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
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Save To Your Recipe BoxIngredients
- 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
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.
jasa toko says
hi paula…
whether there are other materials
Substitute From amaretto
which has the same function?
Jane says
Hi Paula,
Great recipes and thank you for sharing. Can you tell me what are your other two pound cake favorites?
Miriam says
Hi. Should I use sweet or unsweetened Amaretto?
Paula says
I use sweet and it doesn’t make the cake overly sweet. I actually always use the classic Disaronno.
MaryB says
Does this freeze well? I’d like to make it a few days ahead of time (Saturday for serving on Wednesday). It looks delicious.
Paula says
It does. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and put it in a large freezer bag.
Paula says
But if you’re serving it in that short amt of time, I’d just refrigerate it.
MaryB says
Thanks so much!
BETTY says
i understand what jt is an alcohol can the amareta besubtusted for something non alchol
Paula says
you can use 2 T almond extract, it won’t be exactly the same, but close
Kristen says
Pound cake is one of my favorite desserts – love this version!
Paula says
Mine too, Kristen. Thanks!
Baby June says
That looks amazing! Love the amaretto flavors. 🙂
Paula says
Thanks so much! Have a great weekend!
Lynn says
That’s is a beautiful pound cake; it’s exactly how a pound cake should look. I can only imagine how good it is with those wonderful ingredients. I’m definitely pinning this recipe for later.
Paula says
Thank you! I love love to make Pound Cakes!