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This 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 such 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 delicious 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.
Determined to make the best Lemon Pound Cake, I created this recipe with my Mama’s delicious Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe in mind. That was definitely the right decision, because now I’m addicted to this Lemon Pound Cake and I get requests for it all the time!
It’s 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
I think lemon and citrus desserts are perfect for this time of year. Desserts like this cake, along with Lemon Bars, Lemon Sugar Cookies and Key Lime Pie, to name a few, are favorites for entertaining and family get-togethers during spring and summer especially!
You’ll find that this is a popular cake for holidays and events. You can easily make this pound cake ahead of time and then serve to friends and family as dessert for that special occasion – or just because.
I love to serve it at barbecues, family reunions, showers, and of course for Sunday supper dessert. Oh, and for Easter and Mother’s Day? Yes – it is always a crowd favorite!
How to Make Lemon Pound Cake
Again, this cake is simple to make with only a handful of ingredients.
To make this, you’ll need:
- Butter
- Cream Cheese
- Eggs
- Lemon Juice
- Lemon
- Sugar
- All-purpose Flour
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.
Let the butter, cream cheese and eggs come to room temperature. Cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Then add the eggs one at a time and mix after each addition. Add the lemon juice and zest and combine well. Next add flour, salt and vanilla. Mix until just well-combined, but do not over mix. Then pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt or tube pan.
Bake the pound cake until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15-30 minutes.
Cool the cake in the pan for about 10 minutes, then carefully turn out cake on wire rack until cooled completely. Then place cooled pound cake on your desired cake stand or cake plate.
How To Make the Lemon Buttermilk Glaze
You’ll need confectioner’s sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and buttermilk to make this amazing glaze.
As the cake is cooling, whisk together the ingredients for the glaze.
Allow the glaze to sit until cake has completely cooled. Once the cooled cake is on a cake stand or cake plate, then drizzle the zesty Lemon Buttermilk Glaze on the cake. Serve and enjoy!
A bit of advice, please do not skip making this lemon buttermilk glaze that you drizzle over this cake. It is an amazing part of this cake!
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
- 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. When cake is done, cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Then carefully turn the cake out onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
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.
Nutritional Information
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
At first I was hesitant to use recipe because it didn’t call for 4 sticks of butter as all of my other cream cheese pound cakes recipe does. This recipe is actually better than my other recipes. I make cakes, I don’t usually eat them. With this recipe, I made a whole bundt cake and 5 mini bundt cakes. I ate one whole mini bundt cake and can’t wait to see how the guest at church likes it. I did add just a little bit of lemon extract to the cake but still felt like the cake itself needed more lemon flavor. So next time I will double the amount of lemon juice. I used the buttermilk in icing but if someone doesn’t have buttermilk, regular milk will do just fine. I didn’t find that the buttermilk made much of a difference. All in all great, moist cake. Thank you!
Thanks, Kay!
Hi Robyn, I love anything lemon. I did change the flour to cake flour. This makes my cakes so much lighter in weight. I added a little more lemon juice. The cake was delicious. Thanks for your recipe.
I’ve used this recipe several times as is and found it to be the best lemon pound cake ever! My teen granddaughter even requested it for her birthday instead of a fancy cake from a bakery.
That is awesome, Andrell. I hope your granddaughter has a very happy birthday.
Can I a substitute Gluten Free flour for the all purpose flour. I just saw this recipe and would like to make for the family. My daughter-in-law has seliac.
Jan, you can use Gluten Free flour in this recipe. I hope you enjoy!
I made your German Chocolate cake and it was perfectly moist and flavorful so I can’t wait to make this cake. Should I use salted or unsalted butter in this recipe?
Denise, I use salted butter in this cake but you can use unsalted if you prefer.
Loving all kinds of pound cake, I have to say this Lemon PC is just about my favorite now. The moisture, the crumb, and cheerful taste of lemon! Thanks so much for the recipe!
I am thrilled you love this cake so much, Jackie. It is one of my favorites.
This cake was amazing. I was hesitant about the 3 cups of sugar, but the cake is not overly sweet. I altered the recipe just a bit by adding 1 teaspoon of pure lemon extract for a more pronounce lemon flavor.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake, Sonobia. Thanks!