Pound Cake (Gluten Free)

This tested recipe for traditional gluten free pound cake is moist and tender, dense and buttery, just like you remember.

16 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature (224 g)
1 cup granulated sugar (200 g)
5 eggs, at room temperature, beaten (9 oz)
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract or 1½ tsp. pure vanilla extract + ½ tsp. pure almond extract
1.57 cups all-purpose gluten free flour blend (1 cup + 9 Tbsp.) (220 g)
½ tsp. xanthan gum, omit if your flour blend already contains it
1 tsp. sea salt

Preheat your oven to 325°F (165°C/140°C fan, Gas Mark 3). Grease well a standard loaf pan (about 9x5", or a bit smaller) and set it aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, cream the butter on medium-high speed until it is light and fluffy.

Add the sugar, and then the eggs (slowly, while the mixer is on low speed) and vanilla, beating after each addition until well-combined. Turn the mixer speed up to medium-high, and beat until smooth.

In a small bowl, place the flour blend, xanthan gum and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the flour mixture, about ¼ cup at a time, to the mixer bowl with the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined.

The batter will be thick but soft and smooth. Scrape the mixture into the prepared loaf pan, and smooth the top with a wet spatula. Carefully bang the bottom of the pan a few times on the counter to release any air bubbles.

Place the loaf pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake, rotating once during baking, until lightly golden brown all over and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 50 minutes).

Remove from the oven and place the cake, still in the pan, on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from the pan and allowing to cool completely.

Makes 10 servings.

Cook's Notes:

A note about the number of eggs. You may need 4 or 5 eggs. The important part is to measure out 9 oz of eggs, by weight. Just beat together 4 eggs and, if you need more, beat a 5th egg separately and add only as much as necessary to reach 9 oz, by weight.
A note about the gluten-free flour blend. This is a very simple recipe that calls for only a few basic ingredients. If you do not use one of my recommended flour blends, it will not turn out.
I really like this recipe even better when it’s made with gluten free cake flour, which is a blend of 82% all purpose gluten free flour + 18% cornstarch. In this recipe, that would be 180 g all-purpose gluten free flour + 40 g cornstarch.
Choosing a gluten free flour blend. Even conventional pound cakes are often made with cake flour to create a fine crumb and a bit of extra tenderness. I like this cake best made with mostly Better Batter's classic gluten free flour blend (82%, or 180 g of Better Batter) and another 40 g (or 18% of the total, by weight) cornstarch.
If you try to use a blend like Bob's Red Mill, which I strongly recommend against and is unbalanced and of inconsistent quality, it almost certainly will not turn out.
Properly measuring gluten free flour: You can't measure gluten free flour accurately by volume, only by weight. The size of dry measuring cups isn't standardized, so measuring accurately means using a simple digital kitchen scale.
Bringing your ingredients to room temperature: As always in baking, the temperature of the ingredients is very important. In a recipe this simple, it’s especially critical. The butter and eggs must be at room temperature for everything to combine properly.
If you add cold eggs to room temperature butter, the butter will clump. To bring cold eggs to room temperature, place them in a warm water bath and allow them to sit for about 15 minutes.
Cold butter can be chopped and microwaved for 10 seconds, no longer. Be sure to stop before the butter melts. If you don’t blend the ingredients properly, the butter will clump and then melt and leak out during baking.
Your batter will look weird - and then not. This batter will end up smooth, silky, and very thickly pourable. But it might not look great before you get to that point.
Once you add the eggs to the beaten butter and sugar mixture, it may look a bit curdled, but it will smooth right back out when you add the flour mixture.
Scraping your mixing bowl often for even mixing. Remember that all the ingredients in the recipe are in proper proportion, so scrape the sides of the bowl completely before you turn the batter out into the prepared loaf pan. Otherwise, you may be leaving important ingredients behind.
Letting your gluten-free pound cake cool completely before slicing. It's tempting to slice into a warm, fragrant pound cake, but sit on your hands and let it cool completely first! To enjoy warm gluten-free pound cake, toast a thickly-cut slice and top with berries and cream.

Recommended Gluten-Free Flour Brands:

Use Nicole’s Best multipurpose gluten free flour for all of my recipes that call for an all purpose gluten free flour blend, except those that call specifically for my “gluten free bread flour” blend. It's also perfect as is when a recipe calls for my “gum-free gluten free blend.”
Use Better Batter all-purpose original gluten free flour blend everywhere my recipes call for an “all-purpose gluten free flour.” You can purchase it on their website (betterbatter.org), and you’ll get a better price when you buy in bulk, wherever you buy it in bulk.
Cup4Cup multipurpose gluten free flour blend where recipes call for an “all purpose gluten free flour.” It's relatively high in starch, though, which is why I have a “Better Than Cup4Cup” flour blend, which I believe it the best there is. Cup4Cup won’t produce ideal results in every category of my recipes, but it will still work reliably in everything other than gluten free bread. It is also often available in grocery stores, which is a bonus. Note: Unfortunately, they have very recently reformulated Cup4Cup, and it does not behave quite like it did. The product is grittier and just not as versatile. I'm so disappointed that they made this decision. My mock Cup4Cup is just like the old version, so I'd really recommend you make that rather than buying the new product.

Gluten free pound cake serving suggestions. Think of pound cake as a delicious blank canvas for everything good in the world of desserts. Slice your cooled loaf of gf pound cake thickly and try topping it with any of the following:

homemade whipped cream
vanilla ice cream
fresh berries or other chopped, in-season fruit
homemade ice cream toppings, hot fudge sauce, caramel sauce, butterscotch sauce, or marshmallow topping
lemon curd

Storing your gluten free pound cake:

If you have any leftover gf pound cake, you can store it in a sealed container in the freezer. I don't like storing it in the refrigerator, since it tends to become dry.
Store it sliced, or slice it after it's frozen, since it won't freeze solid. Refresh each slice in a toaster, or enjoy it straight from the freezer like a proper civilized person.

Substitutions:

The only dairy in this recipe is the unsalted butter, but it's also the most plentiful ingredient. Replacing the butter should be possible with a very high-quality vegan butter like Melt or Miyoko's Kitchen.
Don't use something like Earth Balance buttery sticks, or your fat will probably leak out during baking as there's too much moisture in Earth Balance.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can you make vegan gluten free pound cake? To make your pound cake into a vegan gluten-free pound cake, you'll need to replace the eggs and the butter (plus make sure your granulated sugar isn't made with bone char). There are 9 full ounces of whole eggs in this recipe and I've never successfully replaced that many eggs in a recipe. So sorry!
Is pound cake gluten free? No! Regular pound cake is made with all purpose wheat-based flour. Only a gluten free pound cake like this recipe is safely gluten free.
Can I make a gluten free pound cake with almond flour? I'm afraid not. Almond flour is great for baking, but it needs its own recipes. For an almond flour loaf cake, try our almond flour banana bread.
Can I make this gluten free pound cake recipe without a stand mixer? Yes! You can use a handheld mixer to beat the butter, but it will just take you a bit longer.
Can I double this gluten free pound cake recipe? Yes - if you have a large enough stand mixer. 32 Tbsp. of unsalted butter is a lot for any stand mixer to beat until light and fluffy and it's not possible with a hand mixer, at least not all at once. To be safe, it might be best to make two loaves side by side, rather than by doubling everything at once.
Can I make a gluten free pound cake mix in advance? Since the only dry ingredients are the gluten free flour blend and the salt, there's really nothing to be gained from making a dry mix in advance.
How do you know when a gluten free pound cake is done baking? When your gluten-free pound cake is done baking, it will have domed in the center, be golden brown in colour and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean (no wet batter attached). Don't judge simply based on the colour of the loaf, since your cake will fall as it cools if it's not baked all the way through.
How do you get a gluten free pound cake out of the pan? Use a high-quality nonstick loaf pan, grease it with butter or cooking oil spray and then line it with parchment paper. Then, when your pound cake is done baking, let it cool in the pan, then run a thin no-scratch spatula or knife around any edges not covered by the parchment and lift the pound cake gently out of the pan by the paper.
Why did my gluten free pound cake come out so dense? If by dense, you mean your loaf seems to have collapsed, it probably wasn't done baking fully to the center before it was removed from the oven. For even baking, make sure your oven temperature is accurate by using a separate oven thermometer that you're certain is properly calibrated and replace it often.
How long does gluten-free pound cake stay fresh? Pound cake has enough fat and sugar to stay quite fresh on the counter, if wrapped tightly, for three days. For longer storage, slice, wrap tightly and freeze.