Greek yogurt pound cake is a moist homemade pound cake recipe that uses Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. So easy and so good!
Originally published 7/26/13. Updated with new photos, tips, and recipe tweeks 6/19/18.
I have a list of family recipes that I want to create lighter versions of (like my grandma’s chocolate sheet cake), and I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to create a lighter version of my great aunt’s sour cream pound cake.
I love the original sour cream pound cake, but it’s full of butter, sugar, and full-fat sour cream. All of which make the cake delicious but definitely not light.
After some tinkering, I ended up with a cake that was every bit as moist, tangy, and delicious as the my great aunt’s cake but with considerably better nutritional stats.
Can I use all-purpose flour in place of cake flour?
Can I use all-purpose flour in place of cake flour?You can. I’ve made the cake both ways. I prefer cake flour because it gives the cake a finer crumb and softer interior.
You can make your own cake flour substitute with this tutorion. However, all-purpose flour certainly works.
Could I use fat-free sour cream in place of the Greek yogurt?
I don’t recommend using fat-free sour cream. I’ve never had good luck baking with it.
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Greek Yogurt Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups cake flour¹
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups plain, non-fat Greek yogurt² at room temperature
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour (or spray with a nonstick spray like Baker’s Joy that has flour in it) a 12-cup bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat yogurt, butter, and sugar together until well-combined.
- Beat in eggs one at a time.
- Stir in extracts.
- Add flour mixture, and stir in until just combined.
- Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.
- Bake 60-80 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. You may need to cover the exposed cake with foil if it starts to brown too much.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
- Make a cake flour substitute with this easy tutorial.
- If your yogurt has separated (looks watery on top), be sure to stir it before measuring.
- Nutrition facts are estimates.
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Susan says
Too sweet. 2 cups of sugar might have been better
Kate says
Hi! Since sweetness is subjective, it’s hard to find a level that everyone is happy with. You should certainly feel free to reduce the sugar if you find that more to your liking.
Sharon says
Great cake! Used the recipe for cake flour. Want to make again. Can you make it lemon?
Kate says
Thank you! Sure! You could use lemon flavoring in place of the vanilla and almond extracts. You could also grate fresh lemon zest into the batter for even more flavor.
Agata says
Hi!
Excited about this cake! Mine is currently in the oven, but i am a bit nervous as my batter came a bit thicker than yours. It wasn’t watery, I’d say it was the consistency of Greek Yogurt. Is this going to make my cake too dense and small? Why did it come out so thick?
I appreciate any feedback.
Kate says
Hi! The batter shouldn’t be watery. It should be thicker like pound cake batter usually is. There are two reasons why this cake batter might come out too thick. First, there’s too much flour in the batter. It’s easy to pack in extra flour, and this may have happened. The second reason might be the Greek yogurt. There are some consistency differences with different brands of Greek yogurt. I’ve found that some are quite thick, while others are closer in consistency to regular yogurt.
Sophie says
Hi..I followed the recipe to a “t” and unfortunately it didnt work. Placing the sugar, butter and yoghurt all at once didnt incorporate the butter at all. I was left with lumps, resulting in a dense and not so nice cake. Best to beat sugar and butter first then once this is mixed in well I’ll add the yoghurt.
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Kate says
Hi! It’s important to make sure that the yogurt and butter are both at room temperature. What you’re describing is what happens when cold yogurt and softened butter are mixed together. When you mix cold yogurt with softened butter, it causes the butter to cool and form lumps, so the butter and sugar won’t cream properly.
Julie Flowers says
thanks
Julie Flowers says
can i use plain fat free yogurt?
Kate says
I haven’t tried using yogurt other than Greek yogurt to say for certain. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Susan Magnani says
Great recipe, Kate! I printed it out and noted that if you need a smaller size, you can cut recipe in half and it fits beautifully into a loaf pan. Watching the waistline, you know.
Kate says
Thank you so much for that note!
Jana says
This cake is so good and since it has yogurt instead of sour cream I feel like I’m eating healthier.
Kate says
Thank you!
Aracelis Marrero says
Can l use gluten-free flour for this cake?
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried using gf flour in this recipe, but I’ve had good luck using measure-for-measure flour in other recipes. Hope that helps!
Ann says
Is it possible t bake this two loaf pans or 9×13 pans? I’ve never had good luck getting cakes out of bundt pans and purged my kitchen of them. What would the cooking time be?
Kate says
I’m going to preface all of this by saying that I haven’t made this recipe in any other pan. With that said, I have a chocolate pound cake recipe that bakes in a 9×5 pan. The Greek yogurt pound cake recipe makes about 3x the batter that the chocolate pound cake recipe does, so you may find that you need 3 loaf pans. For the loaf cake, I bake it at 325F for 50-70 minutes. Hope that gives you a place to start!
Sharon D. says
I’ll never go back! I never thought I would find a sour cream lb. cake that was better than my Granny’s, she was the classic southern lady.
I had Greek yogurt (from another recipe) and some strawberries. I was wondering if making a lb. cake with yogurt would work. I took Kathy’s idea , halved the recipe and used your cakeflour substitution . It was amazing!!!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that that worked out well for you!
Kathy says
Can I make this recipe in a loaf pan?
Kate says
I haven’t tried it, but I would guess that it would work. However, fyi – this recipe makes a lot more batter than a loaf pan’s worth.
Meredith says
I’d love to use up sweetened Greek yogurt. How would I reduce the sugar as a result? In half maybe? Thanks!
Kate says
I haven’t tried that out, so I can’t say for certain. Sugar both sweetens and provides stability in baked goods, so you may need to try out different amounts of sugar/yogurt before you find one that works well for you. Good luck!