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You will fall in love at first bite with this moist lemon pound cake, bursting with fresh lemon flavor and topped with an irresistible lemony glaze. This easy recipe takes just 15 minutes of active prep, and the hardest thing about it? Resisting eating the whole thing yourself!
This is the BEST Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
I am definitely on team lemon lovers (if you couldn’t tell by my huge collection of lemon desserts), and I have trouble even writing about this lemon pound cake recipe without my mouth watering the entire time. It’s that good.
Not only does it win on flavor and texture, but when you follow my easy step-by-step instructions you’ll realize it’s also super easy to make (even for beginner bakers), and it’s made with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. Now that is a dessert winner!
Keep reading for all my tried and true tips for making the best pound cake from scratch!
Best Lemon Pound Cake Ingredients
Simple ingredients that you likely already have on hand in your kitchen come together to make an irresistible cake. Get the full recipe with measurements and instructions in the recipe card below. Here’s what you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Unsalted butter: room temperature
- Granulated sugar
- Lemon zest
- Eggs: room temperature
- Egg yolk: room temperature
- Fresh lemon juice
- Vanilla extract
Lemon Glaze
- Powdered sugar
- Fresh lemon juice
- Milk or heavy cream
- Salt
How to Make Homemade Lemon Pound Cake
This easy lemon pound cake recipe comes out perfectly every single time. Just follow these easy steps:
- Prep oven & be sure to bring ingredients to room temp. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Make sure you are using room temperature butter and eggs. When ingredients are at room temperature, they just naturally trap air better when you whip them up. So, what you end up with are baked goods that have a lighter texture.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Beat butter. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter for 1 minute until fluffy.
- Cream butter, sugar and lemon zest. Add in the granulated sugar and lemon zest, beat for 1-2 minutes until fluffy. Pound cake gets its nice texture from creaming the butter and sugar together well, do not skimp on the creaming. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add remaining wet ingredients. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Beat in the egg yolk, fresh lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing on low speed until just combined. I like to stop a little short and use a spatula to hand-mix the last bit of flour in. The batter will be thick.
- Prep pan. Generously butter a loaf pan. That’s a 9×5 inch pan or 8.5×4.5 inch pan – it’s important to know what size you have because the bake time can vary by 10 minutes.
- Add to pan. Transfer the batter to the pan and smooth using a spatula.
- Bake. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake for 50 minutes. After 50 minutes check to see if the pound cake is browning too much. If so, tent the pound cake with aluminum foil and bake for 15-25 more minutes. **If you didn’t tent at 50 minutes, check again in 5-minute intervals to see if tenting is needed.
- Bake time note: The total suggested bake time for a 8.5×4.5 inch pan is 75-80 minutes and 9×5 inch pan is 65-75 minutes. Be sure to know what size your pan is. I tend to err on the side of baking longer because pound cake is so dense. No one wants an undercooked pound cake.
- Cool: Allow the pound cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack to cool.
Lemon Glaze
- Make the glaze. Sift the powdered sugar, this helps to create a silky, smooth glaze. Add in 2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice, 2 tbsp milk or heavy cream, and vanilla extract, whisk to combine. Add another teaspoon of lemon juice to thin out the glaze or more powdered sugar to thicken the glaze. Taste and adjust, whisk in the salt.
- Top cake with glaze. Drizzle generously over the cake. Allow the glaze to set for 30-60 minutes before slicing and serving.
Tips for Making Lemon Pound Cake from Scratch
For the best pound cake, follow these tips:
- Don’t forget to zest the lemon before squeezing the juice: Since you need both zest and juice, don’t forget to zest first. It’s much easier to get the zest before the lemon juice has been squeezed out.
- Use room temperature ingredients: Using room temp ingredients allows the batter to blend together more smoothly, giving you the perfect texture in your finished product.
- Don’t skimp on the creaming: Be sure to beat the butter and sugar together really well. This is how a good pound cake gets its texture.
- Cool the cake before glazing: If you don’t let the cake cool before adding the glaze, it won’t harden on the cake and may melt off instead.
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe Storage
Store leftover cake covered or in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days. You can refrigerate for up to a week, but the refrigerator may dry out the cake a bit.
More Lemon Recipes
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Lemon Pound Cake from Scratch
You will fall in love at first bite with this moist lemon pound cake, bursting with fresh lemon flavor and topped with an irresistible lemony glaze. This easy recipe takes just 15 minutes of active prep, and the hardest thing about it? Resisting eating the whole thing yourself!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, 240 grams
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, 226 grams
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar, 248 grams
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Lemon Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sift after measuring, 227 grams before sifting
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp milk or heavy cream
- ⅛ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Make sure you are using room temperature butter and eggs. When ingredients are at room temperature, they just naturally trap air better when you whip them up. So, what you end up with are baked goods that have a lighter texture.
- In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter for 1 minute until fluffy.
- Add in the granulated sugar and lemon zest, beat for 1-2 minutes until fluffy. Pound cake gets its nice texture from creaming the butter and sugar together well, do not skimp on the creaming. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Beat in the egg yolk, fresh lemon juice and vanilla extract.
- Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing on low speed until just combined. I like to stop a little short and use a spatula to hand mix the last bit of flour in. The batter will be thick.
- Generously butter a loaf pan. That’s a 9×5 inch pan or 8.5×4.5 inch pan – it’s important to know what size you have because the bake time can vary by 10 minutes.
- Transfer the batter to the pan and smooth using a spatula.
- Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake for 50 minutes. After 50 minutes check to see if the pound cake is browning too much. If so, tent the pound cake with aluminum foil and bake for 15-25 more minutes. **If you didn’t tent at 50 minutes, check again in 5 minute intervals to see if tenting is needed.
- The total suggested bake time for a 8.5×4.5 inch pan is 75-80 minutes and 9×5 inch pan is 65-75 minutes. Be sure to know what size your pan is. I tend to err on the side of baking longer because pound cake is so dense. No one wants an undercooked pound cake.
- Allow the pound cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack to cool.
Lemon Glaze
- Sift the powdered sugar, this helps to create a silky, smooth glaze. Add in 2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice, 2 tbsp milk or heavy cream and vanilla extract, whisk to combine. Add another teaspoon of lemon juice to thin out the glaze or more powdered sugar to thicken the glaze. Taste and adjust, whisk in the salt.
- Drizzle generously over the cake. Allow the glaze to set for 30-60 minutes before slicing and serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 404kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 106mg | Sodium: 179mg | Potassium: 56mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 599IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
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This recipe is 5 star. Super Amazing!!!
So far the best Lemon cake I have ever made.. the smell of the house & the taste in every bite .. it was the best & thank you so much for sharing the recipe ..