Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake

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Okay pound cake lovers, we have another delicious recipe for you to try- this time, Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake! This rich and buttery cake has big lemon flavor. You will love how simple it is to make.

Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake, sliced, on a cake plate.

Key Ingredients

You can find the full, printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our ingredients for the cake (not including the optional glaze):

  • Unsalted Butter (We add salt to the recipe separately.)
  • White Sugar
  • 5 large eggs, room temperature (You can place them in a bowl of warm water for five minutes if in a hurry)
  • All Purpose Flour (We use White Lily- Make sure that it is all purpose and not self rising.)
  • Baking Powder & Salt
  • Sour Cream- We recommend "full fat".
  • Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Lemon Extract- The extract should smell lemony. If it has a strong chemical smell or just smells "off", do not use it.

How to Make Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake

Find the full recipe at the end of this post! Here's a quick look at our steps. This is a very simple recipe.

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease and flour a bundt pan.
  • Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt to combine, set aside for later.
  • Cream the butter with the paddle attachment in your mixer, gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Add the room temperature eggs one at a time blending after each to incorporate.
  • Wet Ingredients: In a small bowl or measuring cup, add the sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and lemon extract.
  • While mixing on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream mixture to the butter, sugar, & egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. (I add the flour mixture three times and the sour cream mixture twice). Mix just until incorporated.
  • Bake at 325 degrees for 60-70 minutes. (Our cake, which was baked in a light colored pan, took about 70 minutes.) Baking times may vary!
  • Allow the cake to cool, still in the pan, on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out.
Freshly baked cake, still in pan, cooling on a wire rack.

Decorating the Pound Cake

This lemon sour cream pound cake tastes great just as it is, but if you'd like to dress it up a bit, you can add a simple glaze! We made a lemon glaze of powdered sugar, a bit of lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and lemon zest. It is much like our easy vanilla glaze, which is also a good choice.

You can spoon it over the cake, or pipe it through a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away for more control.

We topped it with a dusting of powdered sugar (tapped through a fine mesh strainer to prevent clumps).

Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake, sliced, on a cake plate.

Recipe FAQs

We love cake recipes with sour cream! It adds moisture and richness without thinning the cake batter (which is especially helpful with add ins as with our Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake), and it makes for a velvety soft texture. 

Yes, we really recommend using lemon extract. (Today, we used McCormick Pure Lemon Extract). While lemon zest and lemon juice give a nice boost of lemon flavor, the majority of the lemon flavor comes from extract. The oils in lemon zest add great flavor also.

Unfortunately, the flavor of lemon juice is more likely to bake out. However, an added bonus of lemon juice is that it softens the strands of gluten in the batter, which makes for a more tender cake.

**The lemon extract should smell lemony. If it has a strong chemical smell, don't use it, it has likely gone bad (even if the expiration date on the bottle is still good.)

No, this pound cake is fine to leave at room temperature under a cake dome or in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Beyond that, we like to more the cake to the refrigerator for freshness.

More Lemon Cakes

We love lemon cakes and have made so many over the years! In addition to our Lemon Pound Cake and Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake, we have lots of great layer cakes as well. A few popular ones are our Lemon Cake from Scratch, Lemon Cake Mix Recipe, and Lemon Buttermilk Cake.

If you love lemon cakes like we do, make sure to check out our section of lemon cake recipes!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! We hope that you'll give this recipe a try. Don't miss our full collection of favorite cake recipes and free cake decorating tutorials! We have so many more cakes to share with you.

Sliced Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake on a cake plate.

Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake

This ultra moist and buttery Lemon Sour Cream Pound cake has wonderful lemon flavor, richness, and a velvety texture. You will love how simple it is to make!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15
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Ingredients

  • 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened (339g)
  • 3 cups sugar (600g)
  • 5 large eggs, room temperature (if you are in a hurry, place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
  • 3 cups All Purpose Flour (not self-rising) (375g) (We used White Lily Brand)
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder (2g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
  • 1 cup sour cream (242g)
  • ¼ cup lemon juice approx amount in one small lemon
  • zest of two lemons
  • 1 teaspoons vanilla extract (4g)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon extract (12g)

Lemon Glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
  • 1-2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice (adjust amount as needed for desired consistency. You could also substitute milk for the liquid and add ½ teaspoon of lemon extract instead.)
  • zest of one lemon
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease and flour a bundt pan.
  • In a separate bowl whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt to combine, set aside for later.
  • Cream the butter with the paddle attachment in your mixer, gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Add the eggs one at a time blending after each to incorporate.
  • In a small bowl or measuring cup, add the sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and lemon extract.
  • While mixing on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream mixture to the butter, sugar, & egg mixture. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. (I add the flour mixture three times and the sour cream mixture twice). Mix just until incorporated.
  • Bake at 325 degrees for 60-70 minutes. (Our cake, which was baked in a light colored pan, took about 70 minutes.) Baking times may vary. Check on the cake as it nears the 1 hour mark and adjust time as needed. When an inserted toothpick or skewer comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached, it is ready.
  • This recipe makes approximately 8-8.5 cups of batter.

For the Lemon Glaze

  • Combine sugar, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl and stir until smooth. If the glaze is too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. If too thin, add a bit more milk or lemon juice.
  • When the cake is cool, spoon, drizzle, or pipe the glaze over the cake. (I spooned mine into a piping bag with the tip snipped away for more control.)
  • If you'd like, you can tap powdered sugar through a sifter over the cake or sprinkle with lemon zest.

Notes

We used a light colored tube pan with a baking capacity of 12 cups. Any bundt pan will work but a dark pan, smaller pan, or larger pan will alter the baking times.
If using a smaller bundt or tube pan, make sure not to fill the prepared pan more than approximately ⅔ full (to allow a couple of inches for the cake to rise without overflowing). 
Pound cakes can be baked in advance, wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, and frozen for up to three months. To thaw, move the wrapped cake to the refrigerator the day before, and to the kitchen counter the next morning. 

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