My foolproof Pound cake recipe is made with healthier whole wheat flour and Without Eggs. Here you’ll find video and step-by-step photos with easy instructions to make the best, tastiest eggless pound cake as a sweet snack or dessert.
About Pound Cake
Classic pound cake is made with a standard combination of one pound each of butter, flour, sugar and eggs.
For this eggless recipe I use sweetened condensed milk and my tried-and-true hot milk cake method: This includes whisking in hot melted butter and warm milk while making the batter.
Using the warm ingredients with the sweetened condensed milk mimics the rise you get making traditional cakes with eggs.
The result is a pound cake that is wonderfully tender and dense, with a silky and almost fluffy texture. It has a mildly sweet, slightly milky flavor that is irresistible – no frosting needed!
And while pound cakes are usually made with all-purpose flour, I prefer to use whole wheat flour in this recipe. The taste is a bit earthier, which I love, but is balanced by the sweetness of the condensed milk and sugar.
Furthermore, whole wheat flour is a healthier option than refined all purpose flour, so you can really enjoy this treat!
Baking has long been a passion of mine. I am particularly fond of eggless cakes made with whole wheat flour, which tend to be slightly healthier.
Getting the right rise and perfect texture without eggs can be a tad difficult if not done properly. Over the years I have tested and tried many different techniques, and can confidently say my eggless cake recipes are nearly foolproof to make and delicious to enjoy!
Some of my baking successes that are completely eggless and made with whole wheat flour include:
This eggless pound cake recipe is one of my favorite cakes to make for an afternoon snack or healthy(ish) dessert. The cake is easy to make in just an hour from scratch, and is so tasty that it doesn’t even need any icing or frosting!
How to make Pound Cake
Make the Batter
1. First grease a loaf pan measuring 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches with oil or butter. You can also use a round pan of 7 or 7.5 inches diameter. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit 15 minutes before you start baking.
For baking in the convection mode of the microwave oven, use 170 degrees celsius/330 degrees fahrenheit as the preheat temperature.
2. Sieve 1.5 cups whole wheat flour (180 grams), 1 teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon baking soda in a plate or tray.
3. Place the sifted flour mixture aside.
4. Melt 200 grams unsalted butter in a pan on a low heat. The quantity in cups for the melted unsalted butter is ½ cup. The butter before melting can be cold or solid.
5. Once the butter has melted, remove the pan from the stovetop and place it on the countertop.
To the melted butter, add 200 grams sweetened condensed milk or about half a can of 14 oz/397 or 400 grams of condensed milk. The sweetened condensed milk can be cold or at room temperature.
6. With a wired whisk, stir and mix very well. You can also use a hand mixer or electric mixer to mix the liquid ingredients.
7. The whole mixture should be homogeneous and even.
8. Then add ½ cup warm milk. You can warm the milk in a small pan on the stovetop or in the microwave.
9. Next add ¼ cup sugar.
10. Begin to stir again with a wired whisk.
11. Stir till the sugar is dissolved completely. The warm milk helps in dissolving the sugar.
12. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or powder or scraped vanilla bean.
13. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
14. With a wired whisk mix lightly and with light hands. Avoid using too much pressure from your hand while mixing.
15. Mix evenly. After mixing, if there are tiny small lumps in the batter, then its fine. Don’t overdo the mixing or else the cake would become dense.
Bake Eggless Pound Cake
16. Pour batter in the prepared pan. Shake the pan lightly to even the batter.
17. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit till you see cracks from top and a golden color. If the top starts to get browned, then cover with foil or parchment paper and continue to bake.
After 20 minutes of baking, I covered the top with a foil and then continued to bake. In my oven, this pound cake gets browned faster from the top, so do cover the top after 15 or 20 minutes of baking.
It took me 50 minutes to bake this cake at 180 degrees celsius. Depending on the temperature conditions in your oven, it make take less or more time. The final check is a golden crust and a toothpick or wooden skewer coming out clean.
For baking pound cake in the convection mode of a microwave oven, use the temperature of 170 degrees Celsius/330 degrees Fahrenheit. Again the baking time will vary in the convection mode of your microwave oven.
Cooling and Serving
18. Place the loaf pan on a wire rack to cool. When the cake becomes warm or cools, remove it from the pan. Here’s a photo of the bottom of the cake.
19. Once cooled, serve the eggless pound cake with milk, tea, or coffee. You can also keep the cake covered in a box and refrigerate. This cake stays good for 4 to 5 days in the fridge. The recipe makes one loaf.
FAQs
Yes, you can use traditional all-purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour. Whole wheat pastry flour or the standard pastry flour also works well.
You can use unsweetened condensed milk instead of sweetened condensed milk. However, you then might need to add a bit more sugar. Taste as you prepare the batter, and adjust accordingly.
Alternatively, Khoya or evaporated milk solids can be used instead of condensed milk. If using khoya/mawa then add sugar to taste.
No. However, you can bake the cake in convection mode of microwave oven. Continue reading for steps.
You definitely want to use unsalted butter if you can. Salted butter can be used in a pinch, but it might change the flavor slightly.
I do not recommend substituting the butter with ghee or oil to make this eggless pound cake recipe.
It is essential that pound cake made without eggs include both baking soda and baking powder. You cannot substitute these and get a properly fluffy rise.
I’ve left out any flavorings in this recipe to make a classic pound cake. But you can certainly add spices or flavored extracts if you like! Try adding ingredients like cardamom powder or nutmeg powder, hazelnut or almond extract for a lovely taste.
The recipe as-is cannot be doubled successfully.
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Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour – 180 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or extract or 1 scraped vanilla bean
- 200 grams Butter unsalted, melted or about ½ cup melted butter
- 200 grams sweetened condensed milk or half a can of 14 oz/397 or 400 grams of condensed milk
- ½ cup warm milk
- ¼ cup sugar – 40 grams
Instructions
Preparation
- First grease a loaf pan measuring 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 with oil or butter. You can also use a round pan of 7 or 7.5 inches diameter.
- Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes before you start baking.
- Use 170 degrees Celsius as the preheat temperature, if baking in the convection mode of the microwave oven.
Making batter
- Sieve whole wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda in a plate or tray. Keep aside.
- Melt butter in a pan.
- Once the butter has melted, place the pan on the countertop. To the melted butter, add sweetened condensed milk.
- With a wired whisk, stir and mix very well. The whole mixture should be homogeneous and even.
- Then add warm milk. You can warm the milk in a small pan on the stove top or in the microwave.
- Next add sugar and begin to stir with a wired whisk, till the sugar is dissolved completely.
- Add vanilla extract or powder or scraped vanilla bean.
- Add all sieved dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
- With a wired whisk mix lightly and with light hands. Don’t use pressure from your hands while mixing. Mix evenly. If there are tiny small lumps in the batter, then its fine.
- Pour the cake batter in the prepared pan.
Baking pound cake
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit till you see cracks from top and a golden color. If top crust starts to get browned, then cover with foil or parchment paper and continue to bake.
- It took me 50 minutes to bake this cake at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on the temperature conditions in your oven, it may take less or more time.
- The final check is a golden crust and a tooth pick or wooden skewer coming out clean.
- For baking in the convection mode of a microwave oven, use the temperature of 170 degrees Celsius. Again the baking time will vary in the convection mode of your microwave oven.
- Place the loaf pan to cool on a wired rack. When the cake becomes warm or cools, remove it from the pan.
- Slice and serve the pound cake with milk or tea or coffee. You can also keep the cake covered in a box and refrigerate.
- This cake stays good for 4 to 5 days in the fridge. The recipe makes one loaf.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This pound cake post from the archives, first published on February 2015 has been republished and updated on 12 November 2021.
My batter was a very thick ? Why?
It is in the oven right now. Hope it come good. Making it for my mothers birthday
rupashi, it will turn out good. thickness is due to the quality of flour used. some flours absorb more liquids and some don’t. in such a case, you can always add some milk or water to get the right consistency. do let me know how the cake turned out. hope your mom likes it.
Hi Dassana,
I made the pound cake and it turned out exactly as in your pic. N the taste was awesome. My husband and kids loved it. Also my neighbors were amazed by my baking skill. Had to spill the secret n tell about your site. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Swati
thanks swati for the feedback as well as sharing your experience. happy baking.
Hi Dassnna, i am a big big fan of your recipes. In this pound cake recipe you have mentioned that condensed milk can be replaced with eggs- can u please let me know the number of egss to use and jow much sugar to add- i am dying to make this cake but since m not in india and condensed mill is not that easily available- can u pls help me out to make this cake- awaiting a response from u. Thanks soo much- Pallavi
pallavi, in place of condensed milk, you can use evaporated milk. if using unsweetened one, than about 3/4 to 1 cup sugar. if using eggs, then i think 3 small to medium eggs or 2 large eggs will suffice. if using eggs, then you can add 1 to 1.25 cups sugar. increase the vanilla extract to 1.5 to 2 teaspoons. use vanilla extract and not vanilla essence. if using vanilla essence, then add only 1 to 1.25 teaspoon.
and thank you 🙂
Can I add cocoa pwd
you can add cocoa powder. just add 2 to 3 tablespoons.
Ok Thanks dear I will try it again and will let u know.
fine malvika. do let me know.
Hi I used the same ingredients but cake looks dry. Even batter was too thick when I put it in a loaf pan. Please suggest
the batter is not thick. it has a medium consistency. could be that since the batter became thick, the cake looks dry. depending on the quality of flour, more or less liquids need to be added. in case the batter looks thick, then some more warm milk can be added. dryness can also be due to over baking. hope this helps.
Hi I hv tried this cake today. It was soft but the inside edges were not properly baked I don’t know why it happens I followed d step by step procedure as mentioned by you. will u help me out???
was the inside of the cake uncooked and battery. or was it dense and lumpy. if uncooked and a bit raw, then continue to bake for some more time. if dense and lumpy than the batter has got mixed too much.
Can we use 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup melted butter for this recipe
yes sindhu, you can use 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup melted butter.
Can I skip sugar. Also can butter be substituted. I don’t have that much of butter.
you can skip sugar, but the taste will be less sweet. if this is fine with you, then you can skip sugar. oil can be used. but then it won’t be pound cake, but just a plain rich cake 🙂
Hi Dassana,
All your recipes are simple and turnout delicious 🙂
I wanted to check if instead of all Atta ,can we use 1/2 Maida (90gms) and 1/2 Atta (90 gms) for this cake ? I have tried only atta cakes earlier and I dont like the taste so much.
Please suggest.
Thank you
thanks rashi. yes you can use half-half of both atta and maida.
Have u substituted paneer instead of condensed milk in your recipe?
aruna, never tried. i have never made any cake with paneer yet.
Hi there,
Thank you so much for sharing this lovely recipe. I tried it and d cake came out utterly delicious.
Best
Ritu
welcome always ritu 🙂 and thankyou for your positive response.
i am using a morphy richards otg, when i am baking a cake it is uncooked inside it. please tell me what temperature& time should i keep & how to bake a biscuits in otg.
which cake are you baking. any particular recipe. for most cake recipe, the oven temperature is usually medium to medium high – from 160 to 200 degrees celsius. timing will vary with the size, capacity, make of the oven. also use both the top and bottom heating elements while baking cakes and keep the pan in the center rack. this helps in even baking. for baking cookies, also keep the pan in the center rack. before baking anything, always preheat the oven for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
thank u, i made a cup cake & chocolate cake,but every time i bake in the middle rack only.It will bake on top &sticky in the middle.
do you keep both the top and bottom heating elements on.
Hi, can we use salted butter? Instead of salted butter.
rashmi, you can use salted butter.
Hi friend ur recipes are loved by my family. The cake was super hit 🙂 . I request u to post rajesthani ghatte ki sabji
thank you chandana. good to know. i have got many requests for rajasthani gatte ki sabzi and will try to add the recipe.
Was very tasty 🙂