Amaretto Pound Cake is pound cake flavored with an almond liqueur. Made from scratch, it’s rich, buttery, moist, and completely, insanely delicious!
AMARETTO POUND CAKE
Amaretto is a sweet, almond-flavored, Italian liqueur.
I’m sharing my favorite Amaretto Pound Cake with you today.
If you grew up in the South there are two things you grew up eating: pound cake and biscuits!
And everybody has a favorite Pound Cake recipe, most likely, it’s the one your Mother or Grandmother made.
Well, not me, no, I don’t have a favorite Pound Cake recipe…
I have three favorite Pound cake recipes!!!
Amaretto Pound Cake
Yep, three! And, trust me I’ve tried a lot of Pound Cake recipes! It’s my most favorite thing ever to make!! Unfortunately, it’s surprising to me that I don’t have one on the blog yet (and I’ve been blogging for a year!)
So, What’s my excuse reason for baking you an Amaretto Pound Cake today? Glad you asked. Randomly, my friend sent me a dozen eggs that were already cracked! Twelve eggs in a bowl. I know so random! People do random food-stuff like this to me. Are you asking yourself why he wanted 12 egg shells? Yeah, I thought so! He needed the shells for calcium for his tomato plants! Did you know tomato plants need calcium, and apparently a lot of it, in the soil or the tomatoes will rot on the vines?
Sorry, I said rot.
Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not, maybe it’s an old wives tale, but he has 12 crushed eggs shells around his tomato plants. We’ll see if it works! I’ll keep you posted.
Enough jibber jabber, let’s get to this awesome recipe!
TIPS AND MORE…
- Read the recipe through completely at least twice so you know what comes next.
- A stand mixer will make your life immensely easier. I can’t imagine all this mixing by hand or even with a hand mixer!
- You can use a bundt pan. I used this tube pan. A good rule of thumb when baking pound cakes is to always leave 2 inches from the batter to the top of the pan to allow for rising. As well, always place your baking pan on a cookie sheet to catch any overflows.
- Allow your eggs, butter, and dairy to come to room temperature before mixing.
- I always use salted real butter in my pounds cakes. It’s a personal preference. You can use either salted or unsalted butter.
- Use real butter. No margarine!
- I recommend calibrating your oven at least once a year. Read all about how to Calibrate your oven in this post.
For all my pound cake baking tips and techniques, please read Bake the Perfect Pound Cake
While you’re here, check out these recipes
- Amaretto Peach Upside Down Pound Cake
- 10 Ridiculously Easy Pound Cake recipes
- Coffee Cake Pound Cake
- Orange Creamsicle Pound Cake
Amaretto Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour measured correctly
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
- 3 cups sugar
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 1/3 cup Amaretto liqueur
- 1 cup milk room temperature
Instructions
- Coat a ten-inch tube pan with solid vegetable shortening then either flour or sugar. I use granulated sugar because it doesn't leave white areas on the cake. Alternately, you can use Wilton Cake Release.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together.
- Cream butter, shortening, and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Mix in Amaretto.
- Add milk and flour alternately, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
- Pour batter into prepared tube pan.
- Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes. (Start checking at 1 hour 20 minutes, your oven may be hotter than mine.)
- Cool in pan on wire rack 30 minutes before inverting on a platter.
Notes
Nutrition
You can find more recipes at my Recipe Index and at Meal Plan Monday
Bridget says
I made this cake yesterday. Absolutely delicious. I have been making various pound cakes from other cookbooks recently trying to achieve moistness without getting “gummy”. This was excellent. I am glad to have found your site. Thank you for the recipe and all your work explaining so much.
I will note that for me, baked in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. I double checked the oven temp in the recipe, and it is 350. I noticed some of your pound cakes bake at 325. Although I have a thermometer in my oven, and check the temp often it may not hold steady temp all the time. Thank you again. Will be trying some more of your variations. I love pound cake.
Paula says
Thanks so much for your feedback. I have found that except for the 2 largest pound cakes (the Mile High and Blue Ribbon) that I can cook at either 350 or 325 without any difference in final result. So sometimes I ‘speed’ up the process at 350 🤦♀️ Very smart to keep the thermometer in the oven! I was shocked to see the fluctuations in temperature when I calibrated my oven the first time.
Jill M Jordan says
Any one half the recipe and make in a loaf pan?
Ksthy says
Pound cake
Joyce says
I am an avid baker, like new recipes. Amaretto is my favorite. I gave you 5 stars without trying the recipe, it sounds great. This recipe is next on my list. Thank You Joyce
Kat T says
I saw the chocolate pound cake recipe earlier. I plan to make it for a friend for her birthday but then I saw the amaretto pound cake and wondered, How can I adjust the chocolate pound cake recipe to include amaretto. It just sounds like a wonderful flavor blend. So, what do you suggest?
Paula says
I think the easiest way would be to use this recipe and substitute amaretto for the Irish Cream>> https://www.callmepmc.com/irish-cream-chocolate-pound-cake-trifle-with-irish-cream-caramel-sauce-call-me-pmc/
Mary D says
Has anyone used a 1 to 1 gluten free flour in this recipe? Pound cake is my favorite, as is amaretto. It sounds like a lovely wish come true!
LORETTA R JOHNSON says
could I use coconut shortening?
Paula says
You can substitute coconut oil for any fat, such as butter, vegetable oil, olive oil, or shortening at a 1:1 ratio. HOWEVER, in baking, it will probably change the texture especially in pie crusts and pound cakes. I would refrigerate the coconut shortening so that it’s solid when you put it into the batter.
Wade says
Looks amazing. Can I use amaretto syrup or flavoring instead of actual liquor?
Paula says
not amaretto syrup, but you can use almond flavoring
Cathy says
What type of milk?
Paula says
I used 2% because it’s what we drink. You can use whole, 2%, or 1%
Paola Gonzales says
Hi Paula,
I just baked this cake and I love it! Love the texture and of course the flavour, but maybe I’ll decrease a little bit of sugar for the next time. Thanks a lot for sharing your recipe.
Greetings from Perú!
Angela Stevenson says
Can l use butter favor shortening.
Paula says
Yes you can
Tom says
Hey, Paula just a quick comment from a baking admirer. I enjoy your wonderful images and pound cake recipes they are awesome and kind of curious if you ever considered poking a few holes in the tops of them with a wooden skewer (like poke cake) when glazing them? This reason is that some of that lovely glaze would then go down inside the pound cake and get soaked up in it provided you did not soak it. Instead of just pouring it on top and watching it go down the sides to the bottom of the cake. The cake will absorb it from the bottom but I thought it would really increase the flavor? Any thoughts?
Paula says
Oh yeah, I do all the time. Did I not put that in the post? 😜 It’s such a habit maybe I haven’t explained to do that very well. The Rum Pound Cake I just posted I did and oh myyyy, it was sooooo gooooood 😁
Georgette Tolen says
I meant could I use Crisco vegetable oil instead of the solid shortening?
Paula says
You can substitute vegetable oil, cup for cup, for shortening. However, using oil versus shortening will change the texture of a cake. Shortening will add more air to the batter when beaten in. Using oil will make a more dense cake.
Georgette Tolen says
Can I use Crisco vegetable shortening instead of the solid shortening?
Natalie Carnovale says
My husband has deemed this the “best cake I have ever made” thank you for this recipe… always a crowd pleaser…
Paula says
thank you, I really like it too and I have been wanting to make it again. You have inspired me.
michelle says
Thanks so much for the recipe! Amaretto is my favorite pound cake. For this recip, can I sub butter for the shortening?
Thanks!
Michelle
Dollye Schroyer says
Could I use rum instead of amaretto ?
Paula says
Yes, it will change the flavor but will be good.