour. Cake flour is preferable to all-purpose flour for this almond pound cake. It has a lower percentage of protein, and makes a much softer cake crumb. You can use all-purpose flour, too, though.
• Baking Powder. Leavens the cake, making it rise.
• Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Buttermilk. Provides moisture, richness and acidity.
• Vanilla + Almond Extracts. Flavor. Use good-quality extracts for the best flavor.

TIP: Your cold dairy ingredients (butter, eggs and buttermilk) need to be at room temperature before mixing this cake. Set them out several hours before you plan on baking so they can warm up.

Tools

In addition to these ingredients, it’s essential to use a stand mixer for mixing the cake batter. You’ll be beating the butter, sugar and eggs for quite a long time, which is difficult to do efficiently with a hand-held mixer, and impossible to do by hand.

This recipe for almond pound cake makes one loaf, and I baked mine in this gorgeous fluted loaf pan. A standard loaf pan is fine, too, of course. For a full-sized bundt cake, or two loaf cakes, you can easily double the recipe.

Instructions

You’ll be using the standard creaming method for making this almond pound cake. This is the process of first creaming the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, and then beating in the eggs. Lastly, you’ll add the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk, for a rich, thick batter.

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and thoroughly grease a standard-sized loaf pan. Loaf pans can also be lined with a sheet of parchment paper for easy removal.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, measure the butter and sugar.  Beat on medium speed, scraping the bowl down occasionally, for about 8-10 minutes, until very fluffy and lightened in color.
3. Continue beating while you add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 2 minutes after each, and scraping the bowl down occasionally to thoroughly incorporate all ingredients.  Don’t rush this step and add the eggs all at once, or they won’t emulsify correctly.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Combine the buttermilk and extracts in a liquid measuring cup.
5. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour.  Don’t over-mix at this point, and use a spatula to gently fold any dry bits of flour remaining into the batter.
6. Spoon the batter into your prepared pan and smooth out the top.  Bake until a cake tester comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it and the crust is golden brown and slightly cracked.  It should take about 45-55 minutes to bake.
7. Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack, carefully remove the pan, and let cool completely before slicing.
8. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days, or freeze indefinitely.

Pound cake is simply fantastic on its own. One of the things I love about it, is that you really don’t even need a fork, since you can just pick up those dense slices of cake and eat them with your hand. But if you’re looking to add a little something special to your pound cake, here are a few ideas.

Serving Suggestions

Drizzle with Icing.

In today’s recipe, I decorated my almond pound cake with a drizzle of sweet almond icing and crunchy chopped almonds. It looks beautiful, and tastes delicious!

Dust with Powdered Sugar.

A simple dusting of powdered sugar is lovely. You can even make a powdered sugar stencil if you want to get extra fancy.

Add a Crumb Topping.

Almond pound cake with crumb topping is just fantastic. Combine these ingredients until moist and crumbly, and sprinkle over the batter before baking. Of course, only add a crumb topping when using a plain loaf pan, not a fancy loaf pan like the one pictured, where the bottom design should be on top when the cake is turned out.

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (add 2 more tablespoons flour if the mixture is too moist)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a high altitude recipe?

Yes, this is a high altitude recipe for almond pound cake. To adjust for lower altitudes or sea level, I suggest reading this article for guidelines on adjusting recipes.

Can I double this recipe?

This recipe makes 1 loaf cake, but you can double it for 2 loaf cakes or 1 large bundt cake.

What can I substitute for the buttermilk?

If you don’t have buttermilk, you can use 1/2 cup whole milk + 1/2 tablespoon white distilled vinegar.

What loaf pan did you use?

I baked this cake in the beautiful Nordic Ware Fluted Loaf Pan.

Will this recipe work with any flavor of extract?

Yes, absolutely. Vanilla, vanilla bean paste, coconut, lemon, orange and rum extracts are all great choices.

How full should the pans be before baking?

When filling your bundt pan or loaf pans, they should be about 2/3 – 3/4 full. If you have too much batter for one pan, just fill several pans for a variety of cakes. This recipe makes a single loaf cake, but if you feel like there’s too much batter, then don’t overfill your pan, or it could overflow and make a mess in your oven. If you double the recipe, you can make one large bundt cake, or one medium bundt plus one loaf cake, or two to three loaf cakes.

Can I add nuts or dried fruit?

After mixing up the batter, gently fold in your add-ins, like chopped nuts or dried fruit, like pecans or dried cranberries.

Can I freeze pound cake?

Pound cake freezes extremely well, so leftovers can be wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container to enjoy later.

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