Bursting with lemony flavor, this super moist Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake is an easy to make sweet treat.. drizzled in a delectable lemon glaze!

I’ve often written about how I did not inherit the “baking gene” that is so prominent among the women in my family. But these days of quarantine have changed my perspective. I have found myself turning to baking quite often during these past few months. It has become a source of comfort and pride. I have made Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Vanilla Cupcakes, and this Lemon Pound Cake (also known as Lemon Loaf). Baking things from scratch to share with my family and friends makes me feel confident and resourceful.
This easy lemon cake recipe was one of Keith’s favorite things I baked. Although he doesn’t really have a sweet tooth, this deliciously moist and simple cake was something he devoured.
Ingredients for Lemon Cake:
- AP FLOUR: 1 ½ cups
- SUGAR: 1 cup
- SALT: ½ teaspoon
- BAKING POWDER: 2 teaspoons
- SOUR CREAM: 1 cup (we used low fat)
- 3 EGGS
- LEMON ZEST: grated from 2 lemons
- FRESH SQUEEZED LEMON JUICE: ⅓ cup
- VANILLA EXTRACT: ½ teaspoon
- VEGETABLE OIL: ½ cup
Ingredients for Lemon Glaze:
- CONFECTIONERS' SUGAR (POWDERED SUGAR): ⅓ cup
- FRESH SQUEEZED LEMON JUICE: 2 tablespoons
How to make Lemon Pound Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Using vegetable oil, grease a loaf pan. Then line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Mix together flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, 1 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients.
- Mix vegetable oil in with a rubber spatula, carefully making sure it's combined.
- Pour the batter into a loaf pan.
- Bake for about 50 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean).
How to make Lemon Glaze:
- While cake is baking, mix 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice + ⅓ cup confectioners' sugar in a small sauce pan until the sugar dissolves.
- Set aside.
How to glaze the cake:
- Allow finished cake to cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan before glazing.
- Carefully remove cake from loaf pan and place on a baking rack or sheet pan.
- Drizzle the lemon sugar glaze mixture over the cake evenly and allow it to soak in.
- Slice an serve.
Recipe Variations:
- For an extra PUNCH of lemon flavor, I swirled in some homemade lemon curd that I had in my fridge. It gave the cake a creamy center. Then I swirled in some homemade lemon curd* to give this cake an extra lemony, creamy center (see recipe for lemon curd below)
- If you don’t have time to make lemon curd, this recipe works just fine without it. Or, you can buy a pre-made version at the grocery store.
- If you don't have sour cream in your fridge, you can substitute good greek yogurt. Both work well to create a moist cake.
How to make lemon curd*:
- combine ¾ C milk, 3 tablespoon lemon zest, ½ C fresh lemon juice, 4 egg yolks, 1 stick unsalted butter and 1 C sugar in a medium saucepan.
- cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and reaches 175°-180°. DO NOT LET IT BOIL.
- While still hot, pour the mixture through a strainer.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More Lemony good recipes:
MEYER LEMON & PANCAKES
LEMON POPPY SEED DOUGHNUTS
FRENCH CREPES WITH LEMON CURD & FRESH BERRIES
PrintLemon Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe
Bursting with lemony flavor, this super moist Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake is an easy to make sweet treat, drizzled in a delectable lemon glaze!
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 ½ C AP flour
- 1 C sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 C sour cream (we used low fat)
- 3 eggs
- Lemon zest, grated (from 2 lemons)
- ⅓ C fresh squeezed lemon juice
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ c vegetable oil
For the lemon curd (optional):
- ¾ C milk
- 3 Tbsp lemon zest, grated (from 3 lemons)
- ⅓ C fresh lemon juice
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 C sugar
For the glaze:
- ⅓ cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
To make the lemon curd (optional):
- combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan.
- cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and reaches 175°-180°. DO NOT LET IT BOIL.
- While still hot, pour the mixture through a strainer.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
To make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Using vegetable oil, grease a loaf pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Mix together flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, 1 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients.
- Mix vegetable oil in with a rubber spatula, carefully making sure it's combined.
- Pour the batter into loaf pan.
- Add half of the lemon curd (if you are using it, otherwise skip to step 10).
- Using a chopstick or a knife, swirl the lemon curd into the cake batter loosely
- Bake for about 50 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean).
To make the glaze:
- While cake is baking, mix 2 tablespoon lemon juice + ⅓ C confectioners' sugar in a small sauce pan until the sugar dissolves.
- Set aside.
To glaze the cake:
- Allow finished cake to cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan before glazing.
- Carefully remove cake from loaf pan and place on a baking rack or sheet pan.
- Drizzle the lemon sugar glaze mixture over the cake evenly and allow it to soak in.
- Slice an serve.
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 50 min
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slices
- Calories: 476
- Sugar: 48.6 g
- Sodium: 195.7 mg
- Fat: 19.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 70.6 g
- Protein: 6.9 g
- Cholesterol: 79.8 mg
Keywords: lemon, cake, easy, sour cream, lemony, glaze, lemon curd, curd, moist, easy, pound cake
K Scott says
The ingredients call for 11/3 cup of sugar however in the instructions it reads 1 cup then on the glaze it reads use the remaining 1/3 cup of confectioners sugar but the ingredients read 1 cup confectioners sugar HELP I’m baking it now
Jackie says
Hi! We are so sorry for the mix up! thank you for catching this! Please use 1 C sugar for the cake and 1/3 C sugar for the glaze. We have fixed the recipe. Hope it turns out great!!
K Scott says
Delicious, the end result was perfection!!! Thank you so much for the update- we will print this copy off and save! side note: we actually had lemon curd in a jar from a recipe a few weeks back and used that, worked out great saved a step. Happy to have the recipe though so we can re-fill the jar : ) cheers to you both
★★★★★
Jackie says
Thank you so much! We are SO HAPPY you enjoyed this cake! Thank you for your patience with us as well... we are so happy the end result was what you expected!!
Barb says
Looks delicious!
★★★★★
Rae says
The cake ingredient list mentions 1/3 of a cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice, but in the directions there is no mention of when to add it. Otherwise, a great recipe.
★★★★