What is a Million dollar pound cake recipe? It is the most moist dessert with 7Up baked in a bundt pan. Like our Lemon Pound Cake with Cake Mix but homemade this time with a simple lemon glaze poured over the top.
This butter cake is the perfect mellow treat as is or add strawberries and whipped cream to the top for a shortcake. Easy to cream ingredients together 7-up cake with a light lemon lime taste, perfect for brunch or after dinner. (affiliate links present)
Best Pound Cake Recipe
The name โpound cakeโ comes from the traditional recipe, which originally called for a pound each of four primary ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. This simple and straightforward ratio made it easy to remember and scale as needed. There are tweaks to the traditional to make it better, like this one!!
If you made our pretty lemon bundt cake, this super dense butter cake variety goes all the way. From scratch means you know exactly what is inside, you can leave the preservatives behind, and bake in the shape you want.
If you have never had one of these classic Old Fashioned dense cakes you are in for a treat. In a smaller version they taste a bit like our Cake Mix Cookies with Butter. If you have had butter cake it is a bit like that too but not quite as moist. It is a dense thick slice of a light cake that works well with fruit on top.
Ingredient Tips
- 1.5 c unsalted butter โ 3 sticks softened at room temperature are best to make this million dollar pound cake recipe. You could use a dairy free alternative that is plant based, tastes very similar
- Sugar will make it sweet, white granulated in this case. I havenโt tried this with sugar-free alternatives but imagine that would be a 1:1 ratio and work well
- Eggs should be at room temperature and whisked in a bowl before adding in to beat together with butter
- Lemon juice will give it a zing but optional. You could add whatever extract flavor you like really
- 1 tsp vanilla extract is wonderful with the lemon in this case
- All purpose flour will be the base of your dry items, added slowly to create a thick smooth batter before adding into your pan.
- Soda โ 7 up or Sprite is. best for the liquid element. The effervescence adds a lightness to the cake.
Glaze
- Powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp soda
If you wanted to make sort of a cream cheese pound cake I would keep the recipe as is and add Cream Cheese Frosting all over the outside. We use this on our carrot cake pound cake too. Jump to recipe card below and get started.
Variations and Substitutions
If you donโt have lemon juice you could use lemon extract except that is a lot more potent and would have to be cut down. In the case that you want an All Purpose Flour Substitute, like to use cake flour instead we have a conversion chart for you here.
We have added fruit into this with our Peach Cobbler Pound Cake which is beyond delicious, using the same pan but we wanted to share the basics too. Using soda pop is a great way to add flavor instead of just water. A little hack you could use for other baking needs too later. ๐
Baked in Bundt Pan
Note that this cake will rise but not like our 2 Ingredient Cake that we add 7-up to. Instead it is thicker but no worries, just as delicious. The recipe below will fill a bundt pan properly. If you wanted to use 2 loaf pans instead the timing would be a bit less.
Cupcakes
We have made Soda Cake with this batter too, it is kindaโ fun. Use a muffin tin with paper liners filled 3/4 of the way and bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Million Dollar Pound Cake Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 1.5 c butter, unsalted, 3 sticks softened
- 3 c sugar
- 5 eggs, room temperature
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 c all purpose flour
- 3 c soda, 7 up or Sprite
Glaze
- 1.5 c powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ยฐ. Prepare a 12 cup bundt pan by greasing with butter and dusting with flour. In the mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, about six minutes.
- Scrape down the sides as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition and scraping down the sides as needed. Next, add the lemon juice and vanilla to the batter. Blend until mixed.
- Add the flour a scoop at a time, alternating with the 7 Up soda. Scrape down the sides as needed. Transfer the batter to the prepared bundt pan, spreading evenly so it is the same thickness all the way around.
- Bake for 65 to 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake returns mostly clean with moist crumbs attached. Cool the cake in the Bundt pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes
- Place a paper towel on top of pan with a plate on top that and use pot holders to grasp both sides. Flip upside down so it slides out. Allow the cake to cool.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the glaze. Pour the glaze over the Bundt cake. Slice the cake and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Absolutely. When you are baking a cake with soda you really can use any brand or flavor you like. It is the liquid that is important and the carbonation makes it a bit fluffier than using just water.
The biggest difference between the two is the texture. Pound cake is very dense and not very fluffy at all whereas regular cake is airy without as much butter either. Both are wonderful treats but typically served differently.
