Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake made with butter, sugar, eggs, as well as buttermilk, lemon juice and fresh lemon zest for fabulous fresh, bright lemon flavor!

Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake is one of the most incredible lemon cakes I have ever tried! I served it with sliced sweetened strawberries on top and everyone raved – even my husband who doesn’t quite share my fondness for lemon desserts. It is gorgeous too, especially if you make it in a bundt pan as shown in the pictures.

Tips for Making a Lemon Bundt Cake

I used to really struggle with making bundt cakes, until I learned a few tricks! Now they’re one of my favorite types of cakes to make because not only are they really easy, but they’re so pretty. Here’s what I do:

Use a high quality bundt cake pan. Not all bundt cake pans are the same! You want a heavy one and I prefer a classic shape, as opposed to the super fancy pans. They’re just easier as you don’t have to worry about heavily greasing a million facets. I love my “Original Nordic Ware Pro 12 Cup Bundt Cake Pan.”
Grease the bundt cake pan well. You can spray with non-stick spray and then flour the pan, you can grease it by hand with shortening or butter. Or you can take a short cut and use the non-stick spray specifically for baking– it’s the BEST! Since I’ve started using this on my bundt cake pan I haven’t had a single issue with sticking. You can find it on the baking aisle of nearly every major grocery store. I know that Wilton also makes a “Cake Release” product but I haven’t tried it. I imagine it works well too!
Bake pound cakes a day in advance! Pound cakes really taste better a day or two after they’re baked, so if you have time, bake them, release them from the pan and then cover them in an airtight container and let the flavors develop. Then, prior to serving, drizzle with glaze or frost as you’d like and serve.

Easy, step by step instructions on how to make the best Buttermilk Lemon Pound Cake recipe.

Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake ingredients

Here’s what you need to make our Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake:

–2 1/2 cups white sugar

–1 1/2 cups butter, softened

–4 eggs

–3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

–1/2 teaspoon salt

–1/2 teaspoon baking soda

–1 cup buttermilk

–2 TBSP lemon juice

–1 TBSP lemon zest

To make the Lemon Glaze:

–2 cups powdered sugar

–2 TBSP softened butter

–2 TBSP lemon juice

–2 tsp lemon zest + more for garnish on top (about 1 TBSP total)

–1 TBSP milk

How do I know when my bundt cake is fully baked?

Fully cook and then fully cool your bundt cake. Releasing the cake from the bundt cake pan is more difficult if you’ve undercooked your cake AND if you’re trying to get the cake out of the pan before cooling it enough. If you’re not sure if you cake is fully cooked, you can always test the internal temperature- here’s my favorite cooking thermometer! It should read 210 degrees F.

Once it’s perfectly baked, remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on a cooling rack for about 30 minutes. I prefer a cooling rack over cooling cakes on hot pads because cooling racks allow air to circulate better around the entire cake, so it cools faster. You cake shouldn’t be cold, but it should be cool enough to handle. Place a plate on top of the cake, facing down, then overturn the entire cake. The cake should release on to the plate.

LEMON BUTTERMILK POUND CAKE

Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake is a classic pound cake recipe with the addition of fresh lemon! Buttermilk gives this Lemon Pound Cake a wonderful texture and everyone loves the bright flavor of the lemon glaze. It’s the perfect pound cake!

4.85 from 20 votes

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Course: Cake

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 1 10

Total Time: 1 25

Servings:

Calories: 313kcal

Author: Jessica & Nellie

Ingredients

2 ½ cups white sugar
1 ½ cups butter softened
4 eggs
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP lemon zest

Lemon Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSP softened butter
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest + more for garnish on top about 1 TBSP total

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a bundt cake pan.
Beat white sugar and 1 1/2 cups butter together in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, thoroughly beating each egg into the butter mixture before adding the next.
Combine flour, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture; mix well. Pour in 1/2 the buttermilk and beat until combined. Repeat adding the remaining flour mixture and buttermilk, beating well after each addition, and ending with the flour mixture. Stir lemon juice and zest into batter. Batter should be very smooth and have a silky texture- almost as if it was whipped. Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for 70-75 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a cake platter or plate.
How to make Lemon Glaze: Whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons soft butter, lemon and lemon zest together in a bowl until glaze is smooth. Once cake has fully cooled, pour the glaze over the cake, letting some drizzle down the sides and into the center. Top with additional lemon zest, if desired.

Video

Notes

Store leftover cake in an airtight container on the countertop for up to 5-6 days.

Cake freezes beautifully for up to 2 months.

Nutrition

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CAN I FREEZE a Bundt CAKE?

Yes, bundt cake can be frozen in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 months. You can freeze the entire cake for later or store leftover slices of cake for a later dessert if you can’t finish it fast enough. This is a great way to get a tasty bite of sweets over the course of the next few weeks. Just thaw the slice of cake for a few minutes at room temperature before serving.

Why is my cake so dense?

This can happen if you don’t cream the butter and sugar enough before adding the eggs. Make sure the mixture has turned a light, almost white color before moving on to the next step. It is also important to scrape down the bowl to ensure that everything is uniformly mixed.

Another possibility could be that your baking powder or baking soda has expired. These both cause the cake to rise, so any problem with them will create a really dense cake.

WHY IS MY CAKE RUBBERY?

If you overmix your cake batters you will cause the glutens in the flour to develop which in turn will give you a more dense and rubbery texture to your cake. You want to mix just enough that everything is well combined and distributed without leaving behind any flour streaks. Using a whisk helps to achieve this with a few trips around the bowl.