Y’all, I am claiming it… this is the best lemon pound cake recipe, no lies! You know ya girl, the Queen of pound cakes made sure you taste the lemon, while keeping the crumb moist and buttery. Don’t believe me? Just bake it once, boos. I keep it tart and sweet but super moist with a tight crumb and classic pound cake texture. Plus, I add a secret ingredient to this lemon pound cake that makes it like no other. Get into it!
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How to Make a Lemon Pound Cake
These step-by-step photos show how to make a lemon pound cake with lemon glaze, but be sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and detailed instructions. Skip to the → Best Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
1. Add the cream cheese, butter, and salt to a large mixing bowl
Cream on high speed until completely smooth.
2. Slowly add the sugar and instant pudding mix
Continue to cream until the mixture looks light, fluffy, and pale.
PRO TIP: My secret ingredient is instant lemon pudding. Based on my research and recipe testing, I discovered that it added more moisture and changed the texture of the finished cake to be softer, along with adding more lemon flavor.
3. Lower the mixer speed to medium and add the eggs one at a time
Mix just until each one is incorporated before adding the next.
4. Reduce the mixer to its lowest speed and add the flour one cup at a time
Mix just until combined. Do not overbeat here.
5. Add the lemon zest and finish the batter
Mix briefly until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
6. Pour the lemon cake batter into a Bundt pan
Smooth the top evenly.
7. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean
Let the cake cool briefly in the pan, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Make the lemon glaze and pour it over your lemon Bundt cake
Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth and pourable. Drizzle over the cooled cake, sprinkle with lemon zest, then slice and serve.
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Full Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the Pound Cake:
- 8 ounces cream cheese one brick, room temp
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 package lemon instant pudding (just the dry powdered mix as is, do not hydrate the pudding) 3.4 ounce
- 6 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups sifted cake flour
- 3 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
For the Lemon Glaze:
- 2 2/3 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice start with 2 then see if you need more
- Optional: lemon zest for garnish
Instructions
For the Pound Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Add room temperature cream cheese, butter and salt to large mixing bowl and begin creaming on high speed until smooth.
- Slowly add sugar and instant pudding to bowl and cream until light and fluffy which takes about 5-7 minutes.
- Lower speed of mixer to medium and add one egg at a time and mix until incorporated.
- Slow mixer to slowest speed and add flour one cup at a time into bowl until just incorporated.
- Do not overbeat at this point.
- Add lemon zest to bowl and mix.
- Once everything is incorporated, pour cake batter into greased and floured or baking sprayed 12 cup bundt or tube pan.
- Bake for 1 hour and 5-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove cake and place on cooling rack for an hour or until it is completely cooled.
For the Glaze:
- Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. If it is too runny, add a bit more sugar or if it is too thick, add a little bit more lemon juice. You want to consistency to coat the back of a spoon but slide off easily.
- Drizzle on top of cooled cake, sprinkle with lemon zest and serve.
Video
Notes
How to Store
- Room Temp: Keep the cake covered in an airtight container or wrapped well on the counter for up to 3 days. Skip the fridge, boos. It will dry the cake out.
- Freezer: Wrap the whole cake or slices tightly in plastic wrap, then foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before enjoying.
Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients, boos. Let your butter, cream cheese, and eggs sit out so the batter mixes up smooth and bakes evenly.
- Cream it real good. Beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar for a full five to seven minutes to work in air. This cake doesn’t rely on other leaveners.
- Slow down when the flour goes in. Use the lowest mixer speed and stop as soon as it’s combined so the cake stays tender.
- Zest the smart way. Stick to the yellow part of the lemon only because the white pith will make your cake taste bitter.
Recipe Help
Cake flour, boos. I usually grab Swan’s Down and always sift it for a lighter, tighter crumb. If you don’t have any, you can make your own cake flour!
You can either add more lemon zest or even lemon extract to the batter.
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My family LOVED this cake.
Made this for my male friend and he loved it! Thanks for the recipe.
I love the flavor of this cake, but when I made the recipe the outside of the cake became crusty and the inside did not get done. I live at 5280 feet and wonder if there should be an adjustment for altitude? Any thoughts I would appreciate. I am going to try the recipe again.
It sounds like you definitely need to adjust for altitude and bake longer or increase your temp by 25 degrees.
Awesome cake!!! Made if for the holidays and my family loved it.
Made this cake yesterday for the first time, well it was actually my first attempt at a Grandbaby Cakes recipe and OMG it was delicious. My family really enjoyed it. The recipe was easy to follow. My cake did fall after I prepared it, but I’m pretty sure that was something I did wrong in the beginning process, but even with the fallen cake my family loved it and as of today there are only 2 slices left. Thank you for sharing your amazing family recipes.
I made this cake on Christmas morning and it was amazing. The instructions were extremely easy to follow and did I say the cake tasted amazing. Thanks again for sharing your recipes with people like me who arent the best at cooking
Just wondering if you can make this cake plain, no lemon flavoring
Hi Marilyn, you can make this recipe instead: https://grandbaby-cakes.com/cream-cheese-pound-cake-recipe/
This cake is PHENOMENAL…the lemon flavor comes through and the cake is extremely moist and perfect texture. Thank you for the recipe
I tried making this cake twice the first time I used regular flour then the second time I used the baking flour like the recipe instructed and both times my cake came out wrong I followed the instructions to be exact especially the second time. I don’t know what is wrong and I’m questioning if the picture shown on the site is the actual photo from the baked results. My cake center is like a jello texture solid no cake texture or fluffy goodness at all. Can you please tell me what I might be doing wrong and can I send you a picture so that you can see?
Hi Tanya, as you can see above you there are tons of stellar reviews for this cake and they all turn out like the photo above. There are also several photos of people making this cake online on pinterest (i can show you), on my FB and also under my Instagram. It is a perfect recipe. Now somewhere you are going wrong and I’m just not sure but I can help you troubleshoot. Are you making the pudding ahead and not just adding the mix to the batter. Are you watching the video and following the exact video how tos? We made the video to help people make this recipe with no errors. Let me know and I can assist.
No I didn’t make the pudding before hand I just added it to the mix and I followed the video step by step. I just don’t know what keep going wrong
Hi Tanya…
It sounds like there are few things that could be wrong starting with your oven. Do you have an oven thermometer? If you don’t, you probably should think about investing in one. Your oven sounds like it’s cooler than 325. Are you baking your cake for time listed?
Did you use large eggs? If you’re using anything other than large eggs, your recipe might fail.
Did you use instant pudding? Even with off-brands, the cook & serve and fat-free boxes can sometimes look like the instant. I’ve inadvertently picked up the cook & serve at the grocery store thinking it was the instant. I probably was more focused on the flavor. Using anything but instant pudding will result in a fail.
Same thing with the cream cheese. You can maybe (and that’s a big ‘maybe’ with hesitation) get away with using reduced fat cream cheese, but a fat-free, whipped or neufchatel won’t work.
AP flour and cake flour don’t weigh the same and too much unsifted-before-measuring AP flour can cause your product to fail.
If none of the ingredients issues apply, then it’s more than likely your oven is much cooler than you think.
This is a pretty standard recipe for a lemon pound/bundt cake. I’ve been making this one since high school–40 years and Jocelyn is right–it works.
Good luck!
Hello, I love this recipe but something I keep doing wrong, my cake always look wired, whenever I flip the cake out the pan, it has a large bubble and won’t lay flap on the plate, please help
Can you email me a photo of your cake?
I absolutely love this cake! I’ve made it multiple times for family and friends, and I always get rave reviews! Thank you Jocelyn for a great recipe!
Thank you so so much for the amazing review!