Incredible Southern Cornmeal Pound Cake

Updated Aug. 2024 :: If you can imagine the happiest marriage between a sweet-leaning Southern cornbread and a perfect cream cheese pound cake, then you’ve got this amazing Southern Cornmeal Pound Cake. This recipe is truly a hybrid of two things that I happen to love a lot, and it’s a marriage that is destined for a lifetime of success – trust. 

This Southern Cornmeal Pound Cake is extra special, thanks to the texture that we’ll create from the use of just a little bit of white corn meal. Cornmeal is awesome in a cake like this, as it adds a subtle grit and toothsome feel to the cake (I mean this in only the best way). It’s just a very interesting, and rather delightful version of pound cake and I think it’s just about my favorite. I mean, I may have said that about my Ultimate Southern Cinnamon Coffee Cake and my (to-die-for salted Kentucky Butter Cake), but maybe we have have several favorites? No? Okay fine …

Why we love this Southern Cornmeal Pound Cake

I’ve got a sweet cream pound cake recipe in my cookbook and today’s Southern Cornmeal Pound Cake cornmeal version is essentially a riff on that. This is what I like to call a sweet cream pound cake because 1. I love the sound of that and 2. There are three versions of “cream” going on in this recipe. 

1. Cream Cheese (a whole block of it; more on this in a minute)
2. Sour Cream
3. Butter (which is, of course, cream in its heaviest form)

I’ve made many pound cakes in my day, and after lots of testing and trialing and erroring (ahem), I’ve come to find that the addition of cream cheese is so very essential to creating the most luscious, moist crumb. It’s the best trick.

Pound cake can become dry in a hurry (thanks to its incredibly long bake time), and the addition of the cream cheese basically helps buffer the batter from that. Yes, the cream cheese is like something of an insurance policy for pound cakes. A super old school, classic Southern pound cake won’t have cream cheese in its ingredient list, nope. But I do think that adding the cream cheese to the batter really does elevate things. 

Since we’re adding cornmeal to the cake (a dry-leaning ingredient), the extra moisture that the cream cheese provides is really welcome. It helps combat the potential extra drying that the cornmeal could cause. The cake winds up being exactly what it’s billed as – a perfect cross between a cornbread and a pound cake; each identity very nicely represented in the final product. 

What is the best type of flour to use in this Cornmeal Pound Cake?

After testing a number of flour combinations, I’ve come to find that tender, light cake flour is the way to go when making pound cake. It has the lowest protein content of any flour you’d use for a pound cake, therefore causing it to create less gluten in the cake’s final structure. Gluten is just a protein that forms when water/liquid are introduced to wheat-based ingredients, and it is an essential component to establishing the structure needed in so many breads, cakes, and classic doughs.

In a cake, though, we’re looking for the most tender, light, and airy structure possible. So, I reach for the flour that will best support that mission. Cake flour is absolutely the way to go. Also, in today’s recipe, we’re introducing cornmeal to the batter which isn’t exactly light (though the white cornmeal is lighter than the yellow, I find). And while cornmeal is gluten-free itself, I do think that a cornmeal pound cake benefits from the balance of the light cake flour and the sturdier, heartier cornmeal.

Why do we use room temperature ingredients in this cornmeal pound cake recipe?

In short, it helps establish a smooth, even batter that will bake more evenly for you as well. A recipe won’t be its best if you skip this part of the process, it won’t nearly live up to its full potential and it simply won’t taste as good. That last part, the taste part, is reason enough for me to obey the room temperature directive and do as I’m told.

These reasons are the nutshell explanation behind why I always say it’s important to use room temperature ingredients when baking unless directed to do otherwise. That said, there is a scientific and much more chemically sound explanation as to why room temperature ingredients are the way to go when baking.

1. Room temperature ingredients such as butter, eggs, and other typical dairy products really mix together well – much better than cold ingredients. The room temp ingredients, which are bonded together so well, form an emulsion that actually traps air inside during the baking process. That trapped air creates an expansion inside the baked good, helping establish rise and lightness in the process. Cold ingredients don’t incorporate together as fully, so this emulsion isn’t created to the same extent – it isn’t given the best chance to do its thing, if that makes sense.
2. Room temperature ingredients form a bond much more easily, since they’re warmer to begin with – all the same (room) temperature. This helps to produce a smoother, more homogenous batter when all is said and done.

In sum, if a recipe calls for room temperature ingredients – then we should follow the instructions and use room temperature ingredients.

Why use cream cheese in pound cake?

Pound cake has a tendency to want to be dry. Seems counterintuitive given the ample amount of butter and eggs going on in a typical pound cake recipe, but it’s true. Typically the dryness comes from cooking them too long, as a pound cake requires such a long bake that the texture can go a bit dry when all is said and done.

As I mentioned above, the addition of cream cheese to a classic pound cake batter really helps provide that extra insurance – in ensures that our cake will be able to withstand the long, slow bake without losing its amazing moisture (and hence, flavor). Plus, cream cheese just makes food taste good. Let’s be honest. Unless, of course, you’re making my vegan pound cake. In this case, we lean on other good tricks to help us get there.

What you’ll need to make this Best Ever Cornmeal Pound Cake

• 3 sticks salted butter, at room temperature (1.5 cups)
• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 ⅔ cups granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 TBSP pure vanilla extract (you can reduce this, if you like)
• 7 eggs, at room temperature
• 1.5 cups cake flour
• 1.5 cups white cornmeal
• ¾ tsp baking powder

Optional for serving: fresh berries, whipped cream, ice cream, powdered sugar

How to make this Sweet Cream Cornmeal Pound Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Adjust the rack to the middle position. Liberally butter a 10 to 12-cup Bundt pan.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl (using a hand-held mixer), cream the butter until very soft and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese, and again, beat until very soft and fluffy, about 3 more minutes. Add the sugar, beat for 2 minutes. Add the sour cream and vanilla, and beat for 2 minutes. (It’s a lot of beating, but this is a trick to creating the best crumb/texture).
3. Add the eggs to the batter, one at a time, mixing each in completely before adding the next.
4. Add the cake flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt and mix on low-medium speed just until they’re combined. Over-mixing will toughen the cake. Pour/scrape the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 75 to 90 minutes, or until done all the way through in the center and the top is golden brown. The edges will pull away from the sides when the cake is done, as well. 
5. You’ll want/need to to cool the cake for a long time before trying to remove it – at least an hour. Once it’s cooled significantly, run a knife around the edges and the center and transfer it to a platter/plate. Top however you like and serve either warmed or at room temperature.
6. This pound cake will keep, covered at room temperature, for four or five days. 

If you like the looks of this Southern Cornmeal Pound Cake, you might also enjoy:

We’ve got a lot of pretty fantastic cake recipes hanging out here on MKL. This Cream Cheese Stuffed Chocolate Irish Cream Cake has been a huge hit, as has the absolute banger that is my favorite Ultimate Southern Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake. Speaking of coffee cakes, they fall into the same unassumingly humble heap of cake types that I tend to love the very most. I also have a great pear coffee cake that would love your attention, as would the reader favorite Berry Crumble Picnic Cake.

Print