Meet your new favourite loaf cake: a soft, buttery lemon pound cake that goes ALL IN on lemon. I'm talking lemon zest in the batter, a lemon soak that's brushed on after baking, and a glossy lemon glaze that adds a bright punch of flavor (plus that perfect crackle on top!). The addition of sour cream to the batter ensures this loaf-style cake is ultra-moist and tender, too!
Hi hi! I am just jumping in to share this lemon pound cake loaf recipe with you! I have been making and loving my vanilla sour cream pound cake recipe for a long time now, and this lemon one is just a wee variation on it.
Like the original, the texture is lush, dense (in a good way) and has a super tender crumb. The lemon flavour comes from fresh lemon in three forms - zest rubbed into the sugar before you start mixing the pound cake batter, a lemon soak brushed on hot from the oven, and a deliciously tangy lemon glaze which goes onto the cooled cake.
It's a triple lemon situation, and it's a triple lemon situation that I know you are going to love.
What makes my pound cake special: Lemon three ways - zest, soak, and glaze.
Often you see a recipe for a lemon pound cake, and there is just a hint of lemon. Not here. This lemon cake has lemon in it three ways to ensure a really deep lemon flavour:
- Zest. Instead of adding juice to the cake which could make it claggy (the nz word for kind of soggy!), I just added a ton of lemon zest to the batter of the cake. I found during testing using 10g of lemon zest (which is about 4 lemons worth), and rubbing it into the sugar that is used in the batter that it really releases the oils and gives amazing flavour.
- Soak. This step feels like you're going to end up with a soggy cake because it feels counterintuitive to add that much liquid to a warm cake - I promise you I felt the same way at the start, but the cake absorbs it. You make a quick syrup while the cake is resting. I boil the sugar and water together first and then add the lemon juice to keep it nice and fresh.
- Glaze. I use the lemon glaze I put on everything for glazing this lemon pound cake. It is super easy, made with only powdered sugar and lemon juice, and is super satisfying to paint on. It sets up with a perfect crusty finish that is just so so good.
Pan Size Matters - the best pan to use.
Don't be tempted to use the wrong sized pan - you will be so sad. Let me explain why. I talk about this in depth in my sour cream pound cake recipe (and there are some diagrams there for you too!)
I made this in a 1 lb loaf pan (8.5" x 4.5" x 2.5" / 21.5 x 11.5 x 6.3cm), which is the same size that I use for my banana bread recipe. I used this size for the post as it is the most likely size that people will own.
However, when I make this at home for myself, I always use a pullman pan. A pullman pan is much squarer in shape, and gives a taller, sharper cornered cake than the pound pan.
Because the pullman is slightly larger than the 1 pound pan, I scale the recipe up slightly - there are quantities for this size in the notes section of the recipe.
The perfect make ahead recipe.
This recipe is great to make ahead of time as it stays super moist - I always test this as part of my recipe testing process. In fact, i've eaten it five days after i've made it and it was still amazing. If you are making a day or two before I would glaze it, otherwise if you are making a few days ahead I would add the soak, then wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you are ready to glaze and eat it - up to five days ahead of time.
Pound cake can also be frozen - wrap the unglazed cake well in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Defrost at room temperature before glazing and eating.
❤️ Made this recipe and love it? ❤️
I would LOVE for you to leave me a review and star rating below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram!
Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
Lemon Pound Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: One Loaf Cake
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Meet your new favourite loaf cake: a soft, buttery lemon pound cake that goes ALL IN on lemon. I'm talking lemon zest in the batter, a lemon soak that's brushed on after baking, and a glossy lemon glaze that adds a bright punch of flavor (plus that perfect crackle on top!). The addition of sour cream to the batter ensures this loaf-style cake is ultra-moist and tender, too!
Ingredients
Lemon Pound Cake
- 300g caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 10g lemon zest (from about four lemons)
- 115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature (about 160g, not including the shell)
- 170g sour cream, at room temperature
- 185g all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp kosher salt (use less if you are using table salt or salted butter)
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- Small amount of softened butter for piping down the middle of the cake (optional)
Lemon Soak
- 25g caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 25g water
- 50g fresh lemon juice
Lemon Glaze
- One batch of lemon glaze
Instructions
LEMON POUND CAKE
- Preheat the oven to 330°f / 165°c. Grease and line a 1 lb (8.5" x 4.5" x 2.5" (21.5 x 11.5 x 6.3cm) loaf pan with two pieces of parchment paper so that the entire of the inside of the pan is lined. Leave the edges overhanging to form a sling to allow for easy removal. Clip the edges down with binder clips if needed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using an electric mixer, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Using your hands, rub the lemon zest into the sugar to help release the oils and enhance the lemon flavour.
- Add the butter and vanilla, and then cream together until light and fluffy, and the mixture has lightened in colour. Scrape down the sides once or twice to ensure that all the mixture is evenly creamed.
- Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides as needed.
- Add in the sour cream, and mix to combine. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to the mixture and mix until just incorporated. Scrape the bowl to ensure there are no unmixed pockets of butter at the bottom of the bowl.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf pan, and smooth out, making sure there are no large air bubbles. If using, pipe a small line of softened butter down the middle of the cake.
- Bake the pound cake for about an hour and 10 minutes, checking after an hour. The outside will be deep golden brown and when a skewer or knife is inserted into the middle of the cake it should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.
- Remove the cake from the oven and leave to stand in the pan for about 15 minutes while you make the lemon soak.
- Remove the cake from the pan and place onto a wire rack. Using a pastry brush, brush the lemon soak over every surface of the cake - top, sides, bottom etc, carefully lifting up the cake to get it on the sides. It will seem like a lot of liquid, but brush all of it on - the cake can take it.
- Once you have applied the soak, leave the cake to cool completely on the wire rack. Once cooled, glaze if desired using Lemon Glaze and leave to stand until dried.
- Slice using a sharp knife. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
- While the cake rests in the pan, make the lemon soak.
LEMON SOAK
- In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Place over medium heat, bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to stand for a few minutes. Add the lemon juice and mix well to combine.
Notes
Piping a line of butter down the middle of the cake means that you can control where the split ends up when it bakes - it gives you that nice middle divot which is classic on a pound cake. This is a totally optional step and you can absolutely leave it out.
Quantities for making in a pullman pan:
400g sugar
12g lemon zest
155g unsalted butter
1 Tbsp vanilla
4 eggs
225g sour cream
245g all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt (use half the amount if you are using table salt, and even less if you have used salted butter)
¼ tsp baking soda
For the lemon soak: 32g sugar, 32g water, 65g lemon juice.
Follow the directions as written, but bake the cake in a lined pullman pan. Increase the baking time to about 1 hour 15 minutes. The baking soda quantity is the same as written in the recipe - this version comes out with a slightly tighter crumb.
I have also made a passionfruit version - to make this I kept the lemon zest in the batter (you could leave it out too), then just subbed fresh passionfruit juice for the lemon juice in the soak and the glaze.
Comments
Sha says
My Southern grandmother always made me her lemon cake with lemon juice glaze every time my family took the yearly trek to NC. No one has her recipe. But I will say it was more like a pound cake made in a tube pan. So I made your recipe and first bite made me smile and think of my grandmother! Thanks!
Erin Clarkson says
Hi! Ahhhh yay I love this so, so much! Thank you so much for the lovely review x
Cecile says
Hi, I love pound cake
Can I bake it in a bunte cake pan?
Thanks
Erin Clarkson says
Hi! I haven't tried yet sorry but I want to!
Pamela Hyett says
Hi, Erin
I made this lemon cake yesterday. The taste is divine. But the cake didn't raise like it should have and was very dense. I baked it in the correct sized bread pan. What do you think I did wrong?
Erin Clarkson says
Hi, sounds like your baking soda might be out of date!
Sara says
Made this as an Easter gift for my in laws and had to keep some for myself it was sooo good! Thanks for a great recipe, very quick to make with simple ingredients but so delicious!
Chessa says
FUCK. This was so fucking delicious. I love that the recipe uses grams, because I hate using cups. I just wish I had the beautiful yellow butter from NZ to make it look lemony. USA needs to up our butter game for sure. Anyways... thanks for this cake, I'm going to go make it again because well... it's that good.
Erin Clarkson says
So happy you loved! You can get nz butter in the US now - I think the grass fed from costco is nz?
Melissa says
Hi, to bake in the tube pan did you use quantities for the regular loaf pan or the Pullman pan? Thanks!
Hanna L says
I made this and it is so good! For next baking time I wanted to ask what the fat content of the sour cream is? In Finland it varies from 6% to 15% and I want to follow your recipes as well as possible 🙂
Erin Clarkson says
Hi there! I think it's about 22% here 🙂
Jen S says
I was pre-heating my oven and making the batter, as per the recipe, when I realised my oven was not heating. So, I decided to try this pound cake in my air-fryer. Using the bake mode, at 160°C, I baked the cake for 50 minutes. I also replaced the lemons with oranges. And while Erin hasn't tested this herself, it worked beautifully for me. This cake tastes amazing, full of flavour and more-ish. Highly recommend making this!
Josh says
This was a great cake. Perfectly done at 1:10. My glaze was a little thick for spreading, but I should’ve just thinned it out.
This was my first recipe I’ve made from you since following on instagram, and it couldn’t have turned out better.
I cut small slices of butter to place in the middle instead of piping it in. Worked great and the cake split perfectly in the middle.
Jessica Moore says
How could I make this recipe in a Bundt pan? Do I double, triple the recipe or? Thanks 😊
Erin Clarkson says
Hi! Someone else just did this, I think they scaled the recipe up to use 5 eggs and did it in a 10 cup bundt!
Madison says
This recipe is SO good. Rich yet tart- such deep lemon flavor. Like all of Erin’s recipes it’s easy to follow, highly researched and delicious. I especially like it cold from the fridge.
Lori says
I tried the first time in a loaf 🍞 pan and it was fantastic but I didn’t get the nice edges as my pan was a bit lightweight.
For the second time I’ve done it in a NordicWare 10 cup Bundt pan and it’s come out perfectly. I scaled the recipe by 1-2/3 (so 5 eggs) and it filled the 10 cup pan well. I buttered and lightly flour dusted the pan, let of cool for 15-20 minutes then flipped it out with no sticking.
Erin Clarkson says
Ohhhhhh this looks so good! I have to try it this way! Thank you so much for testing it!
Sarah says
Erin you have done it again! This has the BEST lemon flavour and amazing texture. We haven't even finished the loaf and I'm planning on making another. This will definitely be on my regular rotation.
Madison says
This recipe is incredible and our family absolutely loved it for Easter/anytime/always. It’s especially good cold out of the fridge 😉
Melissa says
I loved this recipe! Super delicious moist pound cake, and a lovely tart lemon soak and glaze!
Tascha says
I've been alternating between making this and the Super Lush Pound Cake. Both are outstanding. I have to try this with passion fruit, I know it will be amazing.
Julie Jones says
I made this for Mother's Day, and it came out absolutely beautifully! I used all the suggestions, including piping a line of butter on top to make it crack, and I can confidently say that I'll make this again. Even my husband, who normally turns his nose up at baked goods that aren't chocolate, thoroughly enjoyed this. I wanted to take a photo, but it disappeared too quickly!
Hannah says
Hi Erin!
Been itching to make a lemon pound cake for ages, and your triple-lemon kick sounds BANGER, also THANK YOU for posting this in grams and NOT in cups (yuck).
I wanted to add in some blueberries and wondered, as we don't have any 'fresh' here (I use frozen), so after tossing them in some flour, would your recommend increasing/decreasing any dry/wet ingredients for a more even-bake?
Thanks!
x
Erin Clarkson says
Hi! I haven't tried sorry but it shouuld be thick enough that they don't sink? Please let me know how it goes though if you do try it!
Lisa says
What a perfect cake for a winters day to use up the lemon haul from the garden. Easy to make and absolutely delicious. I couldn’t wait for the cake to cool before glazing and eating hot! Thanks Erin for another winner recipe.
Laura Viero says
A simple but delicious recipe with a great crumb and easy to make. The soak and then the glaze make it really lemon-y and the crumb is lovely.
Becca says
I made the cake batter and baked the cake with no issues - it looks perfect. While I let it cool in the pan, I noticed there weren’t instructions for the soak - it just says to make the soak and apply it. I took this to mean, mix and apply. It took me until making the glaze to realize that the directions for the soak are at the very end… Hopefully my unboiled soak didn’t ruin the whole loaf! I knew it felt wrong to slather on the equivalent of cold lemonade! I suppose I will make a second batch and make it the correct way just to compare.
Erin Clarkson says
Hi, oh no! I always try to give the recipe just a quick skim read before I start to make sure I have an idea of the order of operations! I'm sure it would have ended up yum anyway, more of a lemon crystal cake? We used to have one as kids where you didn't dissolve the sugar on purpose so it was crunchy on the top!
Becca says
I should know better by now with how many times I have made a mistake like this by diving in without pre-reading! The first loaf quickly disappeared so I made a second the correct way, and I honestly preferred the cold glaze! It was slightly less sweet, but both versions were incredible.
Melody says
Yum! This was super easy to make and also a hit with everyone for afternoon tea.
b says
this was meant to be FIVE STARS! i'd give it ten if i could **********
Sherryn says
I made Cloudy Kitchen’s lemon pound cake and it was a total hit! I swapped the sour cream for Greek yogurt and it worked perfectly, no issues at all. We skipped the glaze because we were too impatient to let the cake cool before diving in, but honestly it didn’t need it. The lemon syrup alone makes the loaf incredibly moist. Highly recommend - as usual Erin never misses!
Leanne says
This recipe is sooo good! Made it the other night but since my daughter is allergic to dairy I swapped the sour cream for raglan coconut yoghurt (same quantity) and the butter for nuttelex (same quantity). Turned out so well!
Claire says
This recipe is spot on, so moist, tender, and lovely.
I needed to altitude adjust it (baking at 6000 ft). I used 150g AP and 50 g bread flour (King Arthur). I also baked it at 360 for the first 20 minutes till it set.
Lou says
Hi Erin! Do you think I could use regular or greek yogurt instead of the sour cream? Where I live it's shockingly hard to find quality sour cream that isn't basically vegetable oil with thickeners
Erin Clarkson says
Hi, yes greek yoghurt should work! Regular will be too thin
Lisa says
Oh my WORD this is delicious. I followed the recipe exactly but added some fresh sage (I have loads I need to use up from the garden). It turned out so perfect I couldn't believe it. I love that this author uses weights as I'm a terrible baker and typically my bakes don't turn out well when I just use cups as measurements. Also, she's right about the soak, this loaf can handle that much liquid. I thought it'd be a little soggy and it wasn't in the slightest, it was perfectly moist. I also added the lemon glaze she has linked and it's also delightful. I'll absolutely make this again!
Erin Clarkson says
Yummm it looks so good I bet it was so delicious with the sage!
James says
I’m perplexed by the total lack of leaving??? Just 1/4tsp baking soda? No baking powder or self raising flour?? No whipped egg whites or anything? I want to try this but no chance I’m not wasting good ingredients to make a brick?? Usually I trust your recipes so is this right?
Erin Clarkson says
Yes, it's correct! Often pound cake doesn't have any at all.
james says
I was concerned that the cake wouldn't rise with only a small amount of bicarb as the leavener, but Erin you have never let me down before! Made the cake and it was stunning, one of the best I've ever eaten. Trust the process lol.
I made mine in a 32cmx12cm loaf pan and scaled up 1.5x to accommodate. Subbed sour cream for 0% fat quark because its all I can get in my europoor ah village, it worked fine. I swapped lemon for orange 1-1 as its orange season here right now and again, it was flawless. I get amazing butter which comes from Azores, its the most incredible deep yellow colour and has the most pronounced 'butter' flavour I've ever had. I can actually get breton butter quite easily here too and the Azores is in my opinion even better.
I really appreciate the smaller technical details that you put on your recipes that so many others don't even consider. I am so grateful for the egg weight in grams especially, like what even is a 'large egg' its not accurate. For mine 4 eggs got me within 10g of my target weight, luckily I had egg wash in the fridge so that helped me be exact. The butter line is beautiful I'm going to experiment with that in the future. I always love your icings too.
My only minor flaw was that I took the cake out a little early to test and caused the crown to deflate a little. This cake rises slowly and needs trust and patience. My butter line ended up piping a little bit squiggly so for best effect get that straight, this was a new technique for me so I can't wait to try it again!
The cake had the most beautiful crust with an incredible deep caramelized butter flavour, It's dense and heavy without being stodgy and it's very rich and sweet but not overbearing.
i took mine to a village party today and everyone loved it, my Mrs's octogenarian grandmother did especially, she proclaimed that if she ever gets married, then she wants me to make the cake 🤣
Thanks Erin.
Erin Clarkson says
So happy you loved! It looks great!