Calling lemon lovers everywhere. Forget what you know about lemon cake- this Lemon Pound Cake is about to blow your mind. With bright lemon flavor and a tart lemon glaze, it’s the ideal summer dessert.
You might be asking why this cake of cakes is going to be the one to blow your mind. The answer is simple: it uses yogurt. In many recipes, yogurt can be substituted for butter. Both are dairy and come from animal protein. While butter has a lot of fat and calories, yogurt has much less.
Yogurt also has the benefits of calcium, vitamin B-2, vitamin B-12, potassium, magnesium and probiotics. Probiotics are “friendly bacteria” that are naturally present in the digestive system.
Yogurt Pound Cake
So I am not going out on a limb here and saying that this is a healthy pound cake, because it still uses flour, sugar and vegetable oil, but yogurt sure does sneak in some health benefits.
The other stand out for this pound cake recipe is the lemon. Lemon is found in not one, but THREE places! Lemon zest and extract in the cake batter and cake itself and a lovely lemon marmalade for the pound cake glaze.
A lovely twist on an old favorite, this lemon yogurt pound cake can be served for breakfast, brunch, dessert or even with spot of tea for afternoon coffee. Also check out the most common mistakes when making pound cake before you get started.
Lemon Pound Cake Ingredients
- Flour – Flour is what holds all of this together. No need for fancy cake flour, all purpose flour is just fine for this easy recipe.
- Baking powder – Baking powder acts as a leavener for this moist pound cake. It’s what helps to give it rise and height.
- Salt – As stated before, we aren’t using butter in this recipe, so we do need to add just a touch of salt to balance out the flavors.
- Vanilla yogurt – Part of what makes this such a moist lemon pound cake is the fact that we use yogurt instead of unsalted butter like a classic pound cake recipe. The tangy flavor also helps to complement the lemon.
- Sour cream – Sour cream adds moisture to the cake batter without thinning it out too much. The slightly sour flavor also pairs well with the yogurt.
- Sugar – You can have a cake without sugar! Regular granulated white sugar is what we need.
- Large eggs – Any time you are baking with eggs, assume the recipe calls for large eggs. For the best results, make sure to use room temperature eggs.
- Lemon – Lemon desserts just aren’t the same without fresh lemon juice or zest. I always prefer using fresh lemons instead of the bottled variety.
- Lemon extract – This is one of three ways we incorporate lemon into this lemon loaf recipe. But feel free to use vanilla extract if you don’t have any on hand.
- Vegetable oil – I prefer moist crumbs for my homemade lemon pound cake, and using vegetable oil is a great way to achieve that.
- Lemon marmalade – This is the third and final addition of lemon to our easy lemon pound cake. It has a delicious but subtle lemon flavor and is perfect for lemon recipes of any kind.
- Powdered sugar – Sometimes called confectioners’ sugar, powdered sugar is used to provide both structure and sweetness to our tangy lemon glaze.
How to Make Lemon Pound Cake
- Prepare oven and pan. Preheat the oven and coat a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. You can also line the pan with parchment paper if preferred.
- Dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Wet ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together yogurt, sour cream, sugar and eggs. Blend well and then add lemon zest, extract and vegetable oil. Slowly, add flour mixture. Batter might be a little lumpy.
- Bake. Pour batter into bread pan. Set pan onto a baking sheet. Bake until it passes the toothpick test. If the top starts to brown before the cake is fully cooked, cover the top loosely with aluminum foil.
- Cool. Remove lemon pound cake and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack before gently removing from the pan. It should come out easily, but if not, cut along the sides with a knife and then tap on the bottom until it releases.
- Make glaze. While cake is cooling, heat marmalade in a small sauce pan over low heat, whisking until smooth. Remove and stir in powdered sugar. You may need to add a little more powdered sugar or a small amount of milk or water until an easily pour-able consistency.
- Finish. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake, cut into individual slices and serve.
Storage and Freezing
Store your cake in a cool, dry place at room temperature. Make sure to keep it covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil or in an airtight container. It should stay good and moist for up to 5 days.
This Lemon Pound Cake is also freezer friendly. Wrap very well in aluminum foil and/or freezer paper and store in the back of the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw by unwrapping and sitting at room temperature for 3-4 hours.
More delicious desserts:
Ice Cream Sandwiches
Canadian Butter Tarts
Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes
Lemon Yogurt Pound Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces vanilla yogurt 2 individual containers
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- Zest of one lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup lemon marmalade , for glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- Cooking spray preferably butter flavored
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 9-inch bread pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle or a large mixing bowl using an electronic hand mixer, cream together yogurt, sour cream, sugar and eggs. Blend well and then add lemon zest, extract and vegetable oil. Slowly, add dry mixture. Mixture might be a little lumpy.
- Pour batter into bread pan. Set pan onto a baking sheet. Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. If the top starts to brown before the cake is fully cooked, cover the top loosely with aluminum foil.
- Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes before gently removing from the pan. It should come out easily, but if not, cut along the sides with a knife and then tap on the bottom until it releases.
- While cake is cooling, heat marmalade in a small sauce pan over low heat, whisking until smooth. Remove and stir in powdered sugar. You may need to add a little more powdered sugar or a small amount of milk or water until an easily pour-able consistency.
- Glaze cake and serve. Enjoy your Lemon Yogurt “Pound” Cake!
c
Loved how simple this cake was, and I didn’t even have to go to the shop to get the ingredients – had everything in my kitchen already! Brilliant recipe for beginners – easy to make, lovely flavour and brilliant texture!
I love any kind of lemon dessert and this pound cake looks so light and fluffy.
Love the big lemon flavors in this pound cake! Absolutely delicious.
Totally in love with this lemon cake. Looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
This looks SO good! Pinned!
This looks really delicious Jessica! Pinning for later 🙂
It looks amazing! I am Pinning this for Easter!
Mmmm pinned for later
Thanks!