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!
Over the years, I’ve taken family recipes and created my own versions of those recipe, like my grandma’s chocolate sheet cake. This Greek yogurt pound cake is my updated 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. After some tinkering, I ended up with a pound cake that is every bit as moist, tangy, and delicious as the my great aunt’s cake but with better nutritional stats.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Cake flour: You can make a cake flour substitute with this easy tutorial. To properly measure the flour, weigh it or stir or sift it to break it up. Lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup, and level. Don’t pack the flour or the cake will be heavy and dry.
- Greek yogurt: If your yogurt has separated (looks watery on top), be sure to stir it before measuring. You can also use 2% or whole milk Greek yogurt in this recipe.
- Almond extract: You can omit the almond extract and use additional vanilla extract if you prefer.
How to make Greek yogurt pound cake
Here you’ll find step-by-step photos showing how to make this recipe. The full recipe is given below.
Step 1: Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour (or spray well with a nonstick spray like Baker’s Joy that has flour in it) a 12-cup bundt pan.
Step 2: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
Step 3: In a large bowl, beat yogurt, butter, and sugar together until well-combined.
Step 4: Beat in eggs one at a time.
Step 5: Stir in extracts.
Step 6: Add flour mixture, and stir in until just combined.
Step 7: Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.
Step 8: 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.
Step 9: Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe Tips!
- Greasing the pan: Bundt cakes can be notoriously difficult to remove from the pan. It’s key to grease and flour the pan well. You can also use homemade pan release to prep the pan.
- Flavoring: The cake is flavored with both almond extract and vanilla extract. You can use either flavoring and omit the other, or you can use a different flavoring, like lemon, if you prefer.
- Serving suggestions: I like to dust the cake with powdered sugar and serve it with homemade whipped cream and fresh raspberries or strawberries.
Recipe FAQs
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 tutorial. However, all-purpose flour will work in a pinch.
Sure! I don’t recommend using fat-free sour cream in this recipe, though, as I’ve never had good luck baking with it.
You can! Pound cakes freeze well.
Storage
Store any leftover Greek yogurt pound cake in an airtight container at room temperature. The cake will keep for 3-4 days when properly stored at room temperature.
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Greek Yogurt Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups cake flour properly measured
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups plain, non-fat Greek yogurt at room temperature
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour (or spray well 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.
Notes
- Cake flour: You can make a cake flour substitute with this easy tutorial. To properly measure the flour, weigh it or stir or sift it to break it up. Lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup, and level. Don’t pack the flour or the cake will be heavy and dry.
- Greek yogurt: If your yogurt has separated (looks watery on top), be sure to stir it before measuring.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
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Originally published 7/26/13.
Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Haylee Jane Monteiro says
I really want to try out this recipe! Would it be possible to use half the quantities and bake it in a loaf pan instead?
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried making the cake that way. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it works out!
Maria says
Delicious pound cake! The only change I made was leaving out the almond extract. Served with berries and whipped cream and my family loved it!
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Alfreda says
Easy peasy and delicious.
Kate says
Thank you! Glad you liked the cake!
Deborah says
Wow, a pound cake with only half a cup of butter that I love! I feel like I’m kind of eating something healthy, well, at least healthier. Good job!
Kate says
Thank you! =)
Margot McElwee says
This is the first pound cake I made from scratch with Greek yogurt and my husband loved it, (he is a pound cake snob)thumbs up on this one and he hates yogurt so it’s our secret lol
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that it was a hit! =)
Donna DavenporT says
Great recipe! Made two cakes on my first try, gave one to a friend she loved it and so did my family!
Kate says
Thank you!
anon, ye mouse! says
I made this recipe with lemon extract instead of almond, and it turned out amazingly! 10/10 would cake again.
Kate says
Yay!! So glad that it worked out well for you! Thanks for commenting. =)
Mark Browning says
Ran out of eggs! Is there a substitute?
Kate says
Hi! Unfortunately, I don’t know that there would be a good substitute for the eggs.
Meliss says
I made this cake successfully twice. In the past two days I’ve made and have thrown out two cakes. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. It is heavy and gummy in the middle. I did try and reduce the sugar a bit and two of my eggs were double yolks so I didn’t add the 4th egg. Could those changes be the problem? I’m so bummed!! We really like the cake with all the fresh fruit available.
Kate says
Hmmm, that’s frustrating! Let’s see if we can figure this out. Sugar does help to provide structure for the cake. By how much did you reduce the sugar? Also, has anything else changed?
Brooke says
I’ve made this many times. It’s my go to! I do use half butter and half Greek yogurt. It’s a better compromise for me.
Kate says
Thank you for sharing that!
Thom says
Used this recipe for my wife’s “birthday” cake this year. It really tuned out well. I used Gold Medal general purpose flour and Cabot’s Whole milk, plain Greek yogurt. It baked a great crust, nice texture, and had an outstanding flavor. This is our new favorite pound cake recipe. Thanks!
Kate says
Yay!! Happy birthday to your wife, and I’m so glad that the cake worked out well for you! We love it, and it’s great to hear that other people are enjoying it, too. Thanks for commenting!
Alexandra says
Hi there! Can I freeze this pound cake if I want to make one for now and one for later? Thanks!
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried to freeze this pound cake, but pound cake usually freezes well. So, I would guess that it would work well.
Tom says
Tried this recipe during Covid-19 quarantine. Halfed the recipe, used the cake flour substitute, and replaced the almond extract with another dose of vanilla extract (because I didn’t have any). Very happy with how it turned out. 4.7/5 would make again.
Kate says
I’m really glad to hear that you liked it! Thanks for commenting!
Thomas Ripley says
Tried this recipe during Covid-19 quarantine. Halfed the recipe, used the cake flour substitute, and replaced the almond extract with another dose of vanilla extract (because I didn’t have any). Very happy with how it turned out. 4.7/5 would make again.
Kate says
Good! I’m glad that you liked the cake. Thanks for commenting!
Mary says
I had some yogurt that was getting near the use by date and came across the pound cake recipe. It was delicious. After reading some of the reviews, I creamed the sugar and butter together, added the eggs and flavoring then the yogurt. I had no problem with it baking. In fact, I thought it was better the day. Will definitely make this again.
Kate says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you liked it and that it turned out well for you. =)
Ilene says
Can you use eggbeaters instead of eggs and spread instead of butter?
Kate says
I haven’t tried using eggbeaters and spread instead of butter to say how that would work.
Vanessa says
Yes, I have the same problem that the butter can’t incorporate with yogurt and sugar. I think it is because the yogurt is cold and make the butter freezes again.
Kate says
Hi! Sorry to hear that! I haven’t had that issue, but I appreciate the feedback!
Amanda says
First, let me couch my review by saying I made a couple alterations based on what I had on hand. I used AP instead of cake flour and I used 2% greek yogurt instead of FF. I swapped out the extracts for lemon flavor….I wanted a lemon pound cake that I could top with a berry compote and this turned out wonderfully. I did notice the “shell” that pound cakes get was particularly hard and a bit thicker than normal. Is this how the standard recipe turns out? Or do you believe this could be due to my substitutions?
Kate says
No, it gets a bit of a crust (like normal pound cake), but it shouldn’t be hard and thick. That was likely the result of using AP flour. Using 2% Greek yogurt and lemon flavor shouldn’t have affected it. I hope that helps!
Mike says
I had trouble getting the butter to fully mix. I wondered if I should have creamed the butter/sugar before adding the yogurt. And then the cake turned out perfectly. So good. Was wondering if there was a reason for mixing butter/yogurt/sugar all at once?
Kate says
I’m so glad to hear that the cake came out well for you! =)
I’ve tried it both ways (creaming the butter and sugar and then adding the yogurt and creaming all 3 together). I found that I got the same results either way, and so I wrote it with the more streamlined instructions.
If you feel like you would get better results creaming the butter/sugar and then adding the yogurt, you can absolutely do that instead. Hope that helps!
Kelly says
I want to make this for my sister’s birthday but was hoping to dress it up a little with a drizzle on top or something of that nature. Any suggestions?
Kate says
My favorite thing to serve with this cake is fresh fruit (peaches or berries) and sometimes a little whipped cream. Hope that helps!