The best Lemon Pound Cake I’ve ever had.
Ingredients
Lemon pound cake
- 230 grams (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 200 grams (1 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- Zest of 2 large lemons, finely grated
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) fresh lemon juice (approximately 2 large lemons)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 280 grams (2 cups) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) full fat or whole milk, room temperature
Lemon glaze icing
- 190 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) icing sugar or powdered sugar, sifted
- 1–2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Lemon zest, finely grated, to decorate
Instructions
- Lemon Pound Cake
Preheat oven to 170 C (340 F) standard / 150 C (300 F) fan-forced. Grease and line a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with baking or parchment paper. - In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined and then turn speed up to medium and beat for a further 1-2 minutes or until butter turns pale, creamy and almost fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, and beat briefly to combine – don’t worry if the mixture goes a little bit lumpy at this stage – then scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add lemon zest, lemon juice, baking powder, salt and half of the flour. Start to mix on a low speed.
- Then add remaining flour and milk. Mix on low speed until cake batter is smooth and creamy (but try not to over mix). It will be very thick.
- Pour cake batter into your prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. If your cake is very brown after 50-60 minutes, loosely cover the top with aluminium foil.
- Leave cake to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Lemon glaze icing
Add icing sugar to a medium-sized bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and stir. If needed, add extra tablespoon of juice. You’ll want the icing to be fairly thick. - Spoon icing all over the top of the cake. Sprinkle over lemon zest. Cut into thick slices to serve.
Notes
Butter: Creaming your butter and sugar correctly will result in a soft, buttery cake. You need to mix together your butter and sugar with an electric mixer, until the butter turns pale, light and fluffy. If your butter is soft to begin with, it won’t take long – just a few minutes on medium speed.
Cracking: Pound Cakes do generally crack – it’s normal don’t worry! The cake batter is very thick and dense, so it takes a long time to bake. The top of the cake cooks first, causing the remaining batter to rise up and burst through the crust as it bakes.
Storage: Once your Lemon Pound Cake has completely cooled, you can store it in an airtight container at room temperature.
Make ahead: You cannot make the cake batter ahead of time – it needs to be baked as soon as it is made. However, you can make the cake ahead of time and freeze it. Simply wrap it in plastic wrap once cooled and place it in an airtight container in the freezer. To serve, simple thaw at room temperature. I recommend adding the glaze once you have defrosted the cake.
