This Lemon Pound Cake is soft, buttery and packed with bright lemon flavour, finished with a smooth lemon cream cheese icing that takes it to the next level. With its tender crumb and beautifully balanced citrus flavour, it’s the kind of cake that works just as well for morning tea as it does for dessert. The cream cheese icing adds a slight tang and richness without being overly sweet, making this loaf-style cake feel classic, comforting and seriously delicious.
Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Dessert
Cuisine
English
Author:
Ashley's Place
Servings
12 Slices
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Lemon Pound cake is one of those delicious classic cakes that is so simple to make and makes such a wonderful morning or afternoon tea. I decided to pair this with my cream cheese icing to give it a bit of balance rather than a classic glaze and it turned out delicious!
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
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250g Plain Flour (all purpose)
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250g Caster Sugar (superfine white sugar)
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200g Room Temp Butter
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3 Large Eggs
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160ml Milk
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½ Tsp Baking Soda
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½ Tsp Salt (cooking salt if you can)
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½ tsp Vanilla Essence
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Zest of 2 Lemons (*See note 1)
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3.5 Tbsp of Lemon Juiced (approx. 1.5-2 lemons)
Cream Cheese Ingredients:
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125g Icing Sugar (confectioners sugar)
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27g Room Temp Butter
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55g Firm Cream Cheese (*see note 2)
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¼ Tsp Vanilla Essence
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Zest of ½ Lemon
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1.5-2 Tsp Lemon Juice
Directions
Cake Instructions
Start by taking your butter and eggs out of the fridge and letting them come to room temperature. You want your butter to be room temp so it mixes properly.
Preheat your oven to 175°C (365°F) and prep your loaf tin with a little butter or cooking spray then baking paper
Once ready mix your butter, sugar and lemon zest in a stand mixer (or with a handheld mixer) for a good 5-8 minutes on medium-high, scrapping down the bowl half way through. We want to cream (mix) this together really well so that it becomes light in colour and fluffy
Once mixed add your eggs 1 by 1 and mix together until just incorporated then add the next egg
Add in the dry ingredients and lemon juice and start to mix on a low speed while then slowly pouring in the milk. We add this after and slowly pour it in so it doesn’t splash everywhere
Mix for about 30 seconds then scrape down your bowl and mix again for about another 30 seconds-1 minute until your ingredients are mixed together and no flour etc remain.
Once mixed pour into your loaf tin and spread out evenly
Pop into the oven and bake away for about 1 hour or until baked through
Take it out of the oven and leave in the loaf tin for about 5-10 minutes then move to a cooling rack to completely cool. Don’t ice this until it is completely cool. Even a little b9it
Cream Cheese Icing Instructions
Take your butter out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Just your butter leave the cream cheese in the fridge
Once the butter is room temp chop into small pieces and add it into your stand mixer with your cream cheese and mix on a medium-high speed for 1 minute. Stop the mixer then scrape down the bowl to make sure it is all mixing properly and mix again for another 1 minute
Add your icing into the bowl in 2 parts mixing for 30 seconds after you add the icing to make sure it all mixes properly.
Scrape the side and base of bowl again and add in the vanilla, lemon and lemon zest and mix for another 1-2 minutes on medium to high speed until all ingredients are incorporated
Cream Cheese Icing is slightly runnier that a normal buttercream but will still sit beautifully on top of the cake
Once your cake is completely cooled you can add your icing on top, I like to just ice the top of the cake and add some fresh lemon zest on top
Serve and enjoy for morning or afternoon tea.
If you have any left over store it in the fridge because of the cream cheese in the icing. The cake itself doesn’t need to be refrigerated but once iced it does.
Recipe Video
Recipe Note
Notes & FAQ's
To zest your lemon you need a fine grater so that you can get fine pieces of zest, you can usually pick them up at supermarkets, variety stores or kitchen stores
You want to use a firm crema cheese for the icing, I use the Philadelphia Firm Block not the softer kind
Don't overwhip the cake too much just mix until it is all combined
Q. Can I make this without a cream cheese icing?
A. Yep you could use a glaze, or regular buttercream. The cream cheese icing has a nice tang and works well with the sweetness of the lemon and cake
Q. Could I make this into a round cake?
A. Yes you can make it a round cake but depending on the size you will need to watch the cooking time