Lemon Sour Cream Cake (pound cake with lemon glaze)

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Calling all lemon lovers. This sweet, moist, and very lemony pound cake has a perfectly dense crumb (sour cream in the batter), that bright lemon flavor we all love thanks to a triple dose of citrus, and a wonderful golden-brown top. I have been making it for decades, and it's always a hit for brunch and coffee breaks. It's versatile (variations are included in the post) and fantastic with a simple glaze!

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Cut glazed lemon loaf cake on a white paper on a wooden surface.

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A remarkable lemon sour cream loaf

A simple title for a wonderful old-fashioned lemon pound cake you'll want to make often. Considering the years I've been baking and the number of lemon cakes I've baked, this unforgettable recipe is among the top three, so that's saying a lot.

It's different from this fluffier and more traditional lemon bundt cake.

The first time I took this lemon cake to the office, it not only disappeared in a nanosecond, but even I was impressed by the texture. It was maybe more of a hit than the lemon blueberry loaf, and that's saying a lot!

Pound cakes are vintage and wonderful, and in my 30+ years of baking, I've baked my share of them from scratch. However, I was not expecting to be surprised by a lemon sour cream pound cake recipe.

So go ahead and keep this recipe close. It's worth it.

Why add sour cream to this cake?

It substitutes some of the butter and/or milk, adding moisture while rendering a classic, tighter crumb with a velvety feel. The slight tanginess offsets the sugar and other rich ingredients, like butter. I personally love using sour cream for cakes; it makes a difference.

- Lady O ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This cake is most certainly a keeper for every occasion! Moist and delicious!

- Beulah ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hello Paula, I baked this cake & as you stated, it was a winner for its moistness & lemony! My husband begged me to hide it cause he couldn't stop eating it!🙂
Thanks for sharing, especially the extra tips!!!

- Malia ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fantastic recipe. This is the lightest, yet buttery dense, pound cake! It's hard to describe, except for YUM!!

Testing notes

Paula's baking tips that make a difference.

Creaming: It's important to cream the butter, sour cream and sugar well at the beginning so the cake rises better.

Sift the flour. It adds air to the batter and helps to create a good, dense crumb.

Pan size is important because dense cakes take a while to bake. If the pan is too small, the cake will color and dry too much on the outside before being fully baked on the inside.

Don't overbake it! The second the tester or toothpick comes out clean, remove the pan from the oven.

Bundt cake: you can easily double this recipe and bake it in a bundt pan or tube pan. I do it all the time.

FAQ

What is the difference between a butter cake and a pound cake?

The first one has more butter than eggs, while the second should have equal amounts (by weight). Nowadays, pound cakes have gotten lighter and easier to make, and most don't maintain the exact proportions as the very old ones, which were a pound of each ingredient (flour, butter, sugar, and eggs).

Why is my pound cake heavy?

Not creaming well and overmixing can lead to a heavy, stiff pound cake, especially after adding the flour. Make sure you beat at a low speed after you add the dry ingredients, or do it by hand with a whisk or silicone spatula. Pound cakes should have a tight crumb but not be pasty or heavy.

Ingredients

Quantities are listed on the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands I use.

Sour cream: the regular type; full-fat sour cream cheese is used for richness and creaminess.
Fresh lemon juice and zest: the bottled stuff just doesn't give you the same fresh flavor. Zest the lemon close to using it.
All-purpose flour or cake flour: both are excellent and get great results.
Baking soda: make sure it isn't expired.
Powdered sugar: also called icing or confectioners' sugar.

Lemon Pound Cake ingredients in bowls on white surface, including lemons, eggs, sour cream and vanilla.

Steps to make lemon pound cake

Baking is all in the details, like having room-temperature ingredients when specified in the recipe.

Mixing the batter: I use a large bowl and an electric mixer, and you can use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Make sure you don't overbeat it after the flour mixture is added.
Loaf pan: prepare it beforehand as specified in the recipe card below.
Preheated oven: it's crucial if you want the cake to bake and rise as it should.

Glass bowl with creamed butter, sugar and whole egg. Whisk attachment. Gray background.

Creaming

Use a large bowl and an electric mixer, or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Take the time to fully integrate the butter, sour cream and sugar before adding the eggs. It should take several minutes.

Sifting flour mixture. White surface, white bowl with flour.

Sifting the dry ingredients

You can do it in a separate bowl, or have the flour mixture measured and ready to sift directly over the cake batter (my choice).

Paula's Tip

After incorporating flour into a cake batter, you don't want to develop gluten, as it will toughen the baked cake. So mix *just* until it's all well incorporated, but don't overbeat. Also, I like to end mixing with a silicone spatula to ensure the ingredients are fully integrated.

Yellow spatula with lemon cake batter in a glass bowl.

Last mix with a spatula

I like (and recommend) using a spatula at the end to make sure the batter is fully integrated and no flour spots are left at the bottom of the bowl.

Prepared pan

Grease the pan and also line the bottom and two short sides of the pan with a piece of parchment paper. It will be easier to remove the cake and also reduce the chance of it sticking.

Delicious lemon glaze

The most common and best way to glaze this sour cream pound cake loaf is with a powdered sugar glaze. It's versatile, easy, and a crowd-pleaser!

Thicker glaze: use less liquid if you want it to be thick but not drip much down the sides (like this zucchini bundt cake).

Glazing a loaf cake with a spoon on a black wire rack. White background.

Drizzle the glaze

You can spoon it over the loaf cake or pour it from a jar. Do so slowly, making sure it's distributed as evenly as possible. It will drip unevenly, and that is fine.

Cold cake: make sure it's completely cooled down. Otherwise, the glaze will melt and thin out when you drizzle it and hardly cover the cake.

Extra moist lemon cake

This is a pound cake, so it's dense by definition.

But you can add lemon syrup before the glaze, while the cake is still hot. Just like we do for the lemon poppy seed muffins.
Mix ¼ cup of fresh lemon juice with 2-3 tablespoons of sugar and brush over the cake just as it comes out of the oven. You can also poke it with a skewer or something similar so the syrup seeps into the cake faster.

Serving ideas

If you want a lemon dessert, serve a thick slice topped with sweetened whipped cream or the classic lemon curd, and fresh berries.

Make a trifle using the same ingredients and layering them in individual glasses (like the creamy peach trifle recipe) or as a stunning centerpiece in a large glass trifle bowl.

Half pound cake with slices on wooden board, a lemon, green branch and knife.

Variations

Possible pan sizes: double the recipe and bake it in a 10- or 12-cup bundt or tube cake pan like the lemon bundt cake, or a sheet cake in a 9x13 rectangular pan. Bake mini bundt cakes like blood orange cakes or chocolate Kahlua cakes.
Flavorings: add other citruses (I sometimes make this a lemon-lime loaf), add a tablespoon of liquor (replacing some of the lemon juice), use ground spices (cardamom, cinnamon), and add ½ cup of chopped nuts or chocolate chips.
Chocolate glaze: the combination of lemon and chocolate is highly overrated. Cover this lemon loaf with chocolate ganache and taste for yourself.
Vanilla pound cake: if you omit the lemon in this recipe and use more vanilla extract, you have a fantastic plain pound cake recipe.

Before you go...

Did you make this recipe and loved it? You can comment below and leave a 5-star ⭐️ review. Also, if you had issues, let me know so we can troubleshoot together. You can also connect with me on Instagram and follow and save my recipes on Pinterest.

About Paula Montenegro

A baker for more than 40 years and your designated recipe developer, sharing the best ones here with simple ingredients + easy-to-follow instructions.

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