Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake
This luscious Lemon Pound Cake is packed with citrus flavors and beautiful dense texture with tight crumbs.
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Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons 240g all-purpose or cake flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon 125g unsalted butter, at room tº
- ½ cup 110g sour cream, at room tº
- 1 ½ cups 300g granulated sugar
- 3 eggs at room t°
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Zest from 1 lemon
- For the glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350ºF/180°C.
- Butter or spray one 9x4 loaf pan.
- Spray or butter the pan and line the bottom with parchment if you want. It makes it easier to remove it later.
- In a large bowl beat butter and sour cream until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Add lemon zest and mix.
- Add sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more.
- Add eggs, one at a time, incorporating each one before adding the next.
- Add vanilla and juice.
- Sift flour with baking soda and salt and add it to the butter mixture at low speed, in 2 additions, beating only until well mixed. Don't overbeat.
- Pour into the pan, smooth top, and bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden and cracked on top and a tester comes out clean. It might take longer depending on your oven and the type of pan you use. If the top is coloring too fast, cover it lightly with a piece of aluminum foil for the last part of the baking.
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire rack, and then unmold.
- Let cool completely before glazing.
- For the glaze:
- Mix powdered sugar and juice until smooth.
- Put the cake on a wire rack and a piece of parchment or aluminum below, and pour slowly along the center of the cake letting it slide to the sides.
- You can rescoop the glaze that drips to the paper and pour it over again.
Notes
Though I've used sour cream for this particular cake, I've substituted sour cream with full-fat yogurt in other recipes. However, I recommend you to use sour cream itself if it's available.
While creaming butter and sour cream, the water from the sour cream separated. if it happens to you too, don't worry, it will come together later. also, after adding the egg, the batter may look curdled, but it will come together once the flour is added.
Creaming: take your time to cream butter, sour cream, and sugar. It makes the cake rise better and makes for a wonderful crumb.
Baking: pan sizes are important because dense cakes such as this lemon pound cake take a while to bake. So if the pan is too small it will color too much on the outside before being fully baked on the inside. If the top is getting over browned, cover the cake tin loosely with aluminium foil and continue baking.
Make sure the cake is cooled down for at least 20-25 mins before slicing. I skipped the glazing.
Storing it: I stored it at room temp for 3-4 days in an airtight container.