You just can’t beat a good old fashioned slice of Lemon Pound Cake, with it’s fine crumb and velvety melt-in-your-mouth texture.
The lemon pound cake that I am sharing today has so much flavor, and is perfect for gatherings year-round…but I always associate it with summertime!
Whether you need a little something sweet to go with your coffee or tea, or you are looking for something fabulous to dress with berries and cream, this Lemon Pound Cake recipe is perfection.
I’ve mentioned before that I love all things lemon, and this Lemon Pound Cake is no exception. One of our most popular cake recipes on our site, no matter what the season, is ourScratch Lemon Cake (with Lemon Curd and Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting)!
As much as I love our lemon layer cake, this amazing Lemon Pound Cake is flavored with the same lemony goodness. You’ll notice a slight tang from the buttermilk in the recipe and also an unmistakable lemon flavor from the extract we’ve added.
The sweetness of the cake is perfectly balanced with the tartness of the simple lemon glaze (a simple combination of powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest).
*I repeat, this easy lemon glaze is tart- haha! In fact, at first we wondered if it was too tart. But that’s only because we tried it by the spoonful instead of on the cake. I don’t advise eating sugar glaze by the spoonful, as tempting as it may be! ;0)
In the end, just that little bit of glaze drizzled over the top and sides makes a world of difference in the amount of lemon that comes through in each bite! You don’t want to skimp on the glaze. In addition to the boost of lemon flavor, it looks beautiful on the cake! It’s a win-win ;0)
If you’re looking for a no-fuss, crowd pleasing lemon dessert, this is the one! It freezes beautifully as an added bonus, whether you are baking in advance or want to keep a few slices in the freezer in case of a sudden pound cake craving!
Lemon Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 3 sticks (339 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups (600 g) sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour, (not self-rising)
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- 1 cup (235 g) buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) lemon extract
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- zest of one lemon
Directions
- Grease and flour a tube pan.
- Lower the oven rack to the lower third of your oven. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a separate bowl whisk the flour and baking soda to combine, set aside for later.
- Cream the butter with the paddle attachment in your mixer, gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time blending after each to incorporate.
- Add the lemon extract to the l cup of buttermilk. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. I add the dry 3 times and milk twice.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Check it after 1 hour, to be on the safe side) If the top begins to brown too much, you can loosely lay a piece of aluminum foil on top of it.
- This makes approximately 8 cups of batter.
Instructions for the Lemon Glaze
- Combine sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the pound cake. (I spooned mine into a piping bag with the tip snipped away for more control.) Sprinkle lemon zest over the top.
If you love lemon cakes, you’re also going to want to save our delicious scratch lemon cake recipe! It’s the best! You can find it here: Scratch Lemon Layer Cake Recipe
For all of the pound cake fans, you don’t want to miss these other favorites from our Cake Recipes section! It’s always a good day for pound cake!
Here is our Classic Pound Cake Recipe – this one has been a family favorite for years!
You will also love our Lemon Raspberry Pound Cake! Such a flavorful combination!
How about a Chocolate Pound Cake? This double chocolate pound cake is just THE BEST remedy for your chocolate cravings! So moist and chocolatey, and it’s super easy to make! You’ve gotta love that dramatic ganache drip too!
And finally, our Red Velvet Marble Pound Cake! I love everything about this cake. You can’t go wrong when combining red velvet & pound cake. We make it with a peppermint glaze at Christmas, but no matter what the occasion, it’s always a fantastic choice!
Thank you for stopping by and don’t miss our full collection of favorite tried and true cake and frosting recipes in our Recipes Section!
Also, if you would like to learn more about cake decorating, you can check out our free cake tutorials here: Free Cake Decorating Tutorials. Or, for full access to the hundreds of cake decorating video tutorials that we’ve made, you should consider becoming a member of My Cake School! You can find all of the details here: Joining Information- My Cake School
Lemon Pound Cake (find the printable version above)
- 3 sticks (339 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups (600 g) sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour, (not self-rising)
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- 1 cup (235 g) buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) lemon extract
Directions
- Grease and flour a tube pan.
- Lower the oven rack to the next to lowest position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a separate bowl whisk the flour and baking soda to combine, set aside for later.
- Cream the butter with the paddle attachment in your mixer, gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time blending after each to incorporate.
- Add the lemon extract to the l cup of buttermilk. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. I add the dry 3 times and milk twice.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- This makes approximately 8 cups of batter.
- **This is also the recipe that we use in our petit fours video! For petit fours, we pour into an 11×15 inch pan so that they are nice and short (approximately 1 1/4 inches tall).
Thanks for stopping by! If you try this Lemon Pound Cake recipe, we would love for you to share your thoughts and photos in the comments below!
Very yummy! I do love Pound Cake and Lemon :-)
Can this also be baked in 8 inch cake pans?
How would this cake be as a tiered wedding cake and/or large cupcakes?
I made this lemon pound cake and it didn’t rise… the taste was fine but not as fluffy as other pound cake recipes
Hi Monette, I am sorry you had a problem with the recipe. I’ll list some possible causes that might have kept your cake from rising.
Measure the ingredients accurately. If not using a scale, spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level off with the back of a knife. Beat the softened butter at medium speed with an electric mixer for approximately 5 minutes or until it is lightened in color and fluffy. This whips air into the batter to help it rise. Don’t over beat the eggs, Mix just until the yellow of the yolk disappears. When adding dry and wet ingredients don’t mix above medium speed or mix for too long. When greasing the pan don’t use oil, use shortening (such as Crisco) and dust the pan with flour. A slick surface keeps the batter from rising to its full height.
I hope this will be helpful.