Light Pound Cake - When I am done with all my chores and can spare a peaceful moment alone, I'd like to sit in my hiding place (Oh yes, I have one. It’s a place where I have more privacy and where I enjoy my Me-time.), sip my strong black coffee and nibble on something sweet like this Light Pound Cake.
Each slice of this moist and scrumptious light pound cake has 115 calories. You have to include these calories in your daily caloric intake and believe me, it will not add an extra inch to your waist. Moderation is the key.
Making Light Pound Cake
I have modified the original Pound Cake recipe and made it light, also controlled the serving size so my family can enjoy their favorite dessert without me feeling guilty. The best part is, this pound cake tastes exactly like the regular pound cake.
This light pound cake keeps well and tastes even better the next day. The flavor from the butter and vanilla get more enhanced with time. The cake stays moist if stored in airtight container and left at room temperature.
Be Creative With Light Pound Cake Recipe
You can get creative with this recipe, some added raisins, other readers added different flavors to it like orange and lime. I think it is best to bake this cake as is just so you get the feel of the texture and taste.
If you are interested, I have made the Authentic Pound Cake Recipe. I have also added another favorite flavor (chocolate) and made a Marble Pound Cake which I’m sure you’ll enjoy, but I didn’t stop there and made Sweet Potato Pound Cake with raisins. Find the images for all three versions of pound cakes below.
I'm not asking you to have pound cake often, but go for this recipe and serving size to control how much you consume. It is healthy to indulge every now and then if you are trying to lose weight having a little of what you like will actually help by not making miss the food you like and will reduce your cravings.
I have used a nonstick loaf pan when baking this light pound cake and you should use one when baking food that has less oil/fat.
This post was originally posted in June 2013 and was updated in October 2017 with new images and text.
Light Pound Cake Recipe
Light Pound Cake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup cake flour
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 6 ½ tablespoon butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 whole medium egg
- 1 ½ tablespoon milk
- 1 egg white
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C.
- In mixing a bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.
- In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy and lighter in color.
- Add vanilla, egg, milk, and egg white to butter mixture. Beat 2 minutes on high speed.
- Add flour mixture. Beat on lowest speed, no more than 10 seconds.
- Pour cake batter into 8"x4.5" nonstick or lightly greased and floured baking pan.
- Place on one rack above middle in the oven. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Let cool on cooling rack.
Vimitha
Lovely texture... Wish I could have a few slices
Anne ~ Uni Homemaker
That looks delicious! I adore pound cakes. This is only 115 calories per slice? LOVE IT! 🙂
munatycooking
You won't feel that it's low in calorie since it tastes just like the regular pound cake, hope you enjoy it 🙂
Ethel Frida
I love pound cake and do not mind eating the traditional ones from the family archives. I bake them, take a slice or two and then share it with neighbors and friends. Works just fine. But this is a holiday and adding a 700 calorie slice of cake to an already high fat meal would only jeopardize my 2 year old weight/fitness maintenance program. Thank you so much for your recipe! I am an instant fan and will sign up to follow your articles and postings.
munatycooking
Thanks a lot for your kind words 🙂 , and I wish you all the best in your fitness journey!
Karen
I'm definitely going to make this cake. I'm trying to find nutrition. Am I overlooking it? I did see 108 calories per serving.
Muna
Hi Karen, I am going to update this post soon with nutrition.
Angie@Angie's Recipes
Light and smooth in texture...well done, Muna. The pound cake looks beautiful.
munatycooking
Thank you Angie, it is a very delicious cake and I'm glad that I can have it while eating healthy!
Nina
I love this recipe and have made it several times. The only thing I need to know is why does it make such a small cake? I've even doubled the recipe and still it's not nearly the size that I'm used to getting with a pound cake. It is delicious though. I highly recommend it! Is there a trick to getting it to come out bigger? I know it sounds silly but I keep wondering if I'm doing something wrong. ???Thanks in advance.
Nina in Georgia
munatycooking
Hi Nina,
I guess you have to use a smaller baking pan, but if you do so the baking time might increase. Hope this helped 🙂
Chris@TheCafeSucreFarine
I love your honesty about retreating to your secret spot! And this looks like the perfect thing to enjoy there....
munatycooking
🙂
Ala
I love it! Light & fluffy--talk about the most delectable-looking pound (or ounce?) cake ever 🙂
kiran saboo
Yummmy spongy cake....very happy to follow you...will be happy if you follow me back and stay connected ....
Nami | Just One Cookbook
Wahhh this pound cake looks VERY appealing. I definitely like it more seeing "light" and "115 calories" on the picture. I gained weight so much through blogging that it's not even funny anymore. =P I will try this recipe when I get a chance once I go back home! Great recipe, Muna!
munatycooking
Hope you try it and enjoy it too 🙂
Shweta A
wow, totally loved its colour and texture:) Well done:)
http://www.merrytummy.blogspot.com
Zoe
Hi Muna,
This cake is so smooth and velvety. Nice to know that it not very damaging to our hips and thighs. Love to give this recipe a try.
Zoe
Anjana @ At The Corner Of Happy & Harried
I love pound cake and I am happy to have found a smaller, low-cal version. I have already mad it a couple of times! Thanks!!
munatycooking
Thank you Anjana, I'm glad that you liked my cake 🙂
Desiree
I just discovered your page and baked your pound cake today! I have gained alot of weight in the past couple of years and am tryng to get back on track so I was browing the webiste for from scratch low fat cake recipes. When I saw this recipe I knew it was for me to try it. I'm an avid baker and what really appealeld to me was that I had all the ingredients on hand. Okay now about the pound cake - it's delicious!! It had so much flavor that I would have never known this was a low fat recipe. I'm so glad that I found your page :o)
munatycooking
Thank you! I'm happy that you've liked my recipe. Losing weight or eating right shouldn't be boring and therefore I've tried my best to modify the recipes to low calorie version 🙂
Surati Ivey
Hi, I was perusing light pound cake recipes and saw yours. I've made pound cake several times and only once in a while does it come out cooked all the way through. Often it is also very heavy. I need pound cake for use in an Italian constructed dome shape cake by the name Zuccotto. I have to use a regular standard size loaf pan, so that i can cut the pieces the long way, to fit right correctly. Do you think if I doubled this recipe ad used the standars size loaf pan, it would work out ? Cooked all the way through ?
munatycooking
Hi Surati, yes you can double the recipe, try inserting a dry spaghetti in the middle of the cake to make sure it is done. This version of pound cake is light but tastes exactly like you regular pound cake. Best of luck 🙂
Natalie
One word... Divine. Absolutely divine. I made this loaf today and it turned out AMAZING! Best tasting pound cake I've ever had and it's low in calories too, score! I made it even lighter by using less butter and the light kind at that, but I decided to add some gumdrops to make it festive and my god was the flavour combination of the light pound cake and gooey gumdrops ever heavenly! Thanks for uploading this recipe! With my changes/additions I've found my new favourite loaf cake!
munatycooking
I'm happy that you liked my cake Natalie 🙂 Thanks a lot for your feedback!
Kathleen
This cake looks delicious. What do you think of doubling the recipe and baking in a bundt pan? I need a dessert to take to a get-together that will serve more people and make a pretty presentation (surrounded by berries). Thank you.
munatycooking
Hi Kathleen, I think it will look great 🙂
Karin
i just made the pound cake using brown sugar as indicated in your recipe, ( did not play video or I would have seen you use white sugar). Because the mix came out brown I decided to add one teaspoon of cocoa, also had to substitute low cal almond milk since I didn't have regular. I am happy to say the cake still came out light and flavorful. Hopefully, the substitutions didn't add to many extra calories.
munatycooking
Hi Karin, Thanks for trying my recipe, I don't think that the changes you made would increase the calories. Glad you liked it 🙂
Carol
If I double it, can I put it in a bunt cake pan
munatycooking
Hi Carol, Yes you can!
helen
it's cooling on a rack right now. I didn't have cake flour so I used all purpose flour with a small amount of corn starch. Smells fantastic and looks so light and pretty. Can't wait to get into it.
munatycooking
Wow! Please let me know how you liked it 🙂
munatycooking
Yes it will have lower calories, but I'm not sure if the taste and texture of the cake will be the same!
Ja'Nae
I looove this cake! It's so light and fluffy! The only suggestion I would make is melting the butter before adding it. The batter was a bit dense.
munatycooking
I'm so happy you liked my cake, and thanks for sharing your experience! Usually, pound cake batter is a little heavy and dense, but that contributes to the light texture of the cake, if you melt the butter, the texture will change a little.
Melody
Can I use almond or coconut milk instead of dairy milk?
munatycooking
I never tried it with almond or coconut milk, but I guess it might work. Please do let me know how the cakes comes out if you try it 🙂
Walaa mah
Used this recipe on cupcakes and turned out delicious,, it was very light, fluffy and crispy on the outside. The smell of them baking was enough. Loved it! Thank you
munatycooking
Hey Walaa, Thanks for your feedback, and for trying my recipe 🙂
Hafsa
Can i substitute butter with vegetable oil? Or can i use butter and oil both? , Because i have only little butter. Wont make 6 and a half tbsp
munatycooking
If you use oil only then the texture and flavor will change. You will end up with vanilla sponge cake instead.
Leah
I subbed 1/4 cup raw honey for the brown sugar and it turned out great! Because of the honey I added 1/8 tsp of baking soda and reduced the cooking temperature to 325 for 40 minutes. Turned out lightly sweet, moist, buttery and delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe!!
munatycooking
Hi Leah, thank you so much for your feedback and for sharing it, I'm sure some of my readers will find this tip useful 🙂
Michelle
Made the cake...omg. Super yummy. Lovely texture. Made with organic castor sugar.
munatycooking
Thank you so much for your feedback, I'm so happy that you like the recipe 🙂
Eleanor
I made the cake and it tasted wonderful. It was much darker than the photo inside. Do you use light (golden) brown sugar?
munatycooking
Hi! Yes, for cakes I mostly use the light brown sugar and I'm glad you liked it 🙂
Suzette Armenta
Hi,
I was wondering if I could use organic whole wheat pastry flour instead of the cake flour this recipe calls for?
Thanks
munatycooking
Hi Suzette, The cake might be on the dry side if whole wheat is used.
helen
i made this with my husband for my inlaws. it was perfect. i actually substituted 1/2 TB flour with 1/2 TB green tea powder to make a matcha pound cake, and it worked wonderfully.
munatycooking
Thanks for your feedback, Helen 🙂
Lis
Light Pound Cake
Please could you tell me how many calories there are in 1/12 of this cake. It looks delicious!
munatycooking
It's 690 calories.
Maia
I had my doubts while putting this together. 3/4 cup flour is not much. All the ingredient quantities seemed scant to me. And how does one beat butter and brown sugar until ‘lighter’? Doesn’t happen. 2 minutes on high speed still had a grainy texture, but the ‘no more than 10 seconds’ to incorporate the flour mixture was a joke. I hand mixed it, assuming the objective was not to overmix. I am an experienced baker. I followed the recipe exactly as written except I forgot the vanilla. No, my baking powder is not old. My pound cake is 1” high.
The recipe says 3.96 stars from 93 ratings. I see lots of comments, but no reviews.
Muna
Hi Maia, Thanks for your comment. I made this cake to allow people to enjoy pound cake with fewer calories. Hence the ingredients are much less than when making a regular-size cake. If you use darker brown sugar it should get lighter with beating, and that was my experience since I made this cake many times before. Also using a small loaf pan should help with the rising of the cake. Since I'm not with you in the kitchen I'm not sure what went wrong, but I'll soon have a video tutorial for this recipe and hope this would help my readers.