Southern Butter Pecan Pound Cake — Worth Every Drip Down My Apron
I Am Not a Delicate Southern Lady — But I Can Make This Cake
This Southern butter pecan pound cake might just be my favorite dessert I make — because I am butter pecan everything. The coffee creamer, the ice cream, pecan pie, pecan bars: if it’s butter pecan, I’m in. So I took all of that and poured it into one tall, buttery cake that’s packed with finely chopped pecans and finished with a cream cheese icing I spike with a little maple syrup. I may end up wearing half the batter down the front of my apron making it, but I promise you this is one worth the mess.
🍰 This one’s in my collection of desserts for a crowd — the ones that travel well and feed a lot of people.
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Watch me make this Southern butter pecan pound cake from start to finish — or scroll down for the full printable recipe card.
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• A butter pecan cake lives and dies by the pecans — I chop most of these fine for the batter and save the prettiest halves to crown the top.
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Southern Butter Pecan Pound Cake
Start CookingIngredients
- ¾ cup salted butter room temperature
- ¼ cup avocado oil or vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar packed
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 ½ cups pecan halves finely chopped
- 12 pecan halves to decorate the top
- 3 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 dash maple syrup
- 2-4 tsp milk
Don’t Want to Plan? I Got You.Every Saturday I share a full week of dinners, sides, and a dessert — with the grocery list already done. Come grab this week’s Weekly Meal Plans!Equipment
Method Start Cooking
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour (or sugar) a 10-inch tube pan.
- Beat the butter and avocado oil until smooth. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each yolk is fully incorporated before adding the next.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. In another bowl, stir together the vanilla, buttermilk, and sour cream.
- Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture to the batter alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Fold in the chopped pecans by hand.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 325°F for 65 to 70 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with only moist crumbs.
- Cool the cake on a wire rack for 20 minutes.
- While the cake cools, make the icing: cream together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, maple syrup, and milk until smooth and creamy but still pourable. Add the milk a little at a time to reach a thick, pourable consistency.
- Pour the icing over the cooled cake and garnish the top with the pecan halves.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
Four Weeks of Family-Friendly FoodWhen people gather, I cook. Four weeks of the dinners my crowd asks for — planned, tested, and shopped for. Come see what’s in the cookbook →Why This Butter Pecan Pound Cake Works
A good butter pecan pound cake is all about a tender, buttery crumb that still holds up to a thick pour of icing, and the secret is in how the batter comes together. You cream softened butter with both granulated and brown sugar until it’s light and fluffy, then beat in six eggs one at a time so the batter stays airy. If you’ve never been sure why recipes fuss over that step, King Arthur has a great breakdown of how to cream butter and sugar the right way — it’s the difference between a cake that rises tall and one that bakes up dense.
From there, it’s buttermilk and sour cream that make this cake ridiculously moist, and a little avocado oil alongside the butter so it stays tender for days. I add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour, then fold in a cup and a half of finely chopped pecans by hand. It all goes into a 10-inch tube pan and bakes low and slow at 325°F until a wooden pick comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
And then there’s the icing. I cream together a block of cream cheese , powdered sugar, vanilla, a dash of pure maple syrup , and just enough milk to make it pourable but still thick and creamy. That little hit of maple is what makes people stop and ask what’s in it. Pour it over the cooled cake, crown it with pecan halves, and you’ve got a cake worth sharing with somebody you love.
A Few Things That Make Butter Pecan Pound Cake Even Easier
- Get everything to room temperature first. Butter, eggs, buttermilk, and sour cream all need to be at room temp so they cream and blend smoothly. Cold ingredients give you a lumpy batter and a denser cake — pull them out an hour before you start.
- Don’t rush the eggs. Add them one at a time and let each yolk fully disappear before the next goes in. A hand mixer makes quick work of it — this is where your cake gets its lift.
- Begin and end with flour. When you alternate the dry and wet, start and finish with the flour mixture. It keeps the batter from breaking and gives you that even, tight pound-cake crumb.
- Grease and flour the pan well. A fluted tube pan has every nook and cranny for a cake to stick in. Grease it generously and dust with flour (or sugar, for a little crunch) so it releases clean. No specialty pan? You can thrift a 10-inch fluted tube pan for a couple of dollars like I did.
- Let it cool before you ice it. Give the cake about 20 minutes on a wire rack before that cream cheese icing goes on. Too warm and the icing just slides off; cooled, it sets into that glossy, drippy finish.
- Want an even more tender crumb? Swap in homemade cake flour for a softer, more delicate pound cake — here’s my great-grandma’s 100-year-old cake flour trick, a two-ingredient tweak with flour and cornstarch.
Butter Pecan Pound Cake FAQ — The Questions I Get Every Time
What temperature and how long do I bake butter pecan pound cake?
Bake at 325°F for 65 to 70 minutes in a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Pound cakes bake low and slow so the center cooks through without the outside drying out. It’s done when a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs — if there’s wet batter on it, give it another 5 minutes and check again.
What kind of pecans should I use, and do I need to toast them?
Pecans are the whole point of a butter pecan cake, so this is the one ingredient I won’t skimp on. I use pecan halves and chop most of them fine for the batter, then save 12 pretty halves to decorate the top. Toasting is optional — the cake is plenty rich without it — but if you want a deeper, nuttier flavor, toast them in a dry skillet for a few minutes and let them cool before folding them in.
Why do all the ingredients need to be at room temperature?
Room-temperature butter, eggs, buttermilk, and sour cream emulsify into a smooth, uniform batter that traps air and bakes up tender. Cold ingredients seize the butter and leave you with lumps that no amount of mixing will fully smooth out. Set everything on the counter about an hour before you bake and you’ll feel the difference in the batter.
Can I make butter pecan pound cake ahead of time?
Absolutely — pound cake is actually better the day after it’s baked, once the crumb has set and the flavors have settled. Bake it, let it cool completely, and store it covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. I’d wait to add the cream cheese icing until the day you’re serving it, and refrigerate the cake once it’s iced.
Can I freeze this cake?
Yes, and it freezes beautifully uniced. Wrap the fully cooled cake (whole or in slices) tightly in plastic wrap and then foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw it overnight on the counter, then make the icing fresh and pour it over. The texture comes back just like the day you baked it.
How do I get the cream cheese icing the right consistency?
You want it smooth and creamy but still thin enough to pour over the cake and drip down the sides. Start with 2 teaspoons of milk and add more, a little at a time, until it pours off the spoon in a ribbon. If it gets too thin, beat in a bit more powdered sugar. That dash of maple syrup deepens the flavor — add a touch more if you really want the maple to shine. And a fair warning from experience: some of that icing is going to end up on you, which is exactly why I have an apron on in almost every video I make.
Can I make this in a Bundt pan instead of a tube pan?
You can. A 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan works in place of a tube pan — just grease and flour it really well, because Bundts have more detail for the cake to grab onto. The bake time stays about the same, but start checking at 60 minutes since pan shape can shift things slightly. The decorative shape actually makes this cake look even fancier.
🛒 Complete Shopping List
Everything you need to make this butter pecan pound cake — click any item to shop on Amazon.
Ingredients
All-Purpose Flour — for a premium flour in a special cake like this, I love King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose — shop direct →
Equipment
More Desserts You’ll Love
- Easiest Most Delicious Coconut Cake — another Southern cake that tastes like a special occasion but couldn’t be simpler.
- Texas Sheet Cake — the chocolate cake I make when I’m feeding a whole crowd from one pan.
- Bisquick Cinnamon Coffee Cake — for when you want cake with your coffee but don’t have all morning.
- Pineapple Upside Down Cake — a retro showstopper that looks like you fussed when you really didn’t.
- Grandma Memaw’s Lemon Bars — the family recipe I’ve kept for 33 years, for when you want something bright and citrusy instead.
📬 Come to the table on Saturday
Every Saturday morning I send a printable meal plan and full grocery list — the whole week, formatted for the fridge and the grocery run — plus new recipes and whatever’s happening at the Longstreth house. Drop your email below and I’ll save you a seat.
Butter Pecan Pound Cake — About Stephanie’s Recipes
Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.