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This moist Lemon Cake Recipe is fluffy, tangy and so easy to make from scratch! Every bite of this supremely moist pound cake is bursting with fresh lemon flavor and the easy lemon glaze on top will have you hooked after just one bite.
This homemade lemon pound cake tastes even better than the Starbucks Lemon Loaf!
If you like the Starbucks Lemon Loaf then you’ll love this delicious, moist lemon cake recipe that’s made completely from scratch in less than 10 minutes. It’s one of my favorite afternoon or breakfast treats and it always gets rave reviews, everyone loves it! It’s gone in minutes whenever I make it.
This batter is made with freshly grated lemon zest and fresh lemon juice. When it the cake comes out of the oven it is infused with a homemade lemon syrup to give it an extra lemon kick, and then after cooling down the pound cake is topped with the most delicious lemon glaze.
This easy lemon cake is not dry and not fudgy, it’s perfectly moist while still being fluffy and it keeps fresh for a few days! A perfect cake for every occasion. If you like lemon desserts, you have got to give this cake a try!
Tips and Tricks for Making This Easy Lemon Cake Recipe
- You can also make this recipe in a bundt pan. It looks prettier than in a loaf pan but make sure to grease your bundt pan generously so that your cake will come out of the pan.
- Don’t leave out the lemon zest, that is what gives it the wonderful lemony flavor! I always use organic lemons and my favorite grater that I’ll like below.
- For the best flavor use freshly squeezed lemon juice! Don’t use the bottled stuff, trust me fresh lemon juice tastes so much better.
- When you make the lemon glaze for this pound cake don’t add too much liquid. You want the glaze to be nice and thick not runny. Start with 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp milk and add the remaining 1/2 tbsp as needed.
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This cake keeps well covered at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Looking for more Lemon Dessert Recipes?
- Easy Lemon Cream Pie Recipe
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake
- Easy Lemon Raspberry Cake
- Easy Lemon Curd Mousse
You might have realized by now that I love lemon desserts. My husband even complained that all I do is make lemon desserts … until he tried today’s recipe and demanded more. Bahaha! If you love everything lemon like me check out my whole collection of recipes with lemon there is even a delicious lemon risotto.
Tools used for making this Recipe:
Loaf Pan: I can recommend all the baking pans from this brand! They’re super easy to clean and cakes bake evenly.
Citrus Zester: This one easily zests the rind without the pith, I really love this tool. It’s perfect for zesting citrus fruits, grating hard cheeses, and ginger.
Lemon Squeezer: This tool makes it super easy to juice lemons AND limes. It is a 2-in-1 tool that is super sturdy and easy to use. You’ll be amazed at how much juice you’ll get out of a lemon.
Want to try this Lemon Loaf Recipe?
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Moist Lemon Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the lemon pound cake:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice, about 1/2 lemon
- ½ cup buttermilk, see below for substitution
For the lemon syrup:
- ¼ cup lemon juice, about 1 lemon
- 3 Tbsp powdered sugar
For the lemon icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9x5-inch (or 8x4-inch) loaf pan (see note).
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using an electric mixer), cream the butter and sugar together at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4-6 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer running on low-speed, add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the vanilla extract and lemon juice. Beat on medium-high speed until combined.
- With the mixer on low, add about one-third of the flour mixture and mix until almost combined, then add half the buttermilk and mix until just combined. Repeat with another third of flour mixture and then the last half of the buttermilk, ending with the last third of the flour. Beat until just incorporated.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out mostly clean with only a couple moist crumbs. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours.
- Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes in the pan. Stir together the lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar for the lemon syrup. Carefully invert the loaf pan, and transfer the cake to a cooling rack, then brush the syrup on the cake while it’s still warm. Allow cake to cool completely.
- When the cake is cooled, combine all the icing ingredients, start with 1 tbsp lemon juice and milk and add the remaining lemon juice as needed. The icing should be thick and not runny. Pour icing over cake and let dry before serving.
Video
Notes
- If you don't have buttermilk, you can make your own by combining 1/2 cup of milk with 1.5 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes until it starts to curdle.
- The longer you beat the sugar and butter, the better the result will be because this process incorporates air into the batter and makes the cake fluffy and tender
- I recommend using fresh lemon juice but you can also use bottled lemon juice
- This cake would also taste great with lime juice or orange juice
- Some readers have commented that their cake stuck to the pan. If you're unsure how well your cake pans perform, line the pan with parchment paper. In my experience, this cake always comes out of the pan easily if it is greased well. I use these OXO cake pans (affiliate link).
Nutrition
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If you’ve tried this or any other of my recipes, don’t forget to rate the recipe and to leave me a comment. I love hearing from you!
Would it be ok to use self rising flour? Or would that change the recipe too much?
Does self-rising flour have baking powder and salt in it? If yes then you would have to leave out the baking powder and salt. I have never used self-rising flour before so I’m not sure.
Thanks. I just made the cake. Superb! Didn’t listen to your advice so I kept it for 50 min. Too Brown but still moist and sweet and lemony and everything right. Amazing!
Can i replace eggs in this recipe ? I am a vegetarian and i do not want to use eggs
I don’t think replacing the eggs would work in this recipe.
Hi, I used two tbsp of natural yoghurt of this helps 👌
How much in measurement is “juice of half a lemon”?. I have huge lemons that have about 125mls per half lemon
Those are big lemons 😯 Normal lemons have about 2-4 Tablespoons of juice, so half a lemon is 1-2 Tbsp.
Either you’re measuring wrong or you have some SUPER COLOSSAL (and very unnatural) lemons!
Your lemons yield 1c (240ml) of juice per lemon??
I made this today and absolutely loved it!! I do have a question though: is it supposed to be slightly dense? I didn’t get too much of a rise and I wonder if I did something wrong or that’s just the nature of the cake. Doesn’t take away from the amazing taste of this cake.
So happy you loved it, Edi!! Yes, it will be slightly dense like pound cake but it should rise in the oven. If it didn’t rise, it could be your baking powder, perhaps it is too old. I store mine in the fridge because I find it keeps fresh longer. Waiting too long between making the batter and baking it can also influence the rise because baking powder is activated as soon as it comes in contact with liquid. – Julia
Awesome! It did rise but not as much as other cakes I have baked, so that made me wonder. My family loved it and I will be making the cake again on Monday. Thank you again for this wonderful recipe!!
Hey!! Tried the cake yesterday n I must say this is an awesome recipe.
The moistness , melt in mouth texture n taste.. Beautiful cake recipe.
I only made the cake n tht itself was suppperrrr flavourful.
Hard to resist gobbling up the entire cake!!!
Thank you so much for your comment! So glad you loved it!!
It’s a brilliant cake. Thank you for the recipe. However, for step 4. I can’t seem to be able to combine them at all, solid coagulation and lid suspension instead of combined mixture. Please advice?
Adding one egg at a time and beating about 30 seconds after adding each egg should help with that problem. But it’s ok if the mixture looks a little bit curdled because it’s a large amount of fat and a large amount of liquid from the eggs. After adding the flour the batter will be fine even if it wasn’t 100% combined before. I hope that helps! – Julia
Do you use the entire syrup? That seemed too much, as if it would make it soggy, so I just brushed it over enough to cover and then left it. My loaf pan was maybe a bit larger, so it was not as tall, hence it finished quicker (40mins). A lovely smelling, looking, and tasting cake! I am so happy I found this recipe! I was going to make a rose water glaze frosting, but not sure if it would work. Maybe another time.
I made this for the first time last night and it was delicious! My family loved it and I’m not an amazing baker so thumbs up! :)
Do you think this would pair well with strawberry buttercream?
Yes, I think they would pair well!