Dense and moist, with the perfect amount of sweetness and vanilla, this pound cake tastes just like the Sara Lee version you’ll find in your grocer’s freezer.
I love a good pound cake, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s hard to beat the Sara Lee version from the freezer section of my local grocery store. So I’m pretty excited about this Copycat Sara Lee Pound Cake!
If you’ve ever had a Sara Lee pound cake, you can see that this one looks pretty close to the real thing. Even better, it tastes almost exactly like the real thing!
This cake is moist, dense, and buttery, with the perfect amount of sweetness and vanilla flavor. Which makes it the perfect dessert for almost any occasion.
The secret, besides plenty of butter, is the cup of heavy whipping cream that’s added to the batter. It makes this cake so rich and delicious!
I also love the “crust” on this cake! Perfectly golden, slightly crispy and deliciously caramelized.
There are so many ways to serve a basic pound cake, but my favorite is with a big dollop of whipped cream and some fresh berries.
Of course, cutting into nice thick slices is a must. It’s also great with ice cream and chocolate sauce or caramel, and makes for a decadent breakfast when lightly toasted and spread with jam.
And if you’ve never tried grilling pound cake, you must. Simply brush each slices with butter and grill over medium heat for a few minutes per side.
Grilled pound cake is heavenly served with fresh, in season summer fruit like berries or peaches.
Everyone needs a great, basic pound cake recipe in their collection, and this Copycat Sara Lee pound cake will never let you down!
Be sure to save this Copycat Sara Lee Pound Cake recipe to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
Here’s what you’ll need to make Copycat Sara Lee Pound Cake
- Butter
- Cake flour
- Salt
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Heavy cream
Copycat Sara Lee Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3 cups sifted cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 7 eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Do not preheat oven. Generously butter and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sifted flour and salt. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
- With mixer on low, add half the flour, then all of the cream, then the remaining flour. Mix well after each addition.
- Continue beating batter at medium-high speed for about 5 minutes. The batter should become creamy and satiny looking.
- Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bang the pans on the counter once or twice to release air bubbles.
- Place pans in oven and turn set oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for 65-75 minutes, or until cakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center come out clean.
- Cool cake in pan for 30 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Nutrition
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Who Dished it Up First: Adapted from Once Upon a Chef
20 comments
Dee
Absolutely horrible recipe. Wasted excellent ingredients. Turned out nothing like Sara Lee. Nothing.
Evelyn
Nice cake but didn’t taste like Sara Lee to me. It’s not dense and buttery enough but I will be making it again. Ty
Cathy
Would you please tell me what’s the serving size? Or how many servings per loaf? And the calories you listed, 424, are how many per serving?
Trish
3 cups sifted flour or 3 cups flour sifted?
I’m pretty excited to try this recipie. Many of my moms recipes used the Sara Lee cakes and we can no longer find them. Thanks for this.
Danelle
3 cups flour sifted
Susan
That would explain it maybe. I made it with “3 cups sifted cake flour” and can only assume this is why my cake came out like a pancake (?) – and confirming, I wasn’t meant to whisk the cream before adding, was I? Trying to work out why it didn’t rise at all.. then realising there is no raising agent.. but sounds like everyone else loves it so I’m sure there’s something going wrong with my method 🙁
Cathy
Hi Danelle.!!! If you were standing in front of me right now, I would give you the biggest bear hug.!!! I’ve longed to find a recipe like yours for decades. That was my favorite cake when I was young, and still is. I’ve made too many pound cakes that didn’t come anywhere near, but now the search is over. I love, love, love it, Danelle.
Claudine
This is such a good recipe! My mom used to buy Sara Lee cakes when I was little, so this was nostalgic!
I used a little less sugar, I halved the recipe and used 1.25 cups sugar. I added a little lemon juice and a touch of lemon extract as well. It’s basking now.
The last time I added some cake batter extract along with vanilla and it was an amazing flavor.
I really love the texture of this cake, very silky.
Diana
It did taste like Sara Lee, but way too much sugar. The taste was great other than the overload of sweetness. Felt like you were eating a spoonful of sugar with every bite.
Jody Mack
cut recipe in half for one loaf pan, but it didn’t seem to rise very much. what could have happened?
Danelle
It’s not a cake that rises very much. The top is pretty flat, same as the Sara Lee frozen pound cake you can buy.
Kira
Can i use regular round cake pan, and if so for how long should i bake it?
Becks
So, it’s delicious, BUT the top got WAY TOO dark. When it was in the oven. I thought it was burnt. Took it out, but my meat thermometer didn’t come out clean, and it didn’t register 210°. So…how do I prevent the top getting so dark?
Lucyannette Rios
I couldn’t find when to add the heavy whipping cream.
Reinette
step 4: With mixer on low, add half the flour, then ALL OF THE CREAM, then the remaining flour. Mix well after each addition.
LW
Hello,
This recipe over flows the 8×4 pans. Way too much batter. May I suggest using 2 9×5 pans or 3 8×4 pans?
Thank you.
Becks
Yeah, I experienced that but only a little.
Laury
I made the copy cat Sara Lee Pound cake but I baked it in a bundt pan and adjusted the cook time. Came out excellent! Will definitely make it again.
Zsa Zsa
I made this cake. Everyone loved it. People were even fighting over it. This is a keeper. I’m going to try it with lemon flavors. Hope it comes out right. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!!!
Danelle
What a great idea! I love baking in a bundt pan. Thank you!