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Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake

Moist and tender lemon pound cake with a lemon buttermilk glaze. This is the perfect easy cake to throw together for a last-minute gathering, brunch, or spring dessert. Works great in a bundt pan too!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Chilling Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 8 slices
Calories 464kcal

Equipment

  • 5-inch by 9-inch loaf pans
  • Stand mixer or hand mixer

Ingredients

Lemon Pound Cake

  • 4 ounces unsalted butter softened but not melted
  • 8 ounces granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs room temperature
  • 8 ounces cake flour
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 5 ounces buttermilk room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon zest

Lemon Buttermilk Glaze

  • 6 ounces powdered sugar sifted
  • 2 ounces fresh lemon juice
  • 2 Tablespoons buttermilk powder
  • 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter very soft but not melted
  • teaspoon salt

Instructions

Making Lemon Pound Cake

  • Preheat your oven to 350ºF and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.
  • Prepare your 5"x9" loaf pan with cake goop or any kind of preferred pan release. If you don't have loaf pans, you can use bundt pans or even cake pans.
  • Weigh out your wet and dry ingredients using a scale instead of using measuring cups for a more accurate recipe, and bring your ingredients to room temperature. When your wet ingredients are room temperature or even a little warm, they will mix together more easily and your lemon pound cake will have a better texture.
  • Sift together your cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.
  • Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until light, white, and fluffy. If your butter is too cold, your butter and sugar are not going to cream very easily.
  • While mixing on low, add in your room temperature eggs, one at a time, letting each mix in fully before you add in the next. I'm using a stand mixer, but you can also use a hand-electric mixer if you'd like. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
  • Add the lemon extract and zest to the buttermilk and set aside.
  • While mixing on low, add ⅓ of the buttermilk mixture, then ⅓ of the flour mixture, repeat two more times with the remaining flour and buttermilk mixture and mix until just combined. Don't overmix. 
  • Pour your cake batter into a prepared 5"x9" loaf pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out cleanly. 
  • Cool it for 10 minutes, then flip the cake onto a wire rack. If you want extra moisture, add a simple lemon syrup to the top straight out of the oven.
  • Let the cake cool at room temperature or wrap the whole cake in plastic wrap and freeze it to lock in the moisture. 

Making Lemon Buttermilk Glaze

  • Combine the powdered sugar, salt, buttermilk powder, and lemon juice in a large bowl.
  • Mix until smooth with a hand mixer or whisk. Make sure to spend enough time beating the mixture so you don't have lumps.
  • Add in your softened butter and mix until smooth and creamy. 
  • Pour the glaze over the top of the cake (I put mine on a cooling rack over a pan to catch the glaze) and then garnish with fresh lemons if you like.

Video

Notes

  1. If you can’t get your hands on cake flour, all-purpose will still work just fine. Just replace two Tablespoons of flour with cornstarch and sift together.
  2. If you want to make your pound cake EXTRA moist you can brush on some simple syrup right out of the oven or you can add in 2 ounces of vegetable oil to the liquids in the recipe.
  3. Don't forget to grease your pans! Using cake goop is the best way to make sure your loaf doesn't stick to the pan.
  4. Weigh out your ingredients using a scale and bring ingredients to room temperature. When your ingredients are room temperature or even a little warm, they will mix together more easily and your lemon pound cake will have a better texture.
  5. You can use regular milk plus 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar as a buttermilk substitute or you can check out my buttermilk substitute blog post for more substitutions
  6. If you don't have buttermilk powder for the glaze, use 2 Tablespoons of real buttermilk and add an extra ¼ cup of powdered sugar. 
  7. I recommend using a nonstick metal pan, but if you want to use a glass pan, bake for an extra 10 minutes. 
  8. To bake this in a bundt pan, double the recipe to make sure you have enough batter and bake for longer. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 464kcal | Carbohydrates: 73g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 130mg | Sodium: 245mg | Potassium: 150mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 51g | Vitamin A: 567IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 74mg | Iron: 1mg