When life gives you lemons, you don’t complain you bake a Lemon Pound Cake! And one of my favorite lemon pounds cakes is featured at Starbucks, so I came up with my own version of that delicious lemony moist pound cake to share with you.
But I have to warn you, you may be tempted to eat this whole pound cake yourself, it’s that good!
For most of my life, I wasn’t a fan of pound cakes. They were too dense, or too dry, and lacked flavor.
This lemon pound cake did not disappoint.
What Ingredients do you need to make a Lemon Pound Cake with Pistachios?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make a Lemon Pound Cake. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Do I have to use pistachios to make this pound cake?
No, you don’t. I wanted to add a little twist to my version and I like pistachios. Feel free to omit them, it won’t affect the recipe.
How do you make a lemon pound cake?
- Add the sugar and lemon zest to the bowl of a food processor.
- Pulse until well blended (5 or 6 times) You can do this by hand if you like. *Allow this to set for 5 minutes to build the aromatics.
- Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda.
- Mix well and set aside
- beat the butter in the bowl of your electric mixer for two minutes on medium to high speed (scrape down the bowl as needed)
- add half the sugar mixture and whip for an additional minute, then add the remainder and continue to whip the butter /sugar mixture for four more minutes, scraping down the bowl and blade as needed.
- Remove the eggs from the water, dry them off and add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 30 seconds in between each addition.
- On a very low speed add in the flour mixture, and mix until just blended.
- Add in the Greek Yogurt and lemon juice
- Mix just enough to incorporate the yogurt and lemon juice
- Pour batter into the prepared pan, and top with the pistachios
- Place the cake on the center rack of your oven and bake for 55-60 minutes. (start checking your cake at around 50 minutes. It should be browned on top and a tester stuck in the middle should come out clean when the cake is done)
- Allow cake to cool on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes then remove from pan.
How do I make a Lemon Lime Glaze?
- Add the juice from one lemon and one lime to the confectioners’ sugar and mix until well blended.
- Add the lemon andlime zest to the glaze, mixing well.
- Allow glaze to set for 10 minutes before using.
- Top the pound cake with one layer of glaze, and as it drys you can add additional layers.
- Slice pound cake and enjoy!
Of course, I’m sure you could find a willing friend or neighbor to take the other cake off your hands! And trust me when I say this is even better than the original at Starbucks.
Recipe FAQ’s
This cake freezes well, just wait until it defrosts to add the glaze. Double the recipe and freeze one of the cakes for a later date.
A standard 9×5 loaf cake pan that traditionally makes a one-pound cake is best for this recipe. Using a smaller pan will cause issues with the cake being done before over-browning.
You can double the recipe and make it in a bundt pan or 2 layer cakes.
Although pound cake is supposed to be a little dense, that doesn’t mean heavy or dry. If it’s dry, more than likely the cake was over-baked. Pound cake can also be too dry if you added too much flour to the mix. The balance of flour to sugar and butter is important.
More Cake Recipes You’ll Love!
Lemon Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Pound Cake
- 2 lemons 4 tablespoons of juice
- 1½ cups cake flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces unsalted butter softened
- 1½ cups superfine sugar*
- 3 in eggs warmed for 10 minutes hot tap water before using
- ½ cup full fat Greek yogurt at room temperature
- 1 tablespoons lemon zest
- ½ cup salted pistachios or unsalted your choice
Lemon-Lime Glaze
- 1½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tbsp juice from one lemon
- 1 tbsp juice from one lime
- 1 tbsp zest from one lemon and one lime
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour one standard size loaf pan
Lemon Pound Cake
- Using a zester or grater carefully remove the zest of two lemons, being careful not to get into the white part of the skin.
- Juice the lemons, removing the seeds and set aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the sugar and lemon zest and pulse until well blended (5 or 6 times) You can do this by hand if you like.
- Allow this to set for 5 minutes to build the aromatics.
- Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside
- beat the butter in the bowl of your electric mixer for two minutes on medium to high speed (scrape down the bowl as needed)
- add half the sugar mixture and whip for an additional minute, then add the remainder and continue to whip the butter /sugar mixture for four more minutes, scraping down the bowl and blade as needed.
- Remove the eggs from the water, dry them off and add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 30 seconds in between each addition.
- On a very low speed add in the flour mixture, mix until just blended.
- Add in the Greek Yogurt and lemon juice , mixing just enough to incorporate them.
- Pour batter into prepared pan, and top with the pistachios
- Place the cake on the center rack of your oven and bake for 55-60 minutes. (start checking your cake at around 50 minutes. It should be browned on top and a tester stuck in the middle should come out clean when the cake is done)
- Allow cake to cool on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes then remove from pan.
Lemon-lime glaze
- mix the juice from one lemon and one lime with the confectioners' sugar and mix until well blended, then add zest.
- Allow glaze to set for 10 minutes before using.
- Top pound cake with glaze adding and additional coat as it drys.
- Slice pound cake and enjoy!
Cece
First time having Meyer lemon pound cake with pistachios and it was incredible! Thanks Chef Dennis. Can’t wait to make it again. 🙂
Alexandra
I was hoping you might provide some guidance as to how much lemon juice and zest you expect for this recipe. My lemons are huge and the juice from two lemons might throw off the ratio of ingredients. My lemons are the size of softballs. Thank you.
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Alexandra
use 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of zest.
Alexandra
Thank you!
Stacie
Hi! I made this yesterday and the texture was impressively light and fluffy. I am a little confused though because in response to Alexandra’s question about how much lemon juice to use you recommended 2 tablespoons of juice and 1 tablespoon of zest, but now I see in the recipe itself you clarify that 2 lemons should yield about 4 tablespoons of juice….? I used 2 and the texture was nonpareil, but I craved a little more intensity of flavor (although the cake got rave reviews from everyone.).
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Stacie
the two tablespoons of lemon juice ands 1 tablespoon of zest is for the glaze. The cake uses 4 tablespoons of juice. These amounts are both in my recipe. did you make the glaze?
Stacie Green
Yes! Thanks for your reply.
Care
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Step number 6 seems dangerous. LOL I bought some lemons yesterday and this will give me something to try while we are isolating. Thank you for sharing it.
Chef Dennis Littley
haha…. thanks for catching that, it would be a little difficult to do!
Greg
They are in the oven, but I think I misunderstood the recipe. Your text says the recipe makes two loaves, but the recipe itself calls for preparing only one loaf pan. Since I wanted two, I doubled the recipe. The result has been overflowing pans, a messy oven and I’m hoping to salvage them with increased baking time.
If the recipe is for two, you might want to edit the instruction to butter/flour only 1 pan…
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Greg
the recipe is only for one cake, I talk about the original recipe I used as a guide that made two cakes but I also state that I cut the recipe in half to make only one cake.
I used standard 9×5 loaf pans for the cake and have made it at least 20 times over the years without any problems. I’m not sure what happened with your cakes.
cc
WOW. This was really, really good….yes, much better than Starbucks! Thanks for the recipe, it’s a keeper.
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the pound cake and thanks for the great review!
aimee
I made this yesterday, after an impulse buy of a bag of Meyer lemons. I had never seen them in my small town grocery store before. It was wonderful. I had no pistachios, so I used chopped salted pecans, and I had no lime, so I made the glaze as all Meyer lemon. I made life easier by peeling with a really sharp serrated vegetable peeler, then throwing the peels into a mini food processor until fine. After that, it was pretty easy to make. The cake was tender, moist and just rich enough. The lemon flavor was fresh and light. I am saving this to my favorites folder. Thank you Chef Dennis.
MamaG
I made this pound cake for my husband to take to work since I knew they were going to have a busy day. Well, I’ve had to make it an additional three times due to the rave reviews! Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley
thats what I like to hear!!
Peggy Duvak
Can this be frozen? I would think if you froze it tightly in foil it should be fine. Perhaps add glaze after defrosting?
Chef Dennis Littley
Absolutely! It freezes very well, just add the glaze after defrosting.
Peggy Duvak
Thank You!!
The Ninja Baker
I am a pound cake fan so if this is Chef Dennis approved I know it’s divine! P.s. Love Meyer lemons, too. On the bucket list to try one from the Almafi coast =)