Robyn StoneThis Lemon Pound Cake is a dream dessert for lemon lovers! Made with lemon juice, lemon zest, and topped with a lemon buttermilk glaze, this lemon pound cake recipe is scrumptious!
A sweet and slightly tart flavor greets your tastebuds first as you take a bite. That’s immediately followed by the delicious taste of fresh lemon in the soft pound cake. Lemon is part of this cake in a juicy and scrumptious way in this homemade Lemon Pound Cake recipe!
The burst of lemon flavor coupled with the sweet deliciousness of the pound cake really does make each bite perfection.
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
I must admit that many of the lemon pound cakes I had at reunions and church functions when I was growing up never interested me. There was just something about them that didn’t appeal to me.
But then, I reworked a favorite pound cake recipe of my family’s and now, I’m addicted to this Lemon Pound Cake.
Not too sweet, not too tart, but just right. It’s the Goldilocks of lemon pound cakes and I think it’s perfection!
Perfect for Spring and Summer Entertaining
This will really be a popular cake throughout your spring and summer entertaining. You can easily make this pound cake ahead of time and then serve to friends and family as dessert.
I love to serve it at a BBQ, at family reunions, showers, and of course after a big Sunday supper. Oh, and for Mother’s Day? Seriously, yes!
How to Make Lemon Pound Cake
For the Cake
Start by preheating the oven to 325 degrees. Then prepare your bundt or tube pan by coating with shortening or butter and flouring lightly. Set aside.
For the Lemon Buttermilk Glaze
As the cake is cooling, whisk together ingredients – confectioner’s sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and buttermilk – to make the glaze. Allow to sit until cake has fully cooled, then drizzle over top of the cake.
Please do not skip out on making this lemon buttermilk glaze that you drizzle over this cake. It is just the right thing to do because this is an amazing part of this cake!
I have a strong suggestion for you though. Do be sure to make it when you are expecting guests or headed off to a social occasion where people are expecting it. Save yourself the temptation.
Here’s my Lemon Pound Cake recipe. I can’t wait to hear how you like it.
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Lemon Pound Cake
- 1 1/2 cups butter 3 sticks
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
- 6 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- zest of one lemon
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the Lemon Buttermilk Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon buttermilk
Instructions
For the Lemon Pound Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare bundt or tube pan by coating with shortening or butter and flouring light. Set aside.
- Let the butter, cream cheese, and eggs come to room temperature. Cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add lemon juice and zest and combine well. Add flour and salt and vanilla. Mix until just well-combined but do not over mix. Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt or tube pan.
- Bake until golden brown and skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 - 30 minutes.
For the Lemon Buttermilk Glaze
- As the cake is cooling, whisk together ingredients confectioner's sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and buttermilk to make the glaze. Allow to sit until cake has fully cooled, then drizzle over top of lemon pound cake.
Nutrition Information
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
My first time baking a pound cake and i followed your recipe i did a very good job
That’s great! I’m so glad this recipe worked so well for you, D.
First time making cake. Overall it was good. Not as lemony as I expected and it came out much darker too. I used a bundt cake pan. Maybe I should not have greased the pan with liquid oil as instructed because I think it is a non stick pan. Will try it again. My Husband loved it.
I use solid shortening like Crisco or butter to grease the pan and then flour it. I don’t use liquid oil. I do grease and flour my non-stick pans, too. You could use lemon extract instead of the vanilla if you prefer a more lemon flavor. I hope this helps.
Grandson requested Lemon Cream Cheese Cake for his birthday turning 13 yo. Haven’t baked a cake in many years. Thanks to you he said “ It taste like heaven, it’s perfect “. Made this pound cake Bundt style and am so much pleased with the appearance of it. Thx for the pleasure knowing he got what he asked for from me with A+ success
Deborah, I’m thrilled your grandson loved this cake so much. It is always a joy when you can make a special dessert for someone and they love it. xo
Does the cake need to be refrigerated?
It does not have to be refrigerated, Shelley. Of course, you can, if you prefer for it to be chilled but it doesn’t require it. Hope you enjoy it!
A friend told me that she loved lemon pound cake. I remembered this recipe from last year and was able to find it easily. I’m at my lake house in NC and wasn’t sure if baking time, etc would be affected by the altitude. Although the top browned quickly ( I should have lowered the rack ) the caked baked beautifully in 1 hour and 10 min in my gas oven. It is perfect! It’s so moist and wonderfully dense as a pound cake should be. Don’t skip the glaze! I’ll be making this again!
Mark, I’m so glad the cake worked so well for you at your lake house. I agree; don’t skip the glaze! Thanks.
I made this cake, and it was great! I tried it first without the glaze, and I was impressed, so I added lemon glaze, and I was very pleased. This is a recipe that will stay near the top of my list for future family events. Just a note, I make cheesecakes regularly, so whipping up cream cheese is part of my routine. I learned that the long whipping of cream cheese, butter and sugar is not necessary for this recipe. The cake was so fluffy it overflowed from the cake pan during cooking. It sure was yummy!
You don’t whip the cream cheese, sugar, and butter for a long time, Kim. I just use my regular mixer paddle and cream these together until they are light. If you whip these for a long time, you will add too much air to the batter.
Made this for a customer tonight. It’s awesomeness. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.
Happy thanksgiving 2020
Fabulous cake
I noticed that the recipe didn’t call for baking powder or baking soda, is this an error or not?
This recipe does not contain baking powder or baking soda, Jacqueline. Hope you enjoy.
This cake was delicious! I do like my cake with lots of lemon flavor, so instead of 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, I used half and substituted the other half for lemon extract. It came out excellent.
Thanks for the tip, Robert!
Robyn, this recipe knocks it out the park. My daughter made it tonight in a Bundt pan. If I could give the lemon pound cake 10 stars I would. It was moist and delicious. My husband said it was the best lemon pound cake he’s ever had. We are holding on to this recipe for all holidays and events.
Thanks so much, Sandra. I’m so happy all of you enjoyed the cake.