Southern Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Published May 23, 2023
Updated Mar 12, 2025
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This Southern Lemon Pound Cake Recipe is the best lemon pound cake you will ever make! It is buttery and moist with just the right amount of fresh lemon flavor!
Serve it with whipped cream and fresh fruit, and everyone will love this dessert. Perfect for lemon lovers!
Pound cakes are my specialty! I have been making them for years in different flavors, and let me just say NO storebought cake beats a good homemade pound cake.
I have made this homemade lemon pound cake recipe for parties and at home several times, and every time, it flies off the table! Make this moist crumb cake, and you’ll be known for your pound cakes!
If you love pound cakes, check out my Vanilla Pound Cake, Pineapple Upside Down Pound Cake, Old Fashioned Fresh Apple Cake Recipe, and Yogurt Cake.
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe Works
- Easy cake recipe for beginners: Just like my Perfect Plain Cake, this moist Lemon Pound Cake is easy enough for beginner bakers to bake. You can nail this recipe your first time making it!
- Lemony and citrusy: The lemon flavor is bold and present. You mix the cake batter with a decent amount of fresh lemon juice and lemon zest (the grated skin of lemon). That’s what gives the cake its glorious bright, lemon flavor. It’s such a great twist on a classic pound cake.
- Enough lemon cake! This recipe yields a large bundt cake that makes lots of slices to feed a small crowd of 15 to 20 people.
- Sweet but not too sweet: This moist pound cake has just the right amount of sweetness, so you can enjoy all the other lovely flavors. It is good enough for breakfast, dessert, or pairing with afternoon tea!
- Great for special occasions! The perfect cake for celebrations, parties, brunches, or the holidays! It’s a good pound cake for any time of the year.
- Versatility: You can bake this Lemon Pound Cake in a 10-1nch bundt pan or in 2 9 by 12-inch loaf pans. You could also add loads of different flavors to it. More on this below!
If you make the cake in loaf pans, you could wrap one cake in plastic wrap and freeze it for later and enjoy one now! Here is the same recipe made in 2 loaf pans:
Ingredients
Here are the simple ingredients you need for this Southern lemon pound cake recipe:
Here are some notes on key ingredients:
1. Flour: Good old all-purpose flour works well in pound cakes. No need for cake flour here.
2. Butter: Any butter you have on hand would work. I prefer unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt added but if you use salted butter, omit the salt in the recipe.
3. Fresh lemons: Crucial for imbuing lemon flavor into the cake batter. First, zest the lemons so the zest can add lemon flavor without tang to the batter. After zesting the lemons, you juice them.
Substitutions and Variations
- Other Citruses: Love other citrus flavors? Substitute the lemon for lime or orange.
- Lemon Extract: Add lemon extract to the cake for an extra lemony flavor.
- Yellow Coloring: Add a little yellow food coloring to Lemon Pound Cake to give it a little yellow hue.
How To Make Southern Lemon Pound Cake
This easy lemon pound cake recipe starts by creaming the butter and sugar and gradually adding all the other ingredients. You could mix the batter using a stand mixer, a hand mixer, or even by hand.
Here are the steps involved with accompanying instructions:
- Grease and flour pan – first, generously rub softened butter all over a 10-inch or 12-cup bundt pan, then sprinkle flour into the pan and tap to ensure the flour coats all of the inside of the baking pan.
- Cream together the butter and granulated sugar until light in color and fluffy.
- Combine milk and lemon juice, let it sit for 5 minutes, then add it to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients – add the flour, baking powder, and salt then mix to combine.
- Add the room temperature eggs two at a time, mixing to combine every time.
- Add lemon zest and mix to combine.
- Beat or mix the batter to combine all the ingredients then stop mixing. Don’t overmix.
- Pour the batter, distributing it evenly into the prepared bundt pan, then level the top with a rubber spatula.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius for about 1 hour and 5 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes then turn onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely.
Lemon Glaze For Pound Cake
You could serve this moist lemon pound cake dusted with powdered sugar and some lemon zest sprinkled on top. Or you could make a really simple lemon glaze to drizzle on top.
To make the lemon glaze, combine 1 cup of powdered sugar with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix well to a dripping consistency.
Drizzle the glaze over the cake. I tell you what, this lemon glaze is so lemony and so good. Here is the same recipe, made into 2 loaf cakes and drizzled with lemon glaze:
What To Serve With Pound Cake
Pound cakes are great eaten on their own, but if you want to take your pound cake to the next level, here are some serving suggestions:
- Whipped cream and fruit: This is my favorite way to serve pound cakes. Storebought or homemade whipped cream will work here. I love to set up a “pound cake station” at parties with whipped cream, fresh berries, and sliced pound cake. It is always a hit!
- Sour cream: My family loves smearing some sour cream over our pound cake slices to enjoy. I mean, Lemon Pound Cake is great on its own, but that smear of sour cream elevates the taste.
- Ice cream: Serve this Southern Lemon Pound Cake topped with a scoop of good ice cream. So good!
- Fruit sauce: Make a simple fruit sauce and serve it with pound cake. An easy fruit sauce is strawberry sauce, which you can make by simmering together sliced strawberries and sugar for five minutes.
Recipes Frequently Asked Questions
Overmixing the batter or overbaking will result in a tough pound cake. Do not overmix or overbake.
Yes, let the pound cake cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Traditional pound cake recipes do not call for baking powder but adding a little baking powder leads to a lighter cake. For a smooth cake, use softened butter and cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
More Easy Cake Recipes
If you love this pound cake recipe, also check out these easy cake recipes:
- Perfect Plain Cake
- Vanilla Pound Cake
- Mango Upside Down Cake
- Yogurt Cake
- Fresh Apple Cake Recipe
- Red Velvet Cake Recipe Without Buttermilk
If you make this recipe, please leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ below. I love hearing from you!
Southern Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups unsalted butter, softened Plus more for greasing
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice from 1½ to 2 lemons
- 1 cup whole milk Or 2% milk
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons lemon zest Zest the lemon before juicing it
- 6 large eggs brought to room temperature
Optional Lemon Glaze
- 3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Butter and flour a 10-inch bundt pan and set aside.
- Zest two or more lemons to get 2 tablespoons of lemon zest. Then squeeze out ¼ cup of lemon juice from the zested lemons.
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit (180° C).
- Add the ¼ cup of lemon juice to the 1 cup of milk and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, cream together the room-temperature butter and granulated sugar until light in color and fluffy.
- Add the lemon juice and milk mixture to the creamed butter and sugar and beat until just combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and beat until just combined.
- Add cracked eggs 2 at a time and beat each time until incorporated. Add the lemon zest and beat to combine.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan making sure it is distributed evenly. Gently tap the pan to spread the batter evenly and level the top of the batter with a rubber spatula.
- Put the bundt pan into the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour, 5 minutes, or until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake (in 3 different spots) comes out clean. Loosely cover the cake with aluminum foil when it has been in the oven for 50 minutes to prevent over-browning.
- When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then gently run a knife around the edges and turn the cake onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely for one hour.
Lemon Glaze
- Add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 cup of icing sugar to a small mixing bowl. Mix until combine and a dripping consistency. Add more lemon juice if the mixture isn't dripping.
- Drizzle the lemon glaze over the cooled cake.
- Slice and serve this Southern Lemon Pound Cake warm or completely cooled topped with whipped cream or ice cream with some fresh berries on the side.
Your recipes are so divine like the results. I have tried out all your flour recipes. I am so obsessed with your chinchin recipe and the orange pound cake. I love you so much ma. From Nigeria. I love your meat pie version too.
Aww thank you so much, Nachi.
Pls is it that we can use baking powder and baking soda? The receipe says baking powder while the instructions says baking soda
Hi Massa, it is baking powder. Thanks for drawing my attention to that. I have corrected the recipe.
For this recipe do you have to separate the egg white from the yolk?
No, you don’t. I didn’t say mention that in the recipe.
Hi Precious! I would love to make the Lemon pound cake, but only one cake. Would that work if l just cut ingredients in half? P.s. Your recipes look so good. I love to read them l made the pan seared tilapia and it’s so good! God bless you and your lovely family. 🤗
Hi Josephine! Yes, just cut every ingredient in half. Please let me know how it turns out. Glad you loved the tilapia!