This easy cream cheese pound cake is made with a cake mix yet tastes like it’s made from scratch and is so much easier and quicker to make.
This cake is the easiest and best cream cheese pound cake you’ll ever make. It comes out perfect every single time and it’ll fast become a family favorite and your go-to pound cake recipe.
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Hey there! Before you scroll, there’s lot’s of important stuff in the post!…including the FAQ section, which may answer any questions you might have about this recipe. Enjoy!
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Making a cream cheese pound cake doesn’t have to be hard. Using a cake mix as the base, makes this cake turn out moist and fluffy each and every time.
A doctored cake mix really is the way to go because you’re simply just adding is a few extra ingredients and you get that homemade taste just like you baked it from scratch.
Ingredient Notes:
Now let’s talk a little about just some of the ingredients in this cake. (The printable list of all ingredients are in the recipe card below.)
Butter cake mix: I think the butter cake mix works really well because, you guessed it, it gives it a more buttery flavor. It also makes this cake come out perfect every time you make it and it’s so convenient to use.
Unsalted butter: Adding in additional butter makes this cake rich with a full buttery taste.
Cream cheese: Since this is a cream cheese pound cake, you’ll need some cream cheese. I’ve found that brand name cream cheese works better than the store brand.
Pudding mix: I also added a box of dry cheesecake pudding mix. It helps with the stability of the cake and gives it some added cream cheese flavor.
Extracts and emulsions: Vanilla extract, almond extract and lemon extract are the trifectas of extracts. They work really well together and I urge you to just try them.
There is not enough of each to overload you with flavor. They just beautifully blend together to give the cake a very good flavor.
(Make sure to check out the FAQ section below in this post for ingredient and substitution questions.)
How to Make this Cake:
Let’s talk a little about how to make this easy cream cheese pound cake (The printable instructions are in the recipe card below.)
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and grease and flour a 10″ bundt pan very well.
Step 2:
Mix the butter, cream cheese and extracts very well until completely smooth.
Step 3:
Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix on medium to medium/high until well incorporated. The batter will be thick.
Step 4:
Add the batter to the prepared pan and smooth it evenly, then bake at 325 for 55-60 minutes.
Step 5:
Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, then turn out of the pan onto the wire rack and cool completely. Feel free to add powdered sugar, whipped cream or even ice cream.
Tips & FAQs:
Yes, you probably can. I like using the butter cake mix because it gives it a more buttery taste, but you could probably use a vanilla cake mix instead.
No, just add the dry cake mix to the mixing bowl.
Unsalted is always best because you can estimate the proper amount of salt that will be added plus salted has a different water content than unsalted. However, if you’re unable to get unsalted butter, you can use salted butter in this cake.
Make sure both the butter and the cream cheese are close to room temperature so they will mix together better.
You’ll really want to try to get them if you can. It really gives it a nice flavor, but if you absolutely cannot get them, then you can omit them.
If you have a nut allergy, just leave out the almond extract.
No, just add the dry pudding mix into the mixing bowl.
It does add a little extra flavor and helps with stability. I have not tried this recipe without adding the pudding mix, but you are welcome to experiment with that if you’d like.
Yes, you could probably use vanilla pudding mix.
Make sure to grease and flour the pan very well or the cake will stick.
Be aware that the batter for this cake is quite thick. Once it’s added to the pan, just smooth it before putting it into the oven.
This cake is done, when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it, but no raw batter.
This cake can be made ahead of time and frozen if desired. Let the baked cake cool completely, then wrap it in plastic wrap and foil, then place it in the freezer for up to a month.
To thaw, place the wrapped cake on the counter at room temperature and let thaw completely, then remove the wrapping.
This cake can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days. (If you add perishable filling or frosting or if it’s warm in your house, store it in the refrigerator.)
This cake is best served close to room temperature. If the cake is cold, set it out to come closer to room temperature for about 20-30 minutes before serving. You can also microwave slices for about 15 or so seconds.
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Supplies Used for this Recipe:
Video:
Note About Recipe Measurements: I write recipes using volume (cups) measurements because here in the U.S., this is what people are more familiar with and I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated when baking. For metric/weight measurements, click the ‘metric’ button under the ingredients in the recipe card below. The weights are converted by a program, not me, and it’s just a best guess. I can’t guarantee that weighing the ingredients will produce the exact same results, since I test recipes using volume measurements.
Recipe:
Easy Cream Cheese Pound Cake (with a cake mix)
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature (1 block)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond emulsion (optional)
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 (15 ounce) box butter cake mix, dry
- 1 (3.4 ounce) box cheesecake pudding mix, dry
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 4 large eggs
- ⅓ cup milk
- ¼ cup water
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-10 inch bundt pan very well.
- Add the butter, cream cheese and extracts and mix with an electric mixer on medium to medium-high speed until completely smooth.
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix on medium to medium-high speed until well incorporated.
- The batter will be thick.
- Add the batter to the prepared pan and smooth it evenly.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 55-60 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the cake will come out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it but no raw batter.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, then turn out of the pan onto the wire rack and cool completely before adding a glaze or powdered sugar.
Notes
Nutrition
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Denise
Hi Kara really thankful for the recipes must say you are a blessing
Kara Jane
Awe thanks Denise! That means a lot to me. ?
Christine DeGraff
Love your cream cheese bundt cake. I have made it 4 times and it is delicious! All of my friends love it. However, after 5 minutes out of the oven, it sinks – not in the middle, but all over. I am wondering why? Thank you.
Christine
Kara Jane
Oh I’m so glad you like it! Hmmm…that’s interesting about the sinking. Sometimes the doctored cake mix cakes can do some weird things. I wonder if you bake it for an additional five minutes if it would firm up a bit more?
sunny
your blog are wonderful and very helpful for us,very nice information for use .thanks for sharing
Kara Jane
Oh thank you so much! ?
Jamie McCormick
My husband LOVES this cake. I made it this morning and it is half eaten already. On the off chance any of the cake is left tonight when we go to bed, should I refrigerate it?
Kara Jane
Oh my goodness, he really does love it! ? That’s great! So, if any of it is left tonight, I think it’s fine either way…in or out of the fridge. If you want to be on the safe side, you can just pop it in the fridge. Just make sure to wrap it well.
Glad it was a winner!
Norman Banner
Al cake mixes are now 15.25 oz. They used to be 18.25 oz. Is that the reason you add 1/4 cup flour or should I add 3 more ounces of cake mix?
Kara Jane
Hi Norman, the butter golden cake mix from Duncan Hines is 15.25 oz. There are other cake mixes (like chocolate) that are the 18.25 oz (I just checked in my pantry), but the golden butter one is 15.25 and that is the one that I used for this recipe. If you use that one, you won’t need to change any of the other ingredient measurements. It works out perfectly without any alterations. The added flour just seems to give it more of a pound cake consistency.
Jayne
I re-read your reply and see that I was mistaken; you did say the butter recipe was smaller sized. Very sorry!
I wanted you to know I made. It this afternoon. Best pound cake I ever made! I’m a cook – not a baker. But this recipe was so easy that even I couldn’t mess it up!
Kara Jane
Oh that’s great to hear! I’m so glad it turned out! 🙂
J Haynes
Hi Kara,
My family loves this recipe. However, I have it twice & can’t understand why it comes out looking like it has wet spots, like it’s not done. I know I don’t beat it too much, so does the recipe really use 2 sticks of butter instead of one? I’very disappointed. Please reply asap! I want to bake it tonight. Thx, Jan
Kara Jane
Hi there, that is strange that it’s coming out like that. I haven’t had that issue with it so far. I have another recipe on my blog that’s very similar to this one (for a funfetti bundt cake) and I haven’t had any trouble with that one either. As far as over-mixing the batter. Since this is a cake mix based recipe, that’s not really vital. You can probably mix this one a bit longer and it shouldn’t hurt it. I double checked the recipe and the 1 cup of butter is correct. In my area, 2 sticks equals 1 cup, but I know in different areas, that may be different, so just make sure it measures 1 cup. I would try mixing the batter for just a bit longer…not for several minutes or anything like that though, just a bit longer than normal. I don’t normally suggest that, but since this is a cake mix based recipe, it should be fine and might help with your issue. Another thing is that it might be the brand of cake mix you’re using? I’ve used both Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker and they both have worked well. Let me know how it goes!
Monya
Oh my I am so amazed how good my cake turned out. I had forgot to add the water in it. My cake still turned out super moist and rich. It was just so tasty ? I will be making this again. I even made a glaze to go on top of it.
Kara Jane
Oh yay! I’m so glad it turned out! 🙂
Chris
I made this cake to bring to an outdoor dinner yesterday. Followed recipe exactly, except used only vanilla extract because my friend has a nut allergy and I was afraid to use the almond extract. I baked it in my Nordicware nonstick 10” bundt pan for 45 min at 325*. I used the Duncan Hines Golden Butter mix, because the Betty Crocker mix I also had in my pantry had slightly different measurements of ingredients and I wanted to follow your directions the first time around. I used unsalted butter, full fat cream cheese, low-fat milk, and the eggs. I made sure the butter, cream cheese were soft and that the eggs were at room temperature. I had read somewhere that it is best not to add fridge-cold ingredients when making cakes. It rose slightly over the top of the bundt pan, and was beginning to darken a little too much when I removed it from the oven at the minimum suggested baking time. Toothpick came out clean. I let it sit on a cooling rack and it did deflate a little, but not too much. It smelled heavenly, buttery. When it cooled, I sprinkled it with powdered sugar. I also brought some warmed up chocolate frosting to drizzle over the cake for those who wanted it. It was terrific plain, and also great with the chocolate sauce. Any other “sauce” would also be great. I think perhaps something “berry” next time. Everyone loved it. I will make it again soon.
Kara Jane
Thanks for the wonderful review! I’m so glad you liked it and I think the chocolate ‘sauce’ sounds like a very nice touch!
Lea
I gave this a 4 because of the texture. It’s really tasty, but it lacks that real pound cake texture. Pound cakes are more dense and have a smaller crumb. This cake is moist with a large crumb. It reminds me of a birthday cake. Maybe it should be called a bundt cake and not a pound cake. It was also on the sweet side. If I make it again, I’d omit the 1/4 cup of sugar.
Kara Jane
Hi Lea, thanks for the feedback.:)
Jayne
You’re right in the cake being more moist than dense; It’s still heavier than a birthday cake, though. Perhaps somewhere in between? I do think the texture is better the next day. In fact – this would make an excellent rum cake, imo. I might try that next time.
Carmen Casero
I made this cake last night. Cake was excellent!! I made a few changes out of necessity, for the liquids I used half and half and vanilla almond milk. The only extract I had was vanilla, so in addition I added the zest of one orange. The pudding mix I used was the French vanilla flavor. The taste and moistness of this cake are amazing!!
Kara Jane
Hey Carmen I’m so glad you liked it! Adding orange zest was a great idea!
Shan
Does the butter have to be unsalted? Would using salted change the outcome or possibly make it sink?
Kara Jane
For this one, I think salted butter should be okay. I’d be pickier about it if it was a scratch cake, but this one is a little more forgiving, so I think you should be good.
Lori
Hi. How can you tell when your csje is done? It smells ama6and the top is browned but it’s only been 45 minutes. Toothpick comes out clean, but I’m not sure it goes to the center. I don’t want to overbake it.
Kara Jane
Hi Lori, I have a whole post on how to tell when a cake is done. Generally it won’t be jiggly when you touch the top and a toothpick inserted will come out with a few crumbs on it. Here’s the link to that post: https://iscreamforbuttercream.com/how-to-tell-when-a-cake-is-done-baking/
Andrea
Hello. I made the cake using all of the ingredients listed. Followed the instructions. After about 30 minutes in the oven, I turned on the oven light to check on it. At that time it appeared to be okay. At 50 minutes in the oven I checked on it again and my cake had fallen in. I can only remember one cake falling in, in the past. I can’t understand what happen with this recipe. I haven’t eaten any of it yet. It’s cooling now. I will try it again in the near future…..☹
Kara Jane
Hi there, I’m not sure exactly why the cake would fall. Sometimes mixing cake batter for too long will cause a cake to fall. I’m not exactly sure what may have happened though.
Heather
I made this Cake and only had vanilla extract so I added a little more it was absolutely amazing! I could have ate it all
By myself. Question though if you wanted to add strawberries to it how would you go about that? Thank so much
Kara Jane
Hey Heather, I’m so glad you liked it! I think it’s addicting too! 😉 If you want to get a strawberry flavor, I’d probably make a strawberry reduction to get the most flavor out of it. If you just added pureed strawberries, it might add a bit too much moisture and mess with the texture, but if you heat them (cook them own a bit) you’ll get the flavor, , but not all the added liquid. (Maybe like a cup or so of strawberry reduction.) You could also just replace the cake mix with a strawberry cake mix and that should work as well. I hope this helps!
Dianna
This recipe was wonderful!!!
Kara Jane
Glad you liked it! 🙂
JANIS HAYNES
Kara, you noted that you use a bundt pan for this cake. However, there are different sizes
of bundt pans. Please advise what cup size bundt pan you are using. That could be the
reason for the wet looking spots in my cake.
Thanks,
Jan
Kara Jane
Hi Jan, good point. I use a 12 cup bundt pan, I think that’s about a 9-10 inch pan.
JANIS HAYNES
That may be the difference. I’m going to try it again. Thanks!
Amber Terrell
Hi – I want to make a layer cake with this recipe- any recommendations?
Kara Jane
Hmmm, this cake is more of a pound cake consistency, so I’m not sure it would be as light and fluffy as you might like a layer cake to be. You’re welcome to try it though. You probably won’t need to bake it as long. I’m not sure exactly how long though as I haven’t tried it as a layer cake.