This Retro Pound Cake Is Fluffy, Rich, and Swirled with Chocolate

Louisiana has king cake and Maine has whoopie pies. Wisconsin claims kringles, Texas has kolaches, and nearly every other corner of the country boasts a signature baked good rooted in local culture, history, or agriculture. The New York City metro area is no exception. With its classic desserts like black and white cookies and sky-high cheesecake, this region is a hub of nostalgic desserts. But there’s one treat you may not have heard of—unless you grew up in Long Island or northern New Jersey: the Philly fluff cake.

Despite its name, Philly fluff cake has nothing to do with Philadelphia, marshmallow fluff, or even fluffernutter sandwiches. Instead, “Philly” refers to Philadelphia-brand cream cheese, a key ingredient in the cake’s rich yet featherlight crumb. And “fluff” nods to the cake’s plush texture—a feat of engineering that balances the density of a pound cake with the lift of an angel food cake.

The Origins of Philly Fluff Cake

One of the earliest published versions of this cake comes from Bruce’s Bakery Cookbook, by Bruce Zipes, owner of the now-closed Bruce’s Restaurant and Bakery in Great Neck, Long Island. In the book, Zipes writes that his father, Harry, a career baker, spent years refining recipes in search of “just a little bit better.” Philly fluff, the younger Zipes notes, was born from that pursuit: a simple pound cake bolstered with cream cheese and butter, yielding something “moist, dense, super-rich,” and wildly popular.

While it’s hard to trace exactly who invented the cake, Bruce’s version became a local staple and a touchstone for bakeries in the New York suburbs. If you find Philly fluff at a bakery today, odds are it’ll look a lot like Bruce’s: baked in a Bundt pan, marbled with bittersweet chocolate, and topped with a snowy dusting of powdered sugar.

How Cream Cheese Makes This Cake Work

At the heart of what makes Philly dluff so distinct—so much more than just a dressed-up pound cake—is one crucial, slightly tangy ingredient: the cream cheese.

Cream cheese does more than add a gentle tang. Like other dairy products (such as sour cream and buttermilk), it contributes moisture, fat, and sugars that aid browning and tenderize the crumb. In On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee explains that these dairy elements play multiple roles—flavor, texture, and browning all benefit from their presence. In this case, cream cheese is the not-so-secret weapon that sets Philly fluff apart from your average pound cake. But it’s not working alone.

The Role of Fats in Philly Fluff

This recipe differs from standard pound cake not only because it contains cream cheese but also because it has a generous amount of vegetable shortening. While not a traditional choice in pound cakes, shortening brings a unique advantage: it’s 100%fat, whereas butter is around 80%. That extra fat coats the flour more effectively, limiting gluten development and resulting in a finer, more tender crumb.

Cream cheese, butter, and shortening form a trifecta of fats that make this cake rich and airy. For best results, all three must be fully softened to room temperature. If the fats are too cold, they won’t whip properly, leading to clumps that prevent the batter from emulsifying—and a cake that’s dense and uneven in texture instead of light and fluffy.

Depending on the air temperature in your kitchen, an hour on the countertop may be enough to bring the fats to about 70 degrees. However, if you’re short on time, you can speed up the softening process by leaving the cream cheese, shortening, and butter (still in their packaging) in a bowl of warm water for 5 to 10 minutes, or by warming a metal bowl under hot water and inverting it over the fats to trap heat. The same tricks work for eggs, which must also be at room temperature for proper emulsification.

Why Cake Flour Makes a Difference

In this version of Philly fluff, I use cake flour instead of the all-purpose flour found in Bruce’s original. Cake flour contains less protein (about 7% to 9% vs. all-purpose’s 10% to 12% range), which means less gluten formation and, again, a more tender crumb. That said, if you don’t have cake flour, you can substitute an equal amount of all-purpose—it’ll still bake up beautifully, just slightly denser.

Reverse Cream for the Best Texture

I tested this cake with a traditional creaming method—beating the butter, cream cheese, and sugar together first—but found the reverse creaming method produced the best texture by far. This approach, also used in Bruce’s original recipe, involves beating the fats first, then adding the dry ingredients, and finally the sugar and eggs.

Coating the flour with fat early in this process prevents the formation of long gluten strands, which makes the final cake soft and tender instead of chewy or rubbery. It also helps ensure the batter stays smooth and lump-free without overmixing.

A Note on Mixing

Once the room-temp fats are whipped together (they should look fluffy and pull away slightly from the sides of the bowl), make sure to sift in the dry ingredients. Sifting helps eliminate lumps and keeps the batter light. Mix just until incorporated—the texture may look sandy at this stage—and then begin slowly adding the sugar, followed by the eggs and vanilla.

Make sure to whisk the eggs and vanilla together before adding them so they incorporate smoothly into the batter. Scrape down the bowl as needed to ensure everything is well mixed, then finish with the remaining sugar for a silky, cohesive batter.

The Signature Swirl

Though Philly fluff is excellent unadorned, the classic version found in New York–area bakeries nearly always features a marbled chocolate swirl. It’s not just for show: Those bittersweet ribbons break up the richness of the cake with pockets of deep cocoa flavor and create visual contrast when sliced

The key to a successful swirl is balance and restraint. You don’t want the chocolate layer to sink or pool, and you definitely don’t want to overmix it into the batter. The goal is a distinct ribbon, not a uniformly chocolate cake. Start by layering the batter and melted chocolate in the pan: You’ll first pour in half the batter, then drizzle the chocolate in a thin stream. Use a skewer, offset spatula, or butter knife to make a few deliberate figure-eights—enough to swirl without blending. Top with the remaining batter and smooth it out gently, then let the oven do the rest.

Finishing the Cake

Philly fluff bakes best low and slow. A 325°F oven gives the batter time to rise gently and set evenly without overbaking the edges. You’ll know it’s done when the top is golden brown and a toothpick slides out clean from the center. Once out of the oven, patience is key: The cake needs time to cool in the pan so it can firm up and naturally pull away from the sides. Rush this step, and you risk breakage when unmolding.

After the cake is fully cooled, it gets one last signature touch—a generous snowfall of powdered sugar. It’s more than just a final flourish. That white, powdery top is part of the Philly fluff identity, a visual cue that ties it to the bakery cases of Long Island and North Jersey, where it’s been quietly beloved for decades.

For a great fluff cake, follow a few simple rules: Use room-temperature fats, create the swirl with care, use a properly greased pan, and cool the cake properly. Nail those, and you’ll pull off a cake that’s plush and tender, lightly tangy, and worthy of its place among the great regional American desserts.

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