Bread Machine Pound Cake

This bread machine pound cake recipe creates a delicious & buttery pound cake. It is made with simple ingredients such as butter, eggs, sugar & flour. Pound cake is a great dessert that can be made quickly in a bread machine. This bread machine pound cake recipe is perfect if you don’t want to heat up an entire oven… or you just love experimenting with your bread machine!!

Bread Machine Pound Cake

Recipe Sections

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Helpful Tips

Interesting fact – Why is a pound cake called a pound cake? Not because the cake weighs a pound… rather because it was historically made with a pound of butter, a pound of eggs, a pound of sugar and a pound of flour. I have updated this historic recipe so it can fit into a bread machine (4 pounds of the key ingredients would be way too much!!) and added a few modern ingredients (e.g. baking powder in order to create a less dense cake).

Slices of Bread Machine Pound Cake

My bread machine pound cake recipe takes me about 5-10 minutes to prepare and clean up. In case you are interested, you will also find a printable and “pin-able” recipe in the recipe widget (near the bottom of the page).

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs (lightly beaten) – 114 grams – Large eggs. Not extra large or jumbo eggs.
• 1/2 Cup – Milk (warm) – 118 milliliters
• 8 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter – 115 grams – Soften the butter (e.g. semi-melt the butter in your microwave).
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams
• 1 Cup – White Granulated Sugar – 200 grams
• 1 Tablespoon – Vanilla Extract – 15 milliliters
• 3 Teaspoons – Baking Powder – 12 grams – Do NOT use baking soda. If you use baking soda, the cake will not rise. See the tips section below for more info.
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• Optional – 1 Tablespoon – Confectioners Sugar – 12 grams – Added to the top of the pound cake after the cake has finished baking

Servings – Roughly 12 slices. However, you can also cut this pound cake into much thinner slices (and thus get many more slices from this pound cake).

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, soft flexible spatula, oven mitts, wire cooling rack… and of course, a bread machine!

Bread Machine Pound Cake Without Sugar Topping

Mixing of the Pound Cake Batter in the Bread Pan

Instructions

• Bread Machine Settings – Light Color, 2 lbs, Cake/Quick Bread
• Unplug your bread machine and remove the bread pan from the bread machine.
• Soften the butter in the microwave.
• Lightly beat the eggs.
• Add the eggs, milk & butter into the bread pan and then add the rest of the ingredients (except the confectioners sugar). FYI – You should consider premixing the ingredients before adding the batter to the bread pan. This helps to prevent flour from sticking to the sides of the bread pan and/or finding small flour “clumps” in the finished cake. See the tips section below for more info.
• Put the bread pan back into the bread machine, close the bread machine lid and then plug in the bread machine.
• Enter the correct bread machine settings (Cake/Quick Bread, Light Color, 2 lb.) and press the start button. FYI – Before making this recipe, please read the tips section below for more information regarding the cake & sweet “quick bread” setting. The setting may be called “quick bread”, “quick bread/cake”, “cake”, etc. This setting lasts for roughly 1:40-1:55 hours (and you will see this time in your machine’s electronic display panel). However, some manufacturers use the “quick bread” setting name for rapid sandwich-type breads that use yeast (and not for cake & quick bread recipes that use baking powder/soda). This “quick bread” sandwich bread setting lasts for only 50-60 minutes (which is not long enough for a cake recipe and your cake will be undercooked!!). This setting can be very confusing… but the tips section below will help you to find the right setting to use on your machine. You need to enter the correct cake setting used by your SPECIFIC bread machine model or the cake could be under or overcooked. Do not use any settings designed for yeast-based recipes (see your manual).
• When the bread machine has finished baking the cake, unplug the bread machine, remove the bread pan and place it on a wooden cutting board. Use oven mitts when removing the bread pan because it will be very hot!
• After removing the bread pan from the bread machine, you should let the cake stay within the warm bread pan on a wooden cutting board for 10 minutes (as this finishes the baking process) before you remove the cake from the bread pan. Wear oven mitts.
• After the 10 minute “cooldown”, you should remove the cake from the bread pan and place the cake on a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. Use oven mitts when removing the bread.
• You should allow the cake to completely cool before cutting. This can take up to 1-2 hours. Otherwise, the cake will break (crumble) more easily when cut.
• Optional – After the cake has cooled, sprinkle some powdered confectioners sugar on the top of the cake.
• Please READ the tips section below in order to maximize the success of this recipe & to avoid common bread machine moist “quick bread” & cake problems.

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Tips

• The tips below are designed to help bread machine “novices” and those who haven’t touched their bread machine in years.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on Bread Machine Recipes such as buttery white bread, banana bread, multigrain bread and French bread.

• This recipe does NOT produce a soft & fluffy cake! In all honestly, bread machines are not great at making cakes. For example, bread machines overmix the batter, can’t whip the eggs, can’t cream the butter, etc. If you want to make a soft & fluffy cake, you will do much better with a more traditional cake recipe (e.g. those baked in the oven). This recipe is for those who want to experiment with the many different settings on their bread machine & don’t mind an occasional mistake.
• I like how you can slice this pound cake into very thin slices. This helps me to cut my calorie intake (as my slices are much thinner than regular cake slices).
• My wife likes to have this pound cake for breakfast with jam on it.

• Warning – The number 1 error that people make when creating a bread machine pound cake is using the WRONG setting. The people who have a problem often use the “quick” setting designed for fast sandwich bread recipes that use yeast… and NOT the “quick bread” setting designed for moist quick breads (e.g. banana bread & gingerbread) that use baking soda/powder. These are two totally different settings. You need to find the correct setting that uses baking soda/powder (and not yeast) for YOUR specific make & model of bread machine. FYI – To avoid this error, please read the setting tips lower down in the tips section.
• IMPORTANT – To more easily find the “quick bread/cake” setting names used by some of the most popular bread machines, you should visit my Bread Machine Quick Bread Settings page.
• Warning – The number 2 error is not PREMIXING the ingredients or at least scraping the sides of the bread pan. Compared to making bread dough, bread machines have a much harder time completely mixing the batter of cakes & moist “quick breads” (e.g. banana bread). You need to “help” this mixing process or you will have flour sticking to the sides of the bread pan and it will not be properly mixed into the batter. If the flour is not completely mixed then you are more likely to have other problems (such as a wet & undercooked middle of the cake). For more information, see the mixing tips further down in this section.
• Warning – The number 3 error is using baking soda (instead of baking powder as called for in the recipe). Baking soda needs an extra acidic ingredient (e.g. vinegar, sour cream or brown sugar) in order to activate it. This recipe does not have any acidic ingredients. Therefore, you need to use baking POWDER (which activates without the addition of an acidic ingredient). Baking powder is a premade mixture containing baking soda and an acidic element.
• Warning – This recipe seems to work best in bread machines that use ONE mixing paddle and have a RECTANGULAR bread pan. It seems to have more problems when made in a compact bread machine or in larger bread machines that use two paddle bread pans.

• IMPORTANT – If your machine’s electronic display is showing 50-60 minutes (total time for mixing & baking) before you press the “start” button, you have entered the WRONG setting. The total time should be roughly 1:40-1:55 hours (100-115 minutes). Moreover, the baking length of the “quick bread” setting is roughly 1:10-1:20 hours (out of the total 1:40-1:55 minutes for this setting). Yeast breads spend a long time on kneading/rising and much less on baking (where as moist quick breads spend only a short time on rising – as they are using fast rising baking powder/soda – and a long time on baking). Therefore, a 1:55 hour yeast bread setting will NOT work for a 1:55 hour moist “quick bread” setting. You need to use the correct setting for this recipe to work in your bread machine.
• This recipe will not work in a smaller bread machine (1 lb loaf capacity). It only works in bread machine with 1.5 lb or 2 lb loaf capacities. If you try to make this recipe in a small bread machine, it is more likely to overflow the bread pan or have the middle of the cake collapse.
• Do not remove the mixing paddles when making this cake (even though you have premixed the batter). The mixing action of the paddles helps to add air to the batter.

• BEFORE making this recipe, please read the tips below especially the section focused on the sweet “quick bread”/cake setting (roughly in the middle of the tips) because bread machines vary & require you to be knowledgeable about your specific bread machine model when making this pound cake. For example, if you do not use the correct setting, you will have trouble with bread machine recipes (e.g. your pound cake may be potentially under or overcooked). The setting name used for “quick breads” (that use baking powder/soda) differs on many bread machine models and may be called “Quick”, “Quick Bread”, “Cake”, “Cake/Quick Bread”, etc. Therefore, you need to determine the specific setting on your bread machine model (READ YOUR MANUAL) that was designed for cakes & sweet “quick bread” recipes (e.g. banana bread or pound cake) that use baking soda/powder and NOT yeast. I know that this can be confusing… but the cake & sweet “quick bread” tips section below will help you to find the right setting to use on your machine.

• Bread machines are great because they usually do the mixing for you… but for this recipe, you should strongly consider PREMIXING the ingredients in a large bowl before placing them in the bread pan. Premixing helps to reduce the chance of small white flour “clumps” from appearing inside the pound cake. It also reduces the need to scrape the sides of the bread pan with a soft flexible spatula (during the machine mixing) in order to scrape off any flour sticking to the sides of the bread pan. Bread machines usually don’t do a great job mixing moist cakes, banana breads, etc. and you will usually find flour sticking to the sides of the bread pan (if you do not premix the ingredients and/or scrape the inside of the bread pan). See your bread machine manual on how to properly & safely scrape the inside of the bread pan.
• As you probably know, cake batter is much “wetter” than bread dough. When you look in your bread machine, you will not see a ball of dough rolling around (when the machine is mixing & kneading). Rather, you will see the much more soupy batter being mixed in the bread machine (and there will not be a ball of dough).
• This recipe uses only baking powder. Do not add baking soda. They are not the same. Baking soda is more powerful than baking powder but it needs to be activated by a slightly acidic ingredient (e.g. brown sugar, sour cream. vinegar, etc.) which this recipe lacks.
• Do not place the baking powder in a recipe’s liquids (e.g. milk). Place it on top of the flour so it does not activate until the machine is turned on and starts to mix the ingredients.
• Do not use self-rising flour. Self-rising flour already contains baking powder. The extra baking powder in the flour will throw off the recipe.

• You may get some small “bubbles” on the top of the pound cake batter. Unfortunately, bread machines tend to overmix quick breads & cakes (as most bread machines do not allow you to change mixing speeds & times). Therefore, if you do not like these small bubble holes on your finished pound cake, you can hide them with confectioners sugar, whipped cream, etc.
• Optional – Confectioners sugar is a great way to hide any cake “flaws” (e.g. the top of the cake is wrinkled or you damaged the top when you removed the cake from the bread pan). Add the powdered confectioners sugar to the top of the bread maker cake after the cake has completely cooled.
• Use a powdered sugar sifter if you want a smaller & finer sugar powder topping (without any large sugar lumps). The mesh of the sifter helps to “strain” out any large clumps and thus you get a more even coating of powdered confectioners sugar.
• Optional – You can make an interesting variation to this bread machine cake recipe by adding 1 teaspoon of lemon zest or orange zest.
• Visitors – Did you make any changes to this recipe? For example, replaced the vanilla extract with almond extract? Please leave your recipe ideas & suggestions in the comment section below.

• If you have a problem with a website’s bread machine cake or “quick bread” recipe (e.g. pound cake or banana bread), it is usually not a problem with the recipe or your machine. It is much more likely that you used the wrong bread machine setting. Please see the tips below in order to avoid this problem.
• IMPORTANT – Make sure to use the specific setting on your bread machine designed for sweet Cake/Quick Bread recipes. Read your manual! This setting is designed for cake & sweet “quick bread” recipes (e.g. pound cake or banana bread) that use baking soda/powder (and NOT yeast).
• Be aware that the setting name used for pound cake recipes can VARY by bread machine manufacturer. Here are some examples of the setting names used to make pound cake on various bread machines – the Sunbeam Breadmaker 5891 uses the “Quick” setting, the Hamilton Beach Bread Maker 29881 uses the “Quick” setting, the Black & Decker BOOONJBYXO Bread Maker uses the “Quick Bread” setting, the Breadman 2lb. Professional Bread Maker (BK1050S) uses the “Quick Bread” setting, the Zojirushi BB-PAC20 Bread Maker uses the “Cake” setting and the Cuisinart CBK-100 Bread Maker uses the “Cake/Quick Bread” setting. Therefore, you must check your bread machine’s instructions for the exact setting name used to make pound cake by your specific bread machine model.

• However, be aware that some bread machine models (especially older models & more basic bread makers) have only a limited number of settings and may NOT have a setting that can be used for cakes (e.g. pound cake) & sweet “quick breads” (e.g. banana bread). These bread machines are primarily focused on making sandwich-type breads & yeast-based dough (and not baking powder/soda recipes). For example, the Oster Expressbake Breadmaker, 2-lb. Loaf Capacity (model CKSTBRTW20NP) does not have a setting for baking soda/powder “quick breads” (the “sweet” and “quick” settings on this model are used for yeast-based breads). However, other Oster models do have a quick bread/cake setting. In addition, the Breadman TR444 does not have a setting for quick breads but some of the more advanced Breadman bread machines such as the Breadman 2lb. Professional Bread Maker (model BK1050S) do have a quick bread setting. Always read your bread machine manual carefully in order to see if your specific bread machine model can make cakes and banana bread-type “quick breads” that use baking powder/soda (and NOT yeast). Check the setting and recipe sections of the manual for definitive examples.
• DO NOT be fooled by setting names like Rapid Bread or Express Bread (as these settings are often used for very rapid baking and are not used for sweet quick breads). They will leave your pound cake undercooked. For example, on my Sunbeam, the sweet quick bread setting lasts for roughly 1:40 hours versus the express setting which lasts for only 58 minutes.
• IMPORTANT – Be aware that some bread machine manufacturers even label the rapid/express sandwich bread setting as “Quick Bread”. This can cause a lot of confusion!! because they use the “quick bread” name in order to describe a setting that makes a rapid sandwich-type bread with yeast. This setting is not used to make a sweet quick bread recipe (such as pound cake or banana bread) that uses baking powder/soda. In general, a setting used for yeast breads can’t be used to make cake and quick bread recipes (such as banana bread) due to different rising & baking lengths.
• Moreover, in many bread machines, the “sweet bread” setting is used for sweet breads that use YEAST (not cakes & banana breads that use baking soda/powder). “Sweet bread” recipes are different from sweet “quick bread” recipes (e.g. pound cake & banana bread) and utilize different rising & baking times. Therefore, a bread machine cake recipe is unlikely to work on the “sweet bread” setting.

• If you have lost your bread machine manual, you can usually find it by searching online. For example, I can find my manual by typing “Sunbeam bread machine manual” into Google.
• Many bread machine manufacturers also have recipe booklets where you can also find more information on how to make a bread maker cake with your specific bread machine model.
• Some bread machine cake recipes call for the use of cake flour. However, my pound cake recipe only uses regular all purpose flour (not self-rising flour). Who wants to make a special trip to the supermarket in order to buy cake flour when making a bread machine recipe? Not me! Do not use self rising flour (or you will be adding too much baking powder to this recipe because self rising flour already contains baking powder).

• Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. baking powder and flour) for the best results. For example, if you use stale baking soda and/or baking powder, your cake will not rise properly and will be too dense. Baking soda & powder is best if used within 6 months of opening the container.
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life. Airtight containers protect ingredients from moisture (in the air), pests, dust, etc.
• Old flour (when not stored in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to bread collapses, etc.
• Be careful when removing the cake from the bread loaf pan. Bread machine pound cakes are much softer than sandwich-type bread loaves. Therefore, they can break or “dent” more easily when you remove them from the bread loaf pan. When removing the cake from the bread pan, you should also be careful of the movable bread pan handle (because it can swing into the cake and cause damage).

• Optional – If the top center of the bread looks too moist when you take it out of the bread machine (or you want to make sure the cake is completely cooked), you can try the classic baking “toothpick test”. Gently push a long wooden skewer (or long wooden chopstick) into the center of the cake and see if any batter sticks to the skewer. Make sure to wear oven gloves because the bread pan and bread machine will still be hot. If batter is sticking to the skewer then it hasn’t completely cooked. Place the bread loaf pan back into the still warm bread machine for another 5-10 minutes. After the 5-10 minutes, remove the bread pan and retest the cake again with the skewer.
• Since a toothpick can be too short, I like to use a long chopstick or wooden skewer when conducting the classic “toothpick” test. Remember always wear oven mitts when dealing with a hot bread pan and bread machine.
• After removing the bread pan from the bread machine (and the cake successfully passing the optional skewer test), you need to leave the cake in the bread loaf container for 10 minutes after you take it out of the bread machine. Denser & moister bread machine cakes take a little longer for the interior dough to be fully baked.

• If you have a problem with a bread machine recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly. You will need to make sure that you are inputting the correct bread machine settings, using the exact ingredient measurements (e.g. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup), using the exact ingredients called for in the recipe (e.g. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes unless you are willing to live with your experiments!
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (e.g. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always be safe when using any electrical equipment. In addition, do not put your hands near any moving parts.
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a bread machine. The bread pan and the rest of the bread machine can get very hot during the baking process. This means that the bread pan and bread machine is likely to be very hot when you attempt to remove a baked good from the bread machine and/or bread pan.
• For more delicious bread machine recipes (e.g. white bread, pizza dough, French bread, whole wheat bread, etc.), please visit Bread Dad’s main Bread Machine Recipes section.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Bread Machine
2. Wikipedia, Pound Cake

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