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!
Looking for more scrumptious cake recipes? I think you will love my Carrot Cake, Hummingbird Cake, and Coconut Cake.
The sweet and slightly tart flavor of this Lemon Pound Cake 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 that makes this homemade Lemon Pound Cake a favorite dessert recipe!
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
This Lemon Pound Cake is so good. In my mind, it’s the lemon pound cake that is the absolute best and tops all others! I was not a huge fan of them before developing this recipe. Others I’ve had before didn’t interest me – either they were dry, or the lemon didn’t taste right.
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 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.
The burst of lemon flavor coupled with the sweet deliciousness of the pound cake really does make each bite delicious perfection!
How to Make Lemon Pound Cake
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
For the Lemon Pound Cake
- Butter – softened to room temperature
- Cream Cheese – softened to room temperature – it gives the cake a rich, creamy taste and texture.
- Eggs – you use six whole large eggs at room temperature
- Lemon – you’ll use the fresh lemon juice and the lemon zest for a bright, delicious lemon flavor in this cake
- Sugar – I use granulated sugar
- Flour – this cake recipe uses all-purpose flour
- Salt – a little bit of salt in sweet recipes helps to balance.
- Vanilla extract – I love to use my homemade vanilla extract, but if using store-bought, be sure to use the highest quality you can. I don’t recommend using imitation vanilla flavoring as it can leave a bitter aftertaste, in my opinion.
For the Lemon Buttermilk Glaze
- Confectioner’s sugar – also known as powdered sugar
- Lemon – you use the zest from the entire lemon, along with juice from the lemon to make this glaze.
- Buttermilk – this glaze only uses a tablespoon so if you don’t have it on hand, I can show you how to make a buttermilk substitute. The buttermilk is important to the flavor of the glaze, so please don’t skip it.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Get some ingredients to room temperature. Take the butter, cream cheese, and eggs out of the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature.
Prepare to bake. Preheating the oven to 325 degrees. Prepare your bundt or tube pan by coating it with shortening or butter and lightly flour the inside of the pan to prevent the cake from sticking. Set aside.
Cream the ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, mix together – or cream together – the room-temperature butter and cream cheese with the sugar until fluffy.
Add the eggs. Add one egg at a time into the creamed mixture and mix after each addition.
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 just combined well but do not overmix. Then pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt or tube pan.
Bake the cake. Place pan in preheated oven and bake the pound cake until it reaches a golden brown and a skewer inserted into the cake 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 out the cake on a wire rack and allow it to finish cooling on the rack. This step is important because if the cake is allowed to remain in the pan longer than 10 or so minutes before putting it out on the wire rack to finish cooling, the cake may possibly stick to the insides of the pan. Once cooled completely, place the cooled pound cake on your desired cake stand or cake plate and prepare to glaze it.
Drizzle the glaze onto the cake. 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. It is an amazing part of this cake!
Perfect for Spring and Summer Entertaining
I love lemon and citrus desserts such as my Lemon Bars or Key Lime Pie anytime but especially in the warmer months of the year. And freshly squeezed Lemonade is a treat on warm days. But this Lemon Pound Cake is most certainly a star for spring and summer entertaining!
You’ll enjoy it for luncheons, showers, and parties of all kinds. It is a bright favorite to serve 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 Recipes for Citrus Lovers
Citrus Scones with Orange Glaze
Here’s my Lemon Pound Cake recipe. I can’t wait to hear how you like it.
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 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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
This is the best recipe ever! I have used it for a few years now and it always comes out perfect. It is such a loved recipe I’ve shared with and baked with many! I follow your recipe to the letter because why mess with perfection 😉
Thanks so much, Mata!
May I add a 3.oz of instant lemon pudding to this recipe?
I have never added instant lemon pudding to this cake, Annie, so I can’t tell you how the cake would turn out.
Best cake. Period. Love this recipe. This is my second time making it in two weeks.
Thanks, Latoya! So glad you like it so much. xo
Hey it was my 1st making this cake and it came out pretty good the recipe was perfect but I think I could’ve left It in the oven a lil longer the bottom of the cake wasn’t all the way done when I cut into But it was still really good
Brittney, try testing the doneness of a pound cake by inserting a long wooden skewer into the thickest part of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake should be done throughout. Hope this helps.
Dear Robyn, this recipe is fabulous! I made this pound cake two weeks ago for my sister’s birthday and it was a hit. I’m making another one right now to slice up and freeze. This puts other pound cake recipes to shame in my opinion. I like adding the salt to the cake batter, because the sweetness of the glaze will gives it a powerful punch.
Thank you and keep up the good work.
Cheers.xoxo
Thanks, Marcketa. I’m so happy you enjoyed the cake. xo