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
*This post contains affiliate links which means I receive compensation if you purchase something from these links.
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.
Here are a few other recipes you might enjoy.
When you say powder sugar, do you mean icing sugar?
Heather,
The sugar is called, powder sugar or confectioners sugar. This sugar is used in icing, so you are probably thinking of the same thing.
~Carrie
I love the recipe! Tried it today for the first time and it is super yummy! The cake is moist and dense, but in a good way. Thanks so much.
I do have one comment for improvement though. I’m a fairly experienced baker and, as another commenter stated, the cream cheese frosting looks and behaves nothing like it does in the photo you have posted. I mixed the ingredients together and followed the recipe exactly. I even refrigerated the frosting for 3 hours, but still when I drizzled on the frosting to look like your picture it just oozed off of the sides and gathered at the bottom of the cake. The frosting in your photo looks like really thick frosting that holds up very well, I’m not sure what you did to get it that stiff but I’d love to know. Maybe more detailed intstructions would help your readers to accomplish the same beautiful outcome you had in your photos. Thanks so much again. Overall a wonderful recipe and great flavor!
Rachel,
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe. It is one of my favorites. If your frosting isn’t thick enough, you can add more powder sugar until it reaches the desired consistency. If you live in a humid area or your house is warmer it can change the consistency of the frosting. I hope this helps!
~Carrie
I made this cake today. I followed the recipe exactly as it’s written.
The cream cheese frosting was not thick, like your picture. The recipe called for just 4 oz of cream cheese, which is half of a regular pack.
Is this the correct amount? I tried adding a bit more powdered sugar to the icing, but it never got as thick as the icing in the picture.
JoAnne,
If the cream cheese is warmer than room temperature than it will not be as thick. You can try placing it in the refrigerator to cool it down and thicken it up a bit. I hope this helps!
~Carrie
What’s the ingredients?
Kayleigh,
If you click on the title of the recipe or the read more button below it will pull up the full recipe.
~Carrie
I made this cake today, Feb. 2, 2017. It’s very good! My cream Cheese frosting was a little liquid but I put it in fridge and then striped the cake w it. I don’t have decorating supplies but it still looked nice. Cake was moist which I liked! Where can I buy lemon zest? That took some time..
Thank you for the recipe!
Sandra,
I am so glad that you enjoyed the cake! It is one of my favorite recipes. Some grocery stores carry dried lemon peels. I have never tried it in this cake and I don’t think the flavor will be as vibrant as fresh lemon zest is.
~Carrie
I made the cake twice, oven 325 for 60 min first and 70 min last. Both times looks really nice before I take it out the oven but after resting for 5 mitto pour the glase it goes down and looks undercooked. Is 2 cups of sugar too much?
Paola,
I am so sorry you are having trouble with this cake. Some ovens cook differently than others. I would suggest baking the cake longer and not pulling it out of the oven until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. I hope this helps.
~Carrie
I’ve made this cake twice also…..Followed instructions baked for 80 min on 325…… and cake came out looking under cooked both times don’t know what happened. My icing turned out perfect. Can you possibly tell me what went wrong?
Tina,
So was the cake itself undercooked or did it just looked under cooked? If the cake was undercooked your oven temperature could be off. Try bumping the temperature to 350. I would check it after 30 minutes and then every 10-15 minutes after that until the a skewer or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Make sure to not leave the oven door open too long. Every time you open the oven door heat escapes and drops the temperature a tad bit. If the color of the cake looked undercooked, but the cake itself was cooked all the way through, I wouldn’t worry about it. The cake itself is a very light color. As long as it is cooked all the way through, that’s all that matters.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
~Carrie
I made this cake several weeks ago and my family went crazy for it. I made it exactly as the recipe wrote. It’s. Ring requested again today! Love it.
Cathy,
I am so glad that you enjoyed the cake! It is one of my favorites.
~Carrie
Would love to be able to print this without the ads. Even when I do print friendly the ads print.
Stacy,
I am sorry you are having problems with the ads printing with the recipe. To print the recipe without the ads click on the image button and select no images. I hope this helps.
~Carrie
In the first recipe I printed in July of last year the glaze called for 1/4 c softened butter. There is no way you can make a to pour over the cake. It is more like an icing. So I iced the cake. I check the recipe again Jan.22/17 and I see the butter is not in the recipe. Just icing sugar and the lemon juice. I did not make it but I think that is what the original should have been. Next time I make the cake I will omit the butter. Have just eaten a piece of the cake and it is DELICIOUS ! Definitely will bake this again.
Victoria,
I changed the original recipe because the butter was very temperamental. A lot of people were having problems with the butter curdling. I agree the glaze is better without the butter. I am glad that you enjoyed the cake. It is one of my favorites!
~Carrie
I made this cake today and it is beautiful…unfortunately I don’t think there was much flavor to the actual cake itself….The frosting was DELICIOUS!!!
Valerie,
I am sorry you felt like the cake didn’t have much flavor, Did you add the fresh ginger? I agree the frosting is delicious!
~Carrie