Lemony Goodness: Delicious Glazed Lemon Pound Cake

This Glazed Lemon Pound Cake is so easy to make and is full of lemony flavor. Top it with berries and whipped cream for a decadent dessert.

Love the Lemons!

I love a delicious pound cake! I have a recipe for a traditional pound cake that I’ve often made, but I had never made a lemon pound cake recipe. I’m not sure why because I love lemon desserts, but I guess it just never occurred to me to give it a try.

I really enjoy the freshness of lemon flavor in both sweet and savory dishes. It doesn’t matter if it is fresh lemon juice, lemon syrup, lemon extract or fresh lemon zest. These always brighten up a dish – sometimes providing a strong lemon flavor and sometimes just adding a little hint of citrus.

Lemony Cake AND Glaze

For this lemon pound cake recipe, we add lemon both to the cake batter, as well as to the simple glaze. You get the best of both worlds with a moist lemon cake recipe as well as a wonderful easy lemon glaze to put over the top of the cake. Neither one overpowers the other making a great taste combination.

This one will take you no time at all to pull together. If you are mixing the cake batter by hand, you will mix everything in a large bowl (making sure you get all the goodness off the sides of the bowl!) before pouring into your prepared loaf pan.

If you are using a stand-up electric mixer, I would suggest using a medium speed while creating the butter mixture and then moving to a low speed when adding in the dry ingredients. The standard size bowl of a stand mixer is typically more than enough room for both the wet ingredients as well as the dry ingredients.

The glaze is even easier. Use a medium bowl since you start with a fair amount of powdered sugar before it mixes down (avoiding that sugar explosion!). Then just stir in the lemon juice until you have the glaze consistency you are looking for.

Also Great to Freeze for Later

This recipe makes two loaf size cakes, so you can have one now and freeze one for later (see below for freezing instructions). It’s always great to have a dessert ready-to-go for any occasion!

Tips and Tricks 

• Allow the butter to come to room temperature before you start. This will make creaming the butter and granulated sugar together much easier for your butter mixture.
• It’s important that the eggs are well beaten into the butter mixture one at a time. There should be no lumps once the eggs are incorporated into the butter mixture.
• Sifting the dry ingredients together will insure that they’re evenly mixed into the cake batter.
• While you can mix this cake by hand, I wouldn’t recommend that. You’ll end up with a more consistent cake batter using a hand mixer or a stand-up electric mixer.
• Your prepared pan (even a non-stick pan) should be coated with nonstick baking spray and flour to make sure that the cake doesn’t stick. I use two 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pans for this lemon pound cake recipe.
• Cool the pound cake in the loaf pan for 15 minutes to insure that it comes out of the loaf pan in one piece. If the cake is too hot, you risk it breaking apart when you invert it onto a plate or wire rack.
• Pound cake freezes very well. See below for the best way to freeze a cooled pound cake.
• If you prefer not to use loaf pans, you can use a bundt pan instead.

How to Freeze Glazed Lemon Pound Cake

• Make sure cake is cooled completely. Putting it on a wire rack will help move this process along.
• Do not put the simple glaze on the cooled cake before freezing. You’ll want to add that after the cake has been defrosted.
• You can freeze the entire pound cake or individual slices.
• Wrap tightly first with plastic wrap and then with aluminum foil.
• Freeze for up to 3 months.

Ingredients Needed for Glazed Lemon Pound Cake

Full instructions can be found below in the printable recipe card 

• Butter, softened to room temperature
• Granulated sugar
• Eggs
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Half and half
• Vanilla extract
• Fresh lemons for lemon zest and juice
• Powdered sugar

How to Make Glazed Lemon Pound Cake

• Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy to create the butter mixture.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating each one in well.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
• Add flour mixture and half and half alternately to butter mixture making sure to start and finish with the flour.
• Mix in vanilla extract, as well as lemon juice and zest from the fresh lemons.
• Divide cake batter between two loaf pans that have been coated with nonstick baking spray and floured.
• Place pans in a cold oven and set temperature to 325 degrees.
• Bake for one hour without opening the door.
• Remove from oven and cool in the pans for 15 minutes.
• Remove cakes from pan and finish cooling on a rack.
• While cakes are cooling, make the simple glaze.
• Put powdered sugar in a medium bowl and stir in fresh lemon juice one tablespoon at a time until a thin glaze has formed.
• Drizzle over both cakes.

More Delicious Cake Recipes to Try

• Strawberry Chocolate Cake
• The Best Classic Old Fashioned Pound Cake
• Pineapple Upside Down Cake
• Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
• Death By Chocolate Pound Cake
• Paloma Citrus Cake with Tequila-Lime Glaze