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Lemon Pound Cake is a perfectly lovely dessert, suitable for any gathering or tea party.
I recently enjoyed lunch with a friend at a fun little student run cafe at the School of Arts & Crafts on the west side of Portland. The menu is limited but always amazing. And they use fresh, local ingredients.
The day we were there they served a yummy lemon pound cake with lemon curd and whip cream. My friend had to stop me from licking the plate! We had decided to split a piece and did I regret that decision! The cake was delicious but the addition of the lemon curd was truly amazing. I knew I needed to come up with my own version to make at home.
What is pound cake?
I would describe pound cake as a cross between cake and a quick bread. It has a nice dense texture to it. Pound cake has historically referred to a cake that is traditionally made with a pound of butter, flour, eggs and sugar. The first pound cake recipes is said to date back to the 1700’s and pound cake first made it’s appearance in America in 1796. This recipe does not contain a pound of butter, eggs or sugar. It is an adaptation of a traditional pound cake.
How to Make Lemon Pound Cake
- Butter is an important ingredient in pound cake so be sure and use a good quality butter, don’t buy the generic store brand.
- Only mix your ingredients until incorporated. Over mixing the batter can cause the cake to be tough.
- If you are using a bundt cake pan, be sure to spray the pan liberally with a non stick baking spray and then give it a light coat of flour. This will help you to get the cake out in one piece. I love this brand of cooking spray.
- I love to add a glaze to my lemon pound cake to give it even more amazing lemon flavor. Just add enough lemon juice to some powdered sugar to give it a nice drizzling consistency. Adding in a little milk or whipping cream will give it a creamier consistency. See recipe below.
To change things up a bit, I mixed the whipped cream and lemon curd together to create a delicious lemon whipped cream. Serve each slice of lemon pound cake with a spoonful of the lemon whipped cream and some fresh raspberries on top. Any kind of berry would be delicious with this.
You can purchase lemon curd at the store to add into your whipped cream or you can easily make it at home too. Check out my delicious lemon curd recipe.
Lemon Pound Cake
Ingredients
Lemon Pound Cake
- 2 C sugar
- 1 C butter softened
- 4 eggs
- 3 C flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 C buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp freshly grated lemon peel
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Lemon Glaze
- 1 1/4 C powdered sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1-2 Tbsp milk
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine sugar and butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy.
- Continue beating, adding eggs one at a time, until well mixed.
- Reduce speed to low. Gradually adding flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt alternately with buttermilk and scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
- Add lemon peel and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Continue beating until well mixed.
- Spread batter into a greased and flour 12 cup Bundt pan or a 10 inch angel food cake pan.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.
Lemon Glaze
- Stir together powdered sugar, 2 tsp lemon juice and enough milk for desired glazing consistency in small bowl.
- Drizzle over cooled cake.
Valerie H. says
Sounds refreshing!
Tamara says
This looks so good. I can almost taste it. Thanks for sharing all these fun cake recipes!