Italian Lemon Pound Cake is the only lemon cake recipe you will ever need! You are going to love the super moist texture and the rich citrus flavor.
The Italian Lemon Pound Cake is sure to have you hooked after just one bite. It really is that good! Every time I take this cake to a party it is always a huge hit.
Have you ever bit into a lemon dessert and instantly pucker up because the lemon flavor is so overpowering? You don’t need to worry about that with this recipe. It has the perfect balance between sweet and tart, so it is pucker free.
If you have a chance, try making the cake the day before you are going to serve it, because It tastes even better the next day!
Serve this Italian Lemon Pound Cake at a baby or wedding shower or enjoy it while sitting on the back porch on a quiet summer evening.
Who am I kidding, this cake would be amazing no matter where you are or who you serve it to.
With love from my kitchen to yours,
Carrie
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Here are some of the items that I recommend for making this cake.
*UPDATE: I added 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger to the cake batter, because I felt like it needed a little bit of kick to the lemon flavor. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes. Then I omitted the butter from the glaze, because the butter is very temperamental and can curdle. I brush the glaze on the warm cake and once it has cooled down, drizzle the lemon cream cheese frosting over the cake.
Italian Lemon Pound Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup of sour cream
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tsp. of fresh ginger, minced
Zest of 2 lemons ( about 2 tbsp.)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla, ginger, and lemon zest.
2. Mix half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mix in the buttermilk and then add in the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until the flour disappears. Pour the cake batter into a bundt pan that has been generously sprayed with baking spray.
3. Bake for 70 to 80 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Turn the cake over on a cake platter. Spread the lemon glaze over the warm cake so that the glaze can soak into the cake. Let the cake cool completely and drizzle the lemon cream cheese frosting over the cake.
Lemon Glaze
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoon lemon juice, at room temperature
1. Whisk the powdered sugar and lemon juice together and mix until the glaze is smooth.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz. of cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp. of lemon zest
1/4 cup of lemon juice
2 cups of powder sugar
- Mix the all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy.
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Hi Carrie, I’m just wondering would lemon extract be suitable substitute for the lemon juice?
Talicia,
Lemon extract’s flavor isn’t as vibrant as lemon juice. Your could possibly add it in addition to the lemon juice but I wouldn’t substitute it for the lemon juice.
~Carrie
I made this last night and it is SO GOOD. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!! Even my younger brother and my dad who don’t usually like lemon desserts, tried it and LOVED it! I’m eating the last slice of it right now. I will definitely be making this again.
Ally,
Yay! I am so happy that you were able to sway your dad and brother over to the lemon lovers side.:) You are awesome! Thanks for the feedback, it made my day.
~Carrie
Outrageous cake! So moist and yummy and didn’t change a thing. Thank you for a new favorite in our home.
Cindi,
I am so glad that you enjoyed the cake! It is one of my favorites too.
~Carrie
I made this cake for the first time today. All went well up through the initial application of the glaze to let it soak in. However, as I waiting for the cake to cool to apply the drizzles, the glaze separated and was pretty runny. I tried fixing that by stirring in more powdered sugar by hand. That didn’t work well. I originally made it by using my hand mixer. Do you think I could have reconstituted it with the mixer? I didn’t try that at the time.
Pauline,
I am so sorry that glaze separated. It must have gotten too warm. Next time I would suggest adding more powder sugar and mixing it with the mixer. If you mix it by hand it is too hard to get all the lumps out of the glaze. i hope this helps!
~Carrie
I made this for my family reunion last week. Everyone LOVED it! I added about two cups of blueberries. I saved two tablespoons of the flour mixture and tossed with the blueberries, then folded in after mixing batter.
Rose,
Yummy, that sounds delicious! I will have to try that.
~Carrie
Much to my disappointment my cake stuck. I used a coated Bundt pan and sprayed generously with Crisco baking spray as directed. Has anyone else had this problem?
Judy,
I am sorry that your cake stuck to the pan. Did you let it cool for a few minutes before flipping the pan over? If you wait too long or don’t let it cool enough it can stick. I hope this helps.
~Carrie
I’m going to make this in the morning, except I am going to use pink lemons!!
Megan,
Sounds yummy! I would love to hear how it turned out.
~Carrie
I made this today and it was perfect! Very yummy! I cooked it a total of 75 minutes and turned it up to 325 for the last 15. I’ll definitely do it again and maybe try it with orange next time. Thanks!!!
Linda,
I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed the cake! I think orange would be a delicious substitute.
~Carrie
Made this yesterday to finish a meal of shrimp and grits. What a great cake! I used locally sourced Cruze buttermilk (good buttermilk makes such a difference)…was out of sour cream so subbed greek yogurt and it seemed to work. Everyone loves it! Thank you for recipe that tastes much more difficult to make than it is!
Sandra,
I am so glad that you enjoyed the cake! It really isn’t that difficult to make. Thanks for the feedback!
~Carrie
Sounds yummy – Is it 3 measured cups of flour, then sift the flour or 3 cups of sifted flour?
Laura,
Yes, it is 3 cups of measured flour.
~Carrie