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This bright and zesty glazed lemon pound cake is buttery, soft and topped with an easy lemon glaze. It is perfect for lemon lovers!
If you’re a true lemon lover like me, try this Glazed Lemon Bread or Glazed Lemon Brownies as well.
Moist Lemon Pound Cake
Marie here from Sugar Salt Magic and I’m so excited to bring you this recipe. Aside from the uplifting aroma that fills your home while this cake bakes (reason enough to make it asap) the flavor and texture are just what you want from a lemon pound cake.
The crumb is soft but tight, the flavor is buttery and oh so lemony with lemon juice and zest starring in both the batter and glaze. This cake is easy to make and with the simple glaze poured over the top, perfect when you feel like a morning or afternoon pick me up.
What is a Pound Cake?
It’s all in the name. Traditionally a pound cake was made with a pound of flour, a pound of eggs, a pound of butter and a pound of sugar and sometimes a leavened. This results in a very rich and dense cake.leavened
Over time, the classic pound cake has been adjusted and adapted. Having no liquid in the traditional recipe, the cake could be prone to turning out a little dry. Not this one.
Ingredients in Lemon Cake
Technically, this would be a half pound cake, having roughly half a pound of those classic pound cake ingredients like flour, butter, sugar and eggs. In addition, this one has these pantry staple ingredients.
- Baking powder: to help it rise and lighten it up.
- Salt: Just a touch for balance
- Vanilla: for flavor and balance
- Lemon: both zest and juice make this cake bright and zesty, while the juice adds some moisture.
- Buttermilk: This helps to make the cake moist and tender.
How to Make The Best Lemon Pound Cake
This lemon pound cake has just a few simple steps and is simply glazed so it isn’t difficult to make. The cake batter will look like it’s split at various stages. Don’t worry, it will bake up perfectly. With buttermilk, lemon zest and juice, it has a high acid content which can react with the butter.
- Combine the dry ingredients.
- Cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Add the eggs (photo 1) one at a time and making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl often.
- Add vanilla and zest and beat them in.
- Alternate the dry ingredients with the buttermilk and lemon juice (photos 2 & 3), stirring until just combined.
- Tip it into a lined loaf tin (photo 4) and bake for 50-60 minutes.
- Once out of the oven, wait 5 minutes before removing it from the tin and onto a cooling rack. Let it cool before glazing so the glaze doesn’t run straight off.
- For the glaze, mix together powdered sugar and zest then gradually add lemon juice mixing until it is just barely pourable.
Top Tips for Pound Cake!
- The lemon juice and buttermilk add moisture to this cake but cakes, and particularly pound cakes can over-bake if you aren’t paying attention.
- When baking with lemons, always zest them first, then juice them: it’s nearly impossible to do the other way round. I use a micro-plane to zest them.
- Bring the butter, eggs and buttermilk to room temperature before starting. Cold ingredients don’t incorporate so well.
How to Know When Your Pound Cake is Done
Remember: all ovens vary and what takes an hour in mine may take 50 minutes in yours. Always check your bake 5-8 minutes (on longer bakes, 2-3 minutes on shorter bakes) before the recipe suggests by poking a toothpick into the centre.
- If it comes out wet, it’s still not finished baking.
- If it comes out with just a couple sticky crumbs on, this is perfectly baked. Remove it from the oven.
- If it comes out with no crumbs attached, it’s already over-baked. Take it out and remove it from the tin immediately to reduce the risk of it cooking further and drying out more.
Can I Freeze Glazed Lemon Pound Cake?
Lemon pound cake has a low moisture content so it’s best eaten within 1-2 days, however it freezes beautifully. Any leftovers can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 3 months.
More Lemon Recipes You Will Love
- Flourless Lemon Cake (Gluten Free)
- Fluffy Lemon Vanilla Butter Cake
- Perfect Lemon Bars
- Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
- Buttery Lemon Shortbread Cookies
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Glazed Lemon Pound Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour (195g / 6.8oz)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (226g / 8oz / 2 sticks)
- 1 cup white granulated sugar (200g / 7oz)
- 4 large eggs, room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ tablespoons lemon zest
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup buttermilk, room temp
For the Glaze
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar (163g / 5.7oz)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 6-8 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
Making the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / 160C fan forced. Grease and line a 6 cup capacity loaf tin with baking paper so that its sticking up above the sides.
- In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt, then whisk to combine well.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until lightened and creamy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time.
- Add the vanilla and lemon zest and beat to combine.
- Add half the flour mixture and mix on low just until combined (no more).
- Follow with the combined buttermilk and lemon juice, mix in, then the rest of the flour mixing until only just combined.
- Tip the mixture into the prepared tin, then level out with a spatula.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out with a crumb or two attached.
- Remove from tin after 5 minutes using the baking paper to lift it, then allow to cool completely before glazing.
Making the Glaze:
- Mix together the icing sugar, zest and half the lemon juice. Slowly add more lemon juice until it gets to the desired consistency, then pour it over the cake.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love lemon but wondering would this come out in a bundt pan?
How do you recommend storing this? This is a great recipe by the way. I just wish it was a bit bigger.
You can wrap this up or put it in an airtight container and it will store well on your counter for 3-4 days. 🙂
Can I use greased wax paper instead of parchment paper didn’t t realise I was out and stores are closed near to me
Yes, that will work well too.