The best lemon pound cake recipe full of lemon juice and lemon zest! So moist, and topped with a delicious lemony glaze.
If you’re a fan of fruity desserts, you’ll love this lemon pound cake—a flavorful spin on cream cheese pound cake! Similar to our lemon bundt cake, this recipe is a little lighter with a tasty lemon glaze!
Pound Cake for the Lemon Lovers
Hi, Deb here from Cooking on the Front Burner and get ready to pucker up with the most luscious Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze!
If you are a lemon lover like me, you must put this on your to do list—like today! I always have lemons in the house—I add them to water, pop and of course make some great desserts with lemons as well. This Lemon Pound Cake is one of my favorites! It’s moist, luscious, and has just the right amount of sweet lemony flavor!
Why is it called a pound cake? A true pound cake uses a pound of flour, sugar, butter and eggs. Although this recipe doesn’t use those exact measurements, it’s still pretty true to the ingredients and consistency of a classic pound cake—with the addition of lemon flavor, of course!
How to make lemon Pound Cake
PREP. Heat oven to 325°F and then you will grease and flour a bundt pan; set aside
BATTER. In a large bowl, combine sugar and butter at medium speed, be sure to scrape bowl often, until creamy. Continue beating, adding 1 egg at a time, until well mixed.
In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. On low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and then the buttermilk and scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
Add lemon zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Continue beating until well mixed.
Note: At certain points, the batter may look slightly curdled. Don’t worry the batter will smooth out.
BAKE & COOL. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake 55-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate and cool completely.
LEMON GLAZE
While the naked cake would be good on it’s own, adding some lemon glaze really kicks it up a notch! Simply stir together powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons lemon juice and enough milk for desired glazing consistency in small bowl.
Drizzle over cooled cake and add as much or as little as you like.
Tips and Troubleshooting
Why is my cake heavy and gluey? I found a great tip from the bakers at King Arthur Flour. When you overmix a cake, the gluten develops too much. This means the cake will rise beautifully, but disappointment sets in when the cake starts to sink as soon as it is taken out of the oven. The sinking cake results in a dense and gluey center.
Mixing it just the right way can be tricky because the more air you can beat into the batter the fluffier the cake will be, but mixing too much can yield a sinking center. So what is the solution? Cream the sugar, butter and eggs slowly, no higher than medium speed. Then, add the flour and mix gently.
What kind of pan do you use for a pound cake? I love using a decorative bundt pan. Standard, and even mini bread loaf pans, can also be used.
Additions and Toppings:
- Add a tablespoon of poppy seeds to the batter for a lemon poppyseed flavor!
- Top with lemon zest, powdered sugar, or whipped cream with fresh berries
How to store lemon pound cake: Allow the cake to cool completely before storing. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or place in an airtight container. Store at room temperature for 3-5 days, or wrap again with aluminum foil and freeze for 1-2 months.
Now you have one pretty lemon glazed cake to serve to guests (or keep to yourself!) If you don’t share, I won’t tell anyone… mum’s the word!
And for more lemon recipes, check out:
- Lemon Blossoms
- Better than Starbucks Lemon Loaf
- Frosted Cake Mix Lemon Cookies
- Mini Lemon Drop Cakes
- Lemon Buttermilk Cake
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake
Glaze
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1-2 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Heat oven to 325°F and then you will grease and flour a bundt pan; set aside
- In a large bowl, combine sugar and butter at medium speed, be sure to scrape bowl often, until creamy. Continue beating, adding 1 egg at a time, until well mixed.
- In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- On low speed alternately add the flour mixture and then the buttermilk and scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Add lemon zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Continue beating until well mixed.
- Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake 55-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert onto serving plate; cool completely.
- Stir together powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons lemon juice and enough milk for desired glazing consistency in small bowl. Drizzle over cooled cake.
This cake turned out fantastic. Moist and perfect♥️ I will be making this again for certain! Thank You!!!
Yay! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the cake!!
I appreciate the recipe; however, it never says what you’re supposed to add the buttermilk to. The butter and sugar and egg mixture is in one bowl. The flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt: flour mixture is in another bowl. When does it say which mixture to add the buttermilk to? I had to guess that I was supposed to add the buttermilk to the flour mixture. Then it didn’t say blend the butter, sugar, egg mixture with the flour mixture (that I’m assuming I was supposed to add buttermilk to). I want to get the recipe correct and not knowing which mixture to add buttermilk to, threw me off. I still appreciate the recipe tho.
Sure! Good question. So the instructions say: “On low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and then the buttermilk and scraping bowl often, until well mixed.” So you have your bowl with sugar/butter eggs and then you’ll alternate adding a scoop of the flour mixture and then some of the buttermilk. Then scrape the sides. Continue alternating until all the flour mixture and buttermilk have been added. Then you’ll add the lemon zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and continue beating until well mixed. Hopefully that helps clear up any confusion! 🙂