Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
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This easy Lemon Pound Cake recipe makes a dream dessert for lemon lovers! Made with fresh lemon juice and zest and topped with a lemon buttermilk glaze, this moist pound cake is bursting with delicious flavor!
This Lemon Pound Cake’s sweet, slightly tart flavor happily greets your tastebuds as you take your first bite. Soft, moist lemon pound cake is drizzled with fresh, luscious lemon glaze for an out-of-this-world taste, making this homemade Lemon Pound Cake a favorite dessert recipe!
This pound cake is amazing. I think it’s the absolute best lemon pound cake and tops all the others! I was not a huge fan of lemon pound cakes before developing this recipe. Others I’ve had before didn’t interest me – either they were dry, or the lemon didn’t taste like real, fresh lemon.
I was determined when I set out to develop this recipe many years ago, and I created it with my Mama’s delicious Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe in mind. That was definitely the right decision because I’m in love with this Lemon Pound Cake, and so are my family and friends. It’s not too sweet, not too tart, but just right. And it’s such an easy lemon pound cake to make! I know you’ll love it too!
The bright lemon flavor, coupled with the sweet, moist pound cake, really makes each bite delicious perfection!
This cake is simple to make, has only a handful of basic ingredients, yet is loaded with fresh, amazing flavor! Let me tell you how I make it.
To make this, you’ll need:
Ingredients
Butter, Cream Cheese and Eggs
Allow the butter and cream cheese to soften to room temperature before mixing so that they will cream together well and combine with the sugar smoothly. This will give the cake a rich and creamy taste and moist texture.
Also, allow the eggs to reach room temperature before mixing them into the cake batter. As with most pound cakes, the recipe calls for a good many eggs—six whole large eggs are in this cake, giving it a sturdy yet tender crumb.
Lemons
Use fresh lemon juice and zest for this cake’s bright, delicious lemon flavor. Juicing and zesting fresh lemons is simple, and the result is worth it! You should need approximately two medium-large plump lemons—one lemon should yield enough juice and zest for the cake itself, and a second lemon should yield the same for the glaze. However, be sure to measure the juice and the zest to be sure you’ve got the correct amount for the recipe, just in case the lemons used are smaller than those I’ve described.
The fresh lemon gives this pound cake its perfect brightness, which makes such a difference in the taste of the cake – making it the best lemon pound cake!
Resource: How Much Juice Is In One Lemon
Sugar, Flour, and Salt
Sugar and flour are simple yet important ingredients you’d expect in the recipe. I use granulated sugar for the cake itself and powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar) for the lemon buttermilk glaze. All-purpose is the type of flour needed for the pound cake recipe.
Just a small bit of salt balances the sweetness of the pound cake.
Vanilla Extract
The vanilla extract enhances the flavor of this cake, and by using the best available, you can prevent any flavors that may detract from the recipe. I prefer using my homemade vanilla extract or a high-quality store-bought vanilla. I don’t recommend using imitation vanilla flavoring, as I’ve found that it can leave a bitter aftertaste.
Resource: How to Make Vanilla Extract
Buttermilk
Buttermilk is used for the lemon buttermilk glaze and is important to the glaze’s flavor, so don’t skip it. The glaze only uses a tablespoon, so if you don’t have it on hand, see how to make my buttermilk substitute.
How to Make Lemon Pound Cake
Cream ingredients and add eggs. In a large mixing bowl, mix together – or cream together – the room-temperature softened butter and cream cheese with the sugar until fluffy. Then, add one egg at a time to the creamed mixture and mix after each addition until all the eggs are incorporated into the mixture.
Finish making the cake batter. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest to the mixture and combine well. Add the flour, salt, and vanilla and mix until the batter is just combined well but do not overmix.
Bake the cake. Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt or tube pan. Place pan in preheated oven and bake until the cake becomes golden brown and a skewer inserted into it comes out clean. (About 1 hour and 15-30 minutes). You can follow my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
Whisk together the glaze. As the cake is cooling, whisk together the ingredients for the glaze and allow it to sit until the cake is completely cooled.
Let the cake cool. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then carefully turn it out onto a wire rack and allow it to finish cooling. This step is important because if the cake is allowed to remain in the pan to cool too long, the cake may possibly stick to the insides of the pan. Once cooled completely, place the pound cake on your desired cake stand or cake plate and prepare to glaze it.
Glaze the cake. Drizzle the zesty Lemon Buttermilk Glaze onto the pound cake. Please do not skip making this glaze. It is an amazing part of this cake!
Serve the cake and enjoy!
Storage Tips
To store: Place completely cooled cake in an airtight container or under a cake dome for up to 3 to 4 days.
To freeze: Wait to glaze if you plan to freeze the baked and cooled cake immediately. Wrap the baked and cooled cake tightly with plastic wrap, then foil. Store the wrapped cake in a freezer bag or airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw and serve, unwrap and allow to thaw completely before slicing. Glaze the cake after it’s thawed completely and just before serving for best results.
Dessert for Spring and Summer Entertaining
I love lemon and citrus desserts, such as my Lemon Bars or Key Lime Pie, any time of the year, but especially in the warmer months. And freshly squeezed Lemonade is a treat on warm days.
But this Lemon Pound Cake is certainly a spring and summer entertaining star!
You’ll enjoy it for luncheons, showers, and parties of all kinds. It’s a bright favorite on your Easter dessert table, and everyone loves it for Mother’s Day celebrations.
But don’t just save it for holidays and parties – it is the perfect complement to warm-weather barbecues, family picnics, and Sunday suppers!
More Favorite Warm Weather Desserts
Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream
If you tried this Lemon Pound Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Lemon Pound Cake
- 1 1/2 cups (339 g) butter
- 1 (8-ounce) package (227 g) cream cheese
- 6 large (300 g) eggs
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon (6 g) lemon zest
- 3 cups (594 g) sugar
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (2.8 g) kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) vanilla extract
For the Lemon Buttermilk Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups (170.25 g) confectioner’s sugar
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon (6 g) lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon (14.18 g) buttermilk
Instructions
For the Lemon Pound Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare bundt or tube pan by brushing well with homemade pan release or 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Oh my. This is delicious. Made it for New Year’s 2019; followed the recipe exactly and it came out absolutely perfect. I have not baked in years and so wasn’t sure how this would turn out. The cake is so dense and moist, with a delightfully fresh taste of light lemon. I ensured that the eggs, cream cheese and butter were room temperature and the cake rose just perfectly. The glaze is just the right texture and has enough tartness to balance the richness of the cake. A keeper for sure!
Wonderful to hear that you enjoyed it, Liz! Doesn’t the glaze add something special to this cake?! Thanks! xo
This was the first lemon pound cake I made and it was a big hit. I added 1/2 tb of lemon extract to the cake and the juice from the lemon I zested in addition to the 2 tb of lemon juice.
The crusty exterior was sublime.
Thank you so much for this recipe.
This is the best cake! I poke holes in the cake and make some extra glaze to drip into the holes!
A hit!
I always make my brothers a pound cake for the holidays. This year my brother wants a lemon pound cake. I want to use your recipe but I have one question. Your recipe calls for lemon zest. How much lemon zest? I’ve not baked anything that called for this before so I have no idea the proper way to use it.
Thank you
Hi Anita,
The recipe uses the zest from the peel of one lemon. There are several articles online about zesting a lemon. It’s done with a zester but can use a fine grater. Just use the outer peel for zest – don’t get into the pith (or white part).
Hope this helps! Enjoy the cake – it’s delicious. Make sure you make the glaze…so good!
Thanks!!!
Hi Anita,
To zest a lemon, you’d want to use a zester and carefully just remove the colored zest portion of the outside of the lemon. Be sure not to get the white pithy part of the lemon as it is bitter. You’ll want to zest one lemon for the pound cake portion and then another one for the icing. If for some reason you do not have a zester, you can omit it, but it does lend a tremendous amount of flavor to the lemon pound cake and I highly, highly recommend it. You can find zesters fairly inexpensively at most local grocery stores, Walmart, Target and of course online at Amazon. I can’t wait to hear how your brothers enjoy it!
Will halving all the ingredients still achieve the same results, just with a smaller cake? I dont want to end up throwing away a bunch of cake because its too much too eat.
Love this recipe, have made it twice using duck eggs. Delicious!!! My husband loves lemon. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I agree with one of the comments that the vanilla overpowers the lemon. I used 1/4 tsp vanilla and 3/4 tsp lemon extract. I also used mini cake/bundt pans because I want to give them as Christmas gifts in decorative boxes. It took less time to cook, also. They are beautiful and more importantly, they are delicious. Can’t wait to hear the oohs and ahhhs.
Thanks for a great recipe. I think anything lemony at Christmas is a slice of sunshine!
So glad you enjoy it, Karla! xo
Oh my this was amazing. I added more lemon than it calls for
I was looking for a lemon pound cake recipe and came across this one, checked out the reviews and decided to give it a try and just so you know it came out wonderful, the only change I made was to the glaze, I did not have any buttermilk so I added 2 tbsp of melted butter.
So that everyone knows, this cake uses 6 eggs and no leveling ingredients, you don’t need baking powder and baking soda because the eggs is what makes the cake rise and expand, you can switch up from cream cheese to sour cream and get the same result, this is a great recipe and I will use this again and again.
This recipe is amazing and so simple.