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.
looks yummy!
hi can you let know a replacement for condensed milk please? just to economise?
Thanks. You can use khoya/mawa instead. Just that you will need to add more sugar and more milk. You can also use milk powder but the flavor will be more like a milk powder cake. Some sugar you will have to add if making with milk powder.
AMAZINGGG RECIPE!
Thank you.
Hi Dassana,
I have tried this cake multiple times and my kids and family love it. I bake in the convention mode. However off late the cake slumps in the middles after it has baked for sometime. Initial few minutes it comes up very well, but slowly it slumps. What could be wrong, can you tell if there could be something wrong?
hi sudha, cake sinks due to over mixing of the batter. mix the batter gently and with light pressure from the hands. secondly, do not open the door at least till 3/4th of the cake is baked. thirdly, if the temperature inside the oven is too high, then it can cause the cake to sunk from center. so you can try baking at 165 to 170 degrees celsius. hope this helps.
The cake gets cooked from outside but it still stays uncooked from inside even after baking for more than 55min what do i do for this otherwise everything else is fine the taste is awesome
could be that the actual temperature in the oven you are using is less and thats why the cake is taking more time. google for oven calibration and you will get results on how to go about calibrating the oven temperature. if the temperature is less than call for a professional to check the oven.
Forgot to rate in my previous comment.. so here
Hi.. I tried this recipe with maida .. unfortunately for me after preparing the batter I realized the convection mode on my oven wasn’t working.. after contemplating for long I decided to cook the cake in the cooker .. and it turned out great .. my lil one loved it ????????.. so thank you for the recipe
thanks nisha. this cake can be easily made in a pressure cooker as the batter consistency is not thin. i am glad that the recipe worked for you.
Followed your recipe to the T. Took the cake out of the oven. Seems to be perfect. Thank you for the detailed recipe with pictures. Helps a lot.
Reg,
Anu
thanks anu.
I just took the cake out of the oven and it is perfect! It is light,soft and oh so good.
Thank you for the recipe.
welcome chitra. thanks for the review and feedback.
The cake turned out great! My kids loved it. This will be my go-to for eggless cake and with wheat flour. It could be a little sweeter in my opinion. The texture came out perfect and was so fluffy. Thank you for the recipe!
Welcome SS. Glad to know that your kids liked this pound cake recipe. All cake recipes on blog are egg free and many of them are made with whole wheat flour.
Hi!
By any chance u can tell me how much the cake weighs?
Nivedita
Nivedita, I do not know as I have not measured the cake after baking it.
This cake was such a hit. Thank u. Can the recipe be doubled?
Welcome Seethal. You can try. I think the recipe should work.
Thx.What would the baking temperature be if the recipe is doubled?
Welcome Seethal. Baking temperature will be same. But the time taken to bake the pound cake will increase.
Hi dassana can I use ghee instead of butter?
ghee can be added. but the taste of cake will be like ghee cake. if you are fine with the ghee taste, then you can add ghee.
Hi Dassana I made this cake today with my 3 year old daughter and It turned out fantastic she enjoyed making it…..the cake turn out so soft that melts in mouth straight….I didn’t put any extra sugar so I skip that part…..but they cake look and taste amazing….sll thanks to my cooking Guru
For Sunday I am planning to make veg karahi I will let you know how it turn out
thanks for making cooking enjoyable……
lots for hugs
Urvashi
thanks a ton urvashi. that so sweet of her to help you in baking. indeed this pound cake is really good. been a long time i have made it. these days i am most of the time making mango based sweets and desserts. veg kadai is a really good recipe. do try and happy cooking. most welcome urvashi.
Yum mangos I love them so much couldn’t resist I think if make a dish out of mango it will be eaten up I finish dish hahaha……. but I will surely try to make one of your recipes.
true. mango based dishes get finished quickly ???? do try. i have posted many ripe mango recipes and desserts. you will like them.
I tried this cake for my 18 months old son! It turned out very tasty and soft. I didnot add additional sugar as it was for my toddler. Now i can give him this cake guilt free as other recipe include all purpose flour and sugar. This is healthy as well! I added a little coarse wheat flour and grounded oats along with whole wheat flour.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
I always follow your recipe for northindian dishes!
Thanks Ishita for sharing your positive feedback and the variations you did. I always try to include whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour, wherever possible.
The cake turned really good. And yes, my mom loved it. I added 1/2 cup of milk more .
thats great rupashi. thanks for letting me know.