Lemon Pound Cake (Easy & Simply the BEST!)

❤️Why you will love this recipe

• Despite being made from scratch, this old fashioned lemon pound cake uses pretty basic ingredients (except lemons), which means you can make this cake anytime you want with ingredients that are readily available in your pantry.
• This cake can be served plain as individual slices and makes a great snack cake. A light dredging of icing sugar just makes it better and if you like, you can even give it a glaze icing topping. The cake is also great when served with fresh berries on the side.
• You can also bake this cake in a round or square cake tin. You can also make a lemon loaf cake by baking the cake in a loaf pan. Refer to the recipe card at the bottom of the post below for cake tin measurement.
• This cake lasts well and can hold the weight of fondant. So it is definitely a good recipe for decorated cakes. The cake is also perfect for layering, stacking and carving, so anytime you want to make a lemon-flavored birthday cake or a party cake, this cake will make a good choice. This delicious lemon cake pairs well with cream cheese frosting or lemon buttercream too.  

📋Ingredients

• Butter - I prefer to use salted butter in all my recipes. If using unsalted butter, add a small pinch of extra salt to the recipe.
• Granulated sugar (caster sugar) - coarse white sugar will leave sugar specks on the top of the cake after baking. For best results, use granulated sugar.
• Self-raising flour + baking powder + salt - mix together and sift into the cake batter.
• Eggs - use large eggs (large size)
• Lemon zest - for flavoring
• Buttermilk - as the liquid in the cake, helps with the moist texture of the cake.
• Powdered sugar (icing sugar) - this is for dredging on top of the cake before serving.

🧾Substitution and Variations

• Butter - You can also use unsalted butter, but you will need to add an extra small pinch of salt in the recipe.
• Self raising flour can be substituted with all purpose flour but you will need to mix it with baking powder. For every 225g of all purpose flour, add one and half teaspoons of baking powder. Mix well and sift 3 times before using. To make 180g of self raising flour (as per recipe card below), add one teaspoon plus another one fifth teaspoon of baking powder to 180g of all purpose flour.
• Lemon zest - can be substituted with half a teaspoon to one teaspoon of lemon extract.
• Buttermilk helps with the moist texture of this classic pound cake. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own substitute by adding 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice into 6 tablespoons of whole milk. Double this amount accordingly if you double or triple the recipe.
• To make a lemon loaf cake, pour the batter into an 8 inches by 4 inches loaf tin. Baking time and temperature remains the same.
• To make a lemon bundt cake, double the recipe and use a bundt pan with batter capacity of 6 cups.
• The simple powdered sugar dredge can be varied with a simple lemon glaze.

👩‍🍳How to Make

Making the cake

• Grate the lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.
• Measure the butter and sugar into a large bowl of a stand mixer and cream them (with a paddle attachment) until light and fluffy. For the recipe amount below, a good 2 minutes of beating on medium speed is what you need for the butter and sugar to be well creamed. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl half way through.
• After that, add in the eggs. Add them one at a time. With each addition, beat them well, such that you don’t see any traces of egg in the batter before the next one goes in.
• Once the eggs are all in, the flour, baking powder and salt go in next. Sift these dry ingredients before adding to the wet ingredients. And it is best to fold them in into the creamed mixture. Do this in batches, and alternate with buttermilk between each batch. Start and end the process with the flour mixture.
• And finally, stir in the grated lemon zest and mix it well. The lemon zest (rind) should be well incorporated into the batter.
• Pour the lemon pound cake batter into the prepared tin (well greased and floured) and bake until a skewer or cake tester inserted in the center comes out without any wet cake batter.
• Remove the cake and let it cool completely on a wire rack (cooling rack) before dredging powdered sugar on the top. Dredge the sugar right before serving this super moist old fashioned lemon pound cake.

🍽️Serving & storage

• This lemon pound cake lasts at room temperature for a good 4 to 5 days, provided you handle it without any contact with moisture.
• Refrigerate the cake (in an airtight container) if you intend to keep it longer.

💡Expert Tips

• If you are baking this cake in a bowl shaped tin or a bundt cake tin, make sure your cake tins are all well greased and floured since lining with parchment paper is not possible. If you are baking this cake in a round or square or loaf pan, you can also choose to line it with parchment paper.
• If using bundt pans, take extra care to make sure each nook and corner of the tin is very well greased for easy release of the cake after baking.
• For best results, use room temperature eggs and butter. If either one of these is cold, your creamed butter and sugar mixture will curdle when the eggs are added in. If this happens, you need not discard the batter. Fold in some flour until it is no longer curdled and then proceed to alternate the remaining flour and buttermilk as mentioned in the recipe. 
• The zest of fresh lemons gives so much more bright lemon flavor to this moist pound cake than the not-so-fresh ones. And when you grate the lemons, grate just the thin top layer of the yellow skin and avoid the white part (pith) beneath the yellow skin.
• If you don’t have a grater, you can use your kitchen knife to slice of the yellow layer of the lemon skin and then chop the skin into tiny bits.
• Lemon zest can be prepared in advance when lemons are in season. Simply pack it in small sealed packages and freeze them. That way, you will have the zest available for use at any time of the year.
• Rest the cake for a few hours before cutting for neater slices. Wrap the cake in cling wrap (plastic wrap) while it is still warm. And place it in the refrigerator if you do not intend to serve the cake immediately. This helps the cake to retain the moisture.
• When ready to use, remove the cake from the fridge. Let it warm up to room temperature before removing the cling wrap (plastic wrap) to avoid condensation.

💭FAQs