Gluten-free Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Cream cheese, butter, and lots of eggs lend a richness and denseness to this gluten-free pound cake that has a hint of almond flavor. It’s the best gluten-free pound cake I’ve ever had and is a hit everywhere that I take it! Topped with my berry sauce and homemade whipped cream, this gluten-free pound cake is in my husband’s top 3 favorite desserts! Originally shared May 2013, updated in 2019 as it’s still a favorite that I make often!
This cream cheese almond pound cake was a favorite around here during the years before I had to go gluten-free. I hadn’t yet tried making it gluten-free because I was intimidated about converting it since the recipe was reliant on cake flour for the perfect texture.
Thanks to Joy the Baker’s post on how to make your own cake flour, I was able to use that info and translate that over to my gluten-free adaptation. I also did a little tweaking so that the recipe wouldn’t have super odd measurements and it all worked well. I think you’re going to love this gluten-free pound cake!
When we were invited to a friend’s house recently for a game night, I decided I should make this gluten-free pound cake. Halfway through our game night, we paused our game of Settlers of Catan so we could all enjoy some of this delicious pound cake with some fresh whipping cream, strawberries and my homemade double-berry sauce. It was incredible! The gluten-free pound cake is dense like a pound cake should be, yet very moist, not dry at all.
Since achieving success with making this gluten-free pound cake, I’ve made it countless times since – several times every summer of every year, so we can enjoy it with fresh berries!
Cream cheese, butter, and lots of eggs lend a richness & denseness to this cake that you just can’t get otherwise. Sorry to those of you that have to avoid dairy and eggs – this won’t be a good recipe for you. Those ingredients are a huge part of why this recipe turns out so great!
Notes on ingredients and substitutions for this Gluten-free Pound Cake:
- Butter: I used salted butter since that seems to be the type of butter most have on hand. If you only have unsalted butter, then I would recommend adding 1/2 tsp. salt in with the dry ingredients.
- Cream Cheese: I’ve made this with regular cream cheese and I’ve also made this with Neufchâtel (lighter cream cheese) and both work equally well. Feel free to use either
- Almond extract: I use Nielsen-Massey pure almond extract. If you do have a nut allergy to work around, you could definitely omit the almond extract and substitute with either pure lemon extract or more of the pure vanilla extract. All of the extracts from Nielsen-Massey are certified gluten-free, so I recommend them.
- Eggs. Egg size matters, especially in a recipe like this where you’ll be using 6 eggs. Use large eggs, not medium, not extra large. Just the regular ones labeled large from the grocery store.
- Gluten-free flour blend: I’ve tested this successfully multiple times with Gluten-free Mama’s Almond Flour Blend and recently with King Arthur Flour Gluten-free Measure for Measure free flour blend. With the King Arthur flour blend, it contains xanthan gum already, so no additional xanthan is needed. Either of these flour blends will yield successful results. I’m sure other flour blends will as well, I just haven’t tested with all of them! Give your favorite blend a try! Update: 3/2020, I tried with Cup4Cup and do not recommend it in this recipe.
- Corn Starch – Corn starch is essential here as you’re using it to lighten up the total flour amount and achieve the perfect crumb. I recommend buying Argo Corn Starch which is clearly labeled gluten-free or Hodgson Mill corn starch that is certified gluten free, and produced in a dedicated gluten free environment that is also free of the top 8 most common food allergens.
I never liked whipping cream until this past year when I was at a friend’s house and she made some homemade whipping cream for me. It was so good and I’ve been making it her way ever since. I just blend (with a hand mixer or in my Blendtec) heavy whipping cream with some powdered sugar and some pure vanilla extract. I really don’t measure, just throw it in and add more sugar and vanilla to taste.
The fresh & light taste of the homemade whipped cream went perfectly with the moist, heavy pound cake. You could also serve this gluten-free pound cake with vanilla ice cream.
You can serve with your favorite berries, and I definitely recommend you make my Berry Sauce to pour over it! My hubby liked this dessert so much the first time I made it, he immediately went back for seconds, and he seriously got his plate as clean as possible without licking it! It’s the same way every time I’ve made it since. It’s in his top favorite desserts I make!
I also wanted to share that after years of making gluten-free bundt cakes and being frustrated with how to store them so they don’t dry out, I’ve finally found a solution! I found this Nordic Ware Deluxe bundt cake keeper and it worked very well for storing this cake. I actually set my cake on a little 9″ cardboard cake round so that I could cut the cake right in there too without scratching up the surface, or easily move it in/out of the keeper if I wanted to. I’ll be using this for my bundt cakes all the time now!
Also, the bundt cake pan that I use for this and pretty much all of my bundt cake recipes is about 10″ across by about 3.5″ tall/deep. It can hold 12 cups. It’s this one from Nordic Ware.
Want to make some other gluten-free bundt cakes? They’re my favorite kinds of cakes to make because they’re so easy! I recommend trying my gluten-free fresh apple cake next in your bundt pan, as soon as apple season hits! It’s another one of those recipes I make over and over and has a dairy-free option too. Also dairy-free is my gluten-free lemon coconut bundt cake. My friend Megan made this gluten-free blueberry lemon bundt cake that looks so good! And I’d love to try this gluten-free orange-cranberry cake from my friend Cindy.
I hope you’ll make and enjoy this gluten-free pound cake recipe! Read through the comments if you’d like to make mini pound cakes, as some other readers have tried that!
Gluten-free Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe:
Gluten-free Pound Cake
This gluten-free pound cake is a flavorful, moist, dense pound cake, best served with fresh whipped cream or ice cream, and fresh berries.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) salted butter
- 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese (or use the lighter cream cheese: Neufchâtel)
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 6 eggs
- 2 2/3 cups good quality gluten-free flour blend
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- 1 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°. Spray a bundt pan or 2 loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light (medium speed -about 5 minutes).
- Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat another 30 seconds to mix well.
- Place a sifter/sieve/strainer over a bowl. Measure the flour, cornstarch, and xanthan gum, and dump into the sifter. Sift together the dry ingredients. You can repeat to sift another time or I just used a whisk and really whisked them together well.
- Break the 6 eggs into another bowl and set aside.
- With your mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and the eggs to your butter/sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).
- Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan, then gently loosen the sides with a table knife or plastic spatula before turning over onto serving plate.
Notes
As always, be sure to double-check your ingredients for gluten. Feel free to try this with your preferred gluten-free flour blend, but I only guarantee a delicious, non-gritty result if you use one of the flours I recommend!
I hope you and your loved ones enjoy this gf pound cake as much as my family and friends have!
Happy baking!
My pound cake was delicious but very dense. Did I cream butter and sugar too long?
I used a mini Bundt pan and guessed at baking time. I’m wondering if I over baked?
I made this cake already and Loved it!! I’m making it again and I’m going to add pecans and raisins.
I’ll let you all know how it turns out!
Made this for thanksgiving + the family loved it! I made it again that wkend + it came out even better…Moist and great even cake crumb! They even put in orders!! I’ve been trying to recreate what I did that 2nd time. (“was it the cultured butter I used? Or the slight increase in CS?” And on and on LOL). I learned the disaster that awaits when practically melted butter. One thing I’ve noticed is that the cake deflates a bit when I take it out of the oven. Is that normal or does that affect the moist cake crumbiness? (I do notice small pockets in the cake that are a bit dense). Also, the knife comes out mostly clean with some moist crumb on it, does it mean I should cook a bit longer. Always nervous I’ll over cook it.
Hi there- Do you use salted or unsalted butter? Thank you.
Hi Erin, I used salted butter so I call for that in the ingredients list. If you only have unsalted, you can look in my blog post for what I say about that.
Hope you enjoy it!
Do you think I could sub a potato or arrowroot starch for the corn starch? We avoid corn as well.
I’ve made this cake multiple times by the letter using BRM and King Arthur cup for cup. Was delish everytime. Thank you!
I made the cake dairy free as well as gluten free. I also adjusted it for altitude, 8900 ft. It came out perfect! Delicious!
I made this cake twice both times the cake came out wet and it looked under bake this is not good because you are throwing away money
Hi Denise – sorry that you pulled it out of the oven too soon. Definitely follow my instruction to use a toothpick to test for doneness. If it comes out wet, you need to keep baking it. Different pans will yield different baking times, so rely on the toothpick test and don’t pull out too early!
What happens to this recipe if gluten free flour mix has xanthum gum and you still add the 1 1/2 tsp the recipe calls for?
to Joseph Piedagnel,
Sometimes altitude can play a major role in how a recipe turns out. I make cassava flour tortilla wraps at home that turn out beautifully. I tried the same recipe up in the mountains once and they turned out horribly.
This cake sounds and looks delicious. I have a serious corn allergy, do you think arrowroot or tapioca starch would work instead?
@Trina, I’m wondering too since I also can not tolerate corn. Have you tried it?
I made this for Memorial Day. I used pillsbury gluten free flour and boys loved it. Actually had to hide some so they didn’t eat all of it?
All cakes I’ve ever made I have sifted flour then measure as I added. In this recipe, it reads to measure, then sift. Just clarifying as flour “grows” as it is sifted.
Thanks
Hi Debra – Yes, you’re sifting after measuring. The purpose here is to basically make your own cake flour by combining the flour and cornstarch together and sifting them together. In this recipe, measure first, sift together.
I made your pound cake recipe twice. Twice it was a failure. the first time i made it, i kept it in the oven for 1 hour…you said 1 hour + 15 minutes…..wrong the cake came out burned and texture inside gooey. You said temp at 350…i even set it up at 325. very bad results. I tried to make it again at temp 325 after 45 minutes, he cake was again burned and gooey inside. no more try. I wasted over $20.00 on the ingredients…Than you…Lousy recipe
Can I make this with lakanto monkfruit sweetner instead of sugar?
The cream cheese pound cake has a good flavor, but has a very grainy texture. I used King Arthur Measure for Measure flour. I would not recommend.
When I sift 3 or more times, I never have the “grainy” issue. I used the same flour and mine turned out great!!
This recipe is fantastic and I just wanted to share how well it came out. This is the best gf cake I’ve seen. I used a Nordic Ware petit four pan and got great definition! https://imgur.com/gallery/ySfzfqB
What a great idea to try it in those! I’ll have to do that too! Thanks so much for sharing! I’m glad you enjoyed them!
I’ve made this 2x and my husband raves about it! This time, I made it in 3 loaf pans and sprinkled the tops with sugar before baking and they turned out beautifully! This is SUCH a yummy recipe! A new family fave for sure! ????
Thank you Libby for this great tip! So glad you and your family all enjoy it! Thanks for taking the time to comment!
I made this using all vanilla extract and it was amazing. I did have to bake it an additional 35 minutes, but my oven can be a little weird.
I also made the berry sauce. Everyone loved it!
OMG! This is great! Instead of almond extract, I used lemon juice and lemon zest in the batter!
Yay and I love that substitution!!