Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Tons of bright fresh lemon flavor! The perfect balance of sweet and tangy.
Texture: Unapologetically buttery and moist with a thick, luscious glaze on top.
Ease: The batter comes together in minutes.
Pros: The most perfect spring treat.
Cons: None!
Would I make this again? Absolutely. Any lemon lovers will go crazy over each slice of this recipe.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Dare I say it: this Iced Lemon Pound Cake Loaf tastes even BETTER than the Starbucks Lemon Loaf recipe.
(And it’s certainly much cheaper!)
Right behind chocolate, lemon is one of my favorite flavors. Both in sweet or savory dishes!
Now that spring is upon us, I was craving something bright and sweet but still rich and satisfying.
I knew I wanted to tackle perfecting the lemon loaf. I envisioned something ultra moist and buttery and bursting with lemon flavor.
Many lemon recipes seem to lose the intensity of lemon flavor after baking, so I had to find a way to pack a strong lemon punch without using difficult to source ingredients into this lemon loaf cake!
The resulting lemon loaf recipe just below was heavily inspired by both Baked and Cooks Illustrated recipes. I tested batch after batch, tweaking and experimenting until I was obsessed with the final result! This Starbucks Copycat Lemon Loaf recipe turned out better than I could have imagined.
How to Make Lemon Pound Cake Loaf
What is Pound Cake?
Pound cake is traditionally made with a pound of each of the four main ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. Despite the fact that this makes a traditional pound cake recipe easy to remember, it doesn’t always produce the best results. You’ll see my recipe below still uses a lot of butter and sugar, but the ratios vary slightly.
Ingredients You’ll Need for Moist Lemon Pound Cake:
- All-purpose flour
- Cake flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Granulated sugar
- Lemons – TONS of zest and 1 tbsp lemon juice, for maximum flavor
- Eggs
- Butter – the butter is melted instead of creamed!
- Sour Cream (or full-fat plain unsweetened yogurt)
Do I Have to Use Cake Flour?
This recipe uses half all-purpose flour and half cake flour for the best of both worlds. When using only all-purpose flour, the loaf has more of a muffin texture. When using only cake flour, the loaf is too delicate and crumbly.
While you can use only all-purpose flour, I’d highly recommend using real cake flour for the best results. Learn more about the science of cake flour (and why I don’t use DIY substitutes) here.
Why Does This Loaf Recipe Require a Blender or Food Processor?
Like all pound cakes, this is a high-ratio cake – meaning there’s as much or more sugar as there is flour. This provides a beautifully moist tight-crumbed texture without needing to cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
Instead, a blender or food processor not only assists in making quick and easy work of making this batter, but it also helps emulsify all the rich ingredients together into a smooth batter.
The last ingredient is the melted butter, which must be drizzled in a steady stream as the blender or food processor goes to perfectly emulsify.
Can I Use a Different Sized Pan?
This recipe uses a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan for best results.
To Bake in a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch Pan
Add about 5 minutes to the baking time. This is the pan I use for smaller loaves. Loaves baked in this slightly smaller pan will rise higher and look taller, more like what you’d see in a bakery case.
If you use an even smaller pan, you may run the risk of the loaf overflowing, or collapsing slightly in the center – especially if you live at higher altitudes.
To Bake in a Bundt Cake Pan
Double all ingredients and bake in a well-greased 10 to 12 cup bundt pan and bake for about 50 to 60 minutes. OR, use my Lemon Bundt Cake recipe which is more light and cakey than this pound cake recipe.
To Bake in Glass or a Ceramic Pan
I tested this recipe in a metal pan because it conducts heat quickly and efficiently. Glass and ceramic are slower conductors of heat, so if you use this style pan you’ll need to decrease your baking temperature to 325°F and increase your baking time by about 10 minutes. Check out my article on Glass vs. Metal Pans.
The Trick to Bright Lemon Flavor in Pound Cake (even after baking)
Lemon flavor can dull during the baking process. That’s why this recipe calls for two whole tablespoons (not teaspoons!) of both lemon zest and juice. Then there’s a tablespoon of fresh juice in the glaze, which helps give a fresh punch of lemon flavor. You’ll need about 3 large lemons in total!
How to Make Lemon Glaze for Pound Cake
You’ll just need 3 ingredients for the lemon glaze: powdered sugar, a lemon, and milk or cream. Whisk together the glaze ingredients until thick but pourable. The consistency of your glaze will depend entirely on the brand of powdered sugar you’re using and how humid it is in your kitchen.
- To Make the Lemon Glaze Thinner: Add more lemon juice or milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.
- To Make the Lemon Glaze Thicker: Add more powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time.
How to Store Lemon Pound Cake Loaf
The glazed loaf can be covered in foil or plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Can I Freeze Lemon Pound Cake Loaf?
Yes! Wrap the unglazed loaf tightly in plastic wrap and store for 1 month. Your loaf will likely develop a moist or tacky surface on top, but the glaze should disguise it nicely.
More Scrumptious Lemon Desserts to Try:
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Lemon Cheesecake
- Glazed Lemon Cookies
- Lemon Bundt Cake
- Lemon Cupcakes
- Soft Batch Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Lemon Loaf Pound Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3/4 cup (95 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (85 grams) cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest (from about 3 lemons)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 1 lemon)
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (57 grams) sour cream or plain yogurt, at room temperature
- 2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
For the glaze:
- 1 cup (125 grams) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon milk or cream
Instructions
Make the loaf:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a food processor or high-speed blender, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Pulse a few times to evenly distribute the zest. Add the lemon juice, eggs, and sour cream and pulse until combined. On low speed, gradually drizzle in the melted butter in a slow steady stream until well combined.
- Make a well in the dry ingredient mixture. Pour in the wet ingredients. Mix gently with a rubber spatula until just combined. Batter will be slightly thin.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached, about 50 minutes if using a metal pan, or once an internal temperature of 200-205°F is reached. If using a glass or ceramic pan, decrease your baking temperature to 325°F and increase your baking time by about 10 minutes.
- Cool in pan for 15 to 20 minutes then run a thin flexible knife around the edges before inverting onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Make the glaze:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the glaze ingredients until thick but pourable. Add more juice or milk to thin out or more sugar to thicken until your desired consistency. Spoon over the loaf, letting it drip down the sides if desired. Let set for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Recipe Notes
June 2021 Baking Challenge
This recipe was the June 2021 pick for our monthly baking challenge! Every month you can join the challenge by baking the recipe and snapping a photo for a chance to win prizes! Learn more about my monthly baking challenges here. Check out everyone’s loaves:
Absolutely a beautiful lemon poundcake.!
After making it once I immediately made it again and sliced it to use as a crust in a lemon raspberry cheesecake.
So decadent and thoroughly yummy.
What do you think of an immersion blender in place of the food processor or high-speed blender?
Thanks for your wonderful recipes, Tessa. 🙂
So happy to hear this! Your cheesecake sounds incredible! I’ve never tried an immersion blender with this recipe, let me know how it goes!
This loaf’s crumb has one of the most satisfying texture i have ever seen and eaten! And the tangy to sweet ratio is right on point. I will only use this lemon pound cake recipe from now on
I’m absolutely thrilled you love this lemon loaf so much!!!
Husband absolutely loved this. Printed and saved this for the good books! Thank you 🙂
This makes me so happy!
Hey what can switch cake flour with? I cant find cake flour where i live. Thanm you
I’m not sure what would be a good substitute where you live, sometimes cake flour can be named something else in different countries! I recommend checking out my Cake Flour 101 article where I talk all about cake flour https://handletheheat.com/cake-flour-101/ Hope this helps!
Made this last week and just put my second loaf in the oven (I’m overnighting it to a friend who said they wanted some after seeing pictures). It is super easy to put together. Planning to make it for a third time for easter. Thanks for sharing!
This just made my day! I’m thrilled to hear you love this recipe so much! I hope your friend loves it just as much as you do!
Can’t wait to try! Please advise if I do not have processor or blender- can I still achieve?
Hi Andy! You could try mixing by hand, but I can’t guarantee the same outcome. A blender or food processor helps emulsify the ingredients better than mixing by hand would.
This cake definitely tasted like a bakery-style lemon pound cake which was delicious, but I found that mine was a bit gluey/gummy! In your video the cake is super soft and mine came out denser, which I actually preferred, but it was almost too dense and it was a bit pasty. Another friend of mine found the same thing so I’m not that sure what steps I should pay more attention to in regards to the texture, but besides that it was really delicious!
Do you measure your ingredients with a digital scale? It sounds to me from the gluey-side that maybe you used too much flour? As far as the gummy texture, that’s usually due to underbaking. Did you bake in a light or dark colored metal pan?
I did weigh out the ingredients using a scale and I baked it in a metal pan. I only used regular AP flour so maybe that was it? And I think I must have underbaked it because I found the end pieces to be better but I took it out when there were moist crumbs like you said so maybe next time I’ll add 5 or so minutes. Thanks for getting back!
Sorry I can’t rate this recipe because I cannot print out the recipe. All I get are blank pages showing only the header and footer.
Is there a secret to printing the receipe? I love Starbuck’s Lemon Cake, but want to give Tessa’s recipe a try.
HELP!
Hi Janet! In the blue box where the recipe is, there is a red printer icon right below the recipe title. Click on that and print. It might not open if you have an Ad-blocker installed. Let me know if that helps! Good luck!
I sent the recipe to my neighbor. She surprised me with half a loaf! It was so delicious warm and again this morning for breakfast treat! ♥️
What a nice neighbor you have! So glad to hear this recipe was enjoyed.
Hi Tessa!
I was wondering if doubling the recipe and making 2 loafs would be an issue, or if it’s better to make 2 separate batches of batter?
Thanks,
Jess
Hi Jess! I’ve seen lots of people double this recipe with delicious results. Hope you enjoy your loaves!
This loaf turned out so moist an delicious! I love that it’s not overly sweet which can be adjusted with the glaze. This is absolutely perfect with my morning coffee!
So glad to hear that you loved this recipe!
I’m prepping to make this in a few days and I’d love to make it with cream cheese icing. Have you tested this?
Hi Sam, a cream cheese frosting would be absolutely delicious on this Lemon Pound Cake Loaf! I have a recipe for that icing here: https://handletheheat.com/best-cream-cheese-frosting/