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
Batter is in the oven now, it was a bit thick so I added a bit of cream hopefully it won’t ruin the recipe.
Can you make it without the zest of Lemon?
You may; however, the lemon flavor will not be as prominent.
Wow thank you so much for answering back. I am trying your recipe which is a newer way. When you are baking you don’t want your recipes to become boring so I wanted to do something different. My family back at home loves lemon cakes but they do not like the Lemon taste to be excessive so that’s why I was asking can I add 2 more tablespoons to replace the Lemon zest. Also help me out please why did you not use baking powder in your ingredients? I am about to make it after I finish my pies and red velvet cheesecakes. I hope I am not being a pain.
Could I use this recipe underneath fondant? Would it hold up?
This is the very first Poundcake recipe I’ve ever used since getting a bundt tin and it is delicious! Very easy and wonderful taste, I add a touch more lemon. Other than that I follow the recipe exactly – perfect every time ! Thanks for this recipe. I give 5 stars
Making this now. Looks great!
Made your cake, but I did not get the lemon taste I was looking for. any suggestions!
Despite that very moist and delicious! 🙂
To add more lemon flavor to the cake since it is already made, I’d really amp up the lemon zest amount that is called for in the lemon glaze and add that to the cake.
Excited about the recipe. What size eggs did you use? My friend’s mom gave me her pound cake recipe but it called for 6 medium eggs.
How big of pan should you use I only have a 9″ but you cake looks the same dive but I’m not sure
Thanks for posting this wonderful recipe. I have made it twice using fresh lemons. The taist is great but it doesn’t have the yellow lemon color to it like yours. I will try it with lemon juice for Thanksgiving and see if that makes it yellow. Thanks again!!!
Did you use fresh lemons or lemon juice?
I used fresh lemons myself, but will make it again Tuesday and probably use lemon juice.