If you need a people-pleasing, can’t-mess-it-up, make ahead cake that you can take anywhere then Five Flavor Pound Cake is what you’ve been looking for.
This is my “go to” cake. It’s easy to make, freezes like a dream, and always gets rave reviews! We call it Five Flavor Pound Cake because you use five different extract flavors to make it super moist and delicious.
I’ve experimented and played around with this recipe over the years and you can substitute other flavors instead of the ones I have listed here based on your family’s preferences. That will let you take the same basic cake recipe and mix it up a bit.
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Jump to RecipeWhy Five Flavor Pound Cake is one of my favorites
One of the things I like most about this cake is that it freezes so well. I used to always keep at least one cake in the freezer at all times. It’s perfect to pull out to take to that church function or to someone who needs a meal delivered.
To keep the cake in good shape I use heavy duty foil. I find it holds up better for wrapping and unwrapping. The last thing I want is my cake to get messed up or dried out because some flimsy foil didn’t do its job.
I’ve actually got three tube pans. Two are circular like this one that I use most, but an old one from my grandmother actually makes a square cake.
I always use a paper towel to make sure I’ve got all the surfaces greased, then I add the flour to spread around.
Five Flavor Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter or margarine
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 3 cups sugar
- 5 large eggs well beaten
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon rum or brandy extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 1 teaspoon butter extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon rum or brandy extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 1 teaspoon butter extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
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Grease and flour a tube pan.
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Cream butter, shortening, and sugar together in electric mixer until light and fluffy.
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Add well-beaten eggs to shortening mixture and and combine well.
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In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder.
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Add flour mixture alternately with milk and beat together untiil batter mixture is smooth.
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Pour batter into prepared tube pan and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes at 325 degrees (or until inserted toothpick comes out clean). Be aware that this cake is VERY moist because of all the extracts.
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Allow cake to cool thoroughly in pan (probably around 30 minutes on a wire rack).
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Once cake has cooled run a butter knife around the edge of the pan and around the center post. This will help to loosen the pan so that it stays in one piece when you remove it from the pan.
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Put a plate or other flat dish on top of the tube pan and flip the pan upside down so that the cake "slips" out of the pan.
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You'll now see that the bottom of the tube pan (the piece with the post) is still stuck to the bottom of your cake. Take the butter knife and insert it between the bottom of the cake and the pan so that you can remove the pan from the cake.
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To turn the cake right side up, I simply put a plate on the bottom of the cake so that the cake is now between two plates and I flip the cake over. (This isn't as hard as it sounds!)
To make Glaze:
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Combine liquid ingredients for glaze into small sauce pan and bring to a boil.
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Add sugar and stir until melted.
To glaze the cake:
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Using a long skewer or ice pick, poke holes into the cake.
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Pour glaze over the cake and into the holes so that it seeps into the cake.
What most people find to be the most confusing is how to get the cake turned right side up. It’s really not that hard. You can see in the photo above that I used a plate (on the bottom) to originally catch the cake as it was sliding out of the pan. Then I simply put my cake plate on what is the real bottom of the cake so that I could flip it up to present right side up.
One thing you’re probably wondering is, “Do I really pour a whole cup of liquid glaze into and over the cake?”
The answer is yes. In fact, I use a pastry brush and a small spoon to help make sure that as much of the glaze as possible actually goes into the cake. That’s what makes it so moist…and good.
Five Flavor Pound Cake is super moist!
I will tell you a funny story about this cake just so you’re aware.
One time I took this cake to a church dinner. When going through the line, the woman in front of me cut into the cake and exclaimed, “Oh my, this cake isn’t done!”
Fortunately, I was right behind her and assured her that the cake was definitely done. But the fact that it has 10 teaspoons of extract an 1 cup of glaze poured into it makes this cake the most moist pound cake you’ve probably ever seen – or eaten.
She took the slice of cake and later complimented me on how delicious it was and that it was indeed more moist than she’d ever expected.
You just can’t mess this cake up!
Another time, when I was in college, I was at home for the Christmas holidays and was helping my mother do some baking. She was planning to make two of these cakes and had set out all of the ingredients.
We did as mothers and daughters tend to do when cooking and got to talking. Unfortunately, I was talking more than I was paying attention to what I was doing.
When it came time to stir together the second cake, my mom asked where were the eggs. The rest of the ingredients were on the counter, but the eggs were not there. We finally figured out that I had used the eggs for both cakes in the first one.
I have to admit that the pound cake with ten eggs probably needed a better description at this point since “pound” didn’t really describe how heavy it was from all of the eggs (it was laughingly dubbed the Ten Pound Cake).
But my brother, who loves pound cake better than any other dessert, absolutely loved it! Just proves that this recipe is versatile and hard to mess up – even when you’re not paying attention.
This is the cake that I always get requests from folks wanting the recipe. It’s easy and delicious. It’s also a cake that you can top with a can of cherry pie filing should you wish to do so. It’s also great with some fruit served on the side (we’re partial to blueberries at my house). And as you can see, I’m not brand loyal about most things since I’m a frugal girl at heart.
On a side note, I have always made this cake in a tube pan, but I see no reason it couldn’t be baked in loaf pans, a bundt pan, or a 9×13 pan as long as you made adjustments for the cooking time.
More delicious cakes:
This truly is the most delicious Banana Nut Spice Cake you’ll ever eat. The icing is SO good!
We absolutely love this Oatmeal Cake at our house! It’s amazingly delicious!
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I have been making this cake for years with really good results. I use almond extract in lieu of lemon, and I only use a tablespoon of almond in the glaze.
Adding rum or brandy to the mix is a great way to add more flavor! Your cake looks delicious, Shelley!Thanks for sharing at Brag About It. Pinning.
It definitely would – and Vanilla Rum is my personal favorite!
Love pound cake Shelly. It is so versatile and you can serve it so many ways. I am going to pin this a give to my sister. She is an excellent baker and makes all the family celebration cakes. Thanks for sharing your recipe. Have a fantastic week and may God bless you and yours.
I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does! Thanks for the kind words and you have a wonderful week as well.
Thanks for the recipe! I try to bake a cake every Sunday and am always looking for fast, delicious recipes. I’ll have to give this one a try!
I hope you enjoy it, Christa. There is nothing like a cake made from scratch in my opinion.