Greek Yogurt Pound Cake Recipe (7 Ingredients)

How to Make Greek Yogurt Pound Cake

Here’s a quick overview of the process. Full step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.

Step 1: Prepare the pan properly

Grease a bundt or tube pan with shortening applied in a thin, even layer, then dust the whole thing with flour and tap out the excess. Get into every groove and up the center tube. This is where pound cakes go wrong more often than anywhere else. A cake that sticks is almost never the recipe’s fault, it’s a missed spot in the pan. Baking spray with flour in it works too and is faster.

Step 2: Cream the butter and sugar until it changes color

Beat the softened butter and sugar on medium-high until the mixture turns pale yellow and looks fluffy rather than grainy. Give it a full four to five minutes and scrape the bowl once partway through. You are not just combining these. You’re forcing air into the fat, and that trapped air is most of the rise this cake gets.

Step 3: Add the eggs, then the yogurt

Drop the eggs in one at a time on medium-low, letting each disappear before the next goes in. Then add the yogurt and mix until smooth. If the batter looks slightly split at this point, it usually pulls back together once the flour goes in. Don’t panic and don’t overbeat trying to fix it.

Step 4: Add the flour gently, and stop early

Whisk the flour and baking soda together in a separate bowl first, then add it to the batter a little at a time on low speed. Stop the moment you no longer see dry streaks. Every extra turn of the mixer develops gluten, and gluten in a pound cake means a tough, rubbery crumb. Finish by folding in the vanilla by hand if you want to be safe.

Step 5: Bake low and check early

Bake at 325°F and start testing at the 50-minute mark, even if the recipe says an hour. A cake tester should come out clean or with a crumb or two. Wet batter means keep going, and a completely dry tester with cracked, pulling-away edges means you’ve gone slightly too far. Ovens vary more than recipes admit.

Step 6: Cool in the pan, then turn out

Let the cake rest in the pan on a rack for 15 to 20 minutes. This is not optional. Turn it out too early and the still-setting crumb tears. Leave it too long and the steam trapped underneath makes it stick. Run a thin knife around the edge and the center tube, set a plate on top, and flip with both hands.