This Lemon Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberry Icing is moist, dense and packed with fresh lemon flavor. The strawberry glaze uses fresh strawberries for the taste of Summer!
Happy 4th of July!!! Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. I can't help but reflect on the courage, vision and fortitude it took to make this Country the paragon of freedom and democracy that it is today. As a Daughter of the American Revolution I feel particularly proud to have ancestors who played an integral part in fighting for our freedom. On July 4th I chiefly feel overcome with this sense of pride, which is precisely how you'll feel after making and serving this Lemon Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberry Icing.
Proud that there isn't a crumb left over and all your guests are raving about how moist and flavorful it was. The lemon is subtle and the strawberry icing just takes the cake to that next flavor level. It's therefore a celebration in and of itself.
Lemon Pound Cake with Strawberry Icing - All Natural, All the Time
Another thing I love about this Lemon Pound Cake is that there isn’t a drop of unnatural flavoring or coloring. The pale yellow cake is tinted by lemon, and the sweet, strawberry icing is flavored and colored by fresh strawberries. Warning: You are going to want to eat this icing on EVERYTHING. Cakes, tarts, cupcakes...literally everything. It's really lovely to have such a natural and overall spectacular icing.
We The People demand more of this cake!
Speaking of having more of this lemon pound cake – I couldn’t get this cake out of the house fast enough! It was so good that I knew if it stuck around, I would eat it all (and, rest assured, I’ve already eaten enough!) They don’t call it Pound Cake because it’s fat free. And we all know what the Wedding Fairy would have to say about that [Hint: it would be snarky].
Lemon Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberry Icing
Ingredients
For the Lemon Pound Cake:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- ½ cup shortening (room temperature)
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 6 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh squeezed, please!)
- 1 extra large lemon (zested (¾ teaspoon))
For the Strawberry Icing:
- 1 cup strawberries (at room temperature)
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 4 cups powdered sugar (divided)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (very soft but not melted)
- 1 ½ tablespoons light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the Lemon Pound Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour your pans. This recipe makes either one large Bundt pan or two large loaf pans.
- Sift Flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream butter, shortening and sugar until the mixture comes together and it is not longer lumpy or clumpy. Add eggs one at a time, beating just until incorporated.
- Add flour mixture in three additions alternating with milk, starting and ending with flour (yes, this is important). Don’t worry if your batter appears curdled after adding the milk. It’s all good. Mix after each addition only until just blended.
- Add the lemon juice and zest. Mix well. It might look curdled. Don’t worry here either.
- Working quickly, pour batter into prepared pans until they are a little more than ¾ full. If you dilly-dally (like I did with my mini loaves) they will fall, and then they will look sad, and we don’t tolerate sad here at CLF.
- Bake cakes until tester comes out with only a few crumbs attached. Approximately 55 minutes for a large Bundt pan and 35 minutes for small pans. I personally would start testing my large Bundt cake after 35 minutes because I abhor dry cakes. Seriously, who wants that?
Make the Fresh Strawberry Icing:
- Sift your powdered sugar after measuring and set it aside. Coarsely chop the hulled strawberries.
- Add strawberries, ¼ cup powdered sugar, and lemon zest to a food processor. Process until the strawberries are completely pureed. Using a wooden spoon, press as much of the strawberry mixture through a fine sieve as possible. Discard seeds.
- Stir the butter, corn syrup and vanilla extract into the strawberry juice. If you can’t quite figure out how to incorporate softened butter into the juice, don’t fret. I stuck mine in the microwave on level 2 and nuked it in 10 second increments until I could stir it all together and I didn’t see any butter pieces. No one wants those.
- Stir the remaining powdered sugar into the strawberry mixture. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, add a tablespoon of water.
Video Instructions
Notes
This is my go to pound cake recipe. It’s perfect every time! I usually have about a cup or so of batter left over after filling my bundt pan 2/3 full so I make 2-3 muffins with it (too good to waste). I also follow your glaze recipe and the only exception I make is to use raspberries instead of strawberries (our preference). I’ve made this recipe at least 10 times and it is always a crowd pleaser. Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!
Thank you so much for commenting! I'm glad you enjoy, and it's beautiful you share it with others! ????
Just made in two loaf pans. Amazing! Lemony. Sweet. Yummy. I did have to adjust bake time. Mine were still runny at the time mark. They did pop out of the pan after cooling yet still warm -- enough to handle bare hands. Icing I modified. Used honey instead of karo. It felt too artificial after using the lemons, strawberries, and blueberries. I cut the powdered sugar back by one cup -- 4 just seemed like a lot. Great recipe. Thanks for posting.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it Susan! Thank you!
I've made this cake twice and both times my family has flipped over it. However, both times it's taken close to 2 hours to cook, and the "top" (bottom ??? Idk what to call it) sticks to the pan. But, like my mom said, in my family no one cares what it looks like as long as it tastes good. And the first time it was gone in 2 days.
Haha! Your mom is right! Perhaps your oven temperature is off. I suggest getting a thermometer to test it. If it runs too hot then the outside will burn before the inside cooks. If it is too low, then it will take forever and it will be dry. It can also eventually burn if it's not hot enough too. Make sure you butter and flour your pan really well. Like when you dump out the excess flour you shouldn't see any spots that aren't lightly floured. Also if you have an oven that has a heat source in the bottom, you can put the cake pan on a baking sheet to diffuse some of the heat. Hope some of that helps! Happy baking!
Hi, can I use coconut milk instead of lemon juice?
Hi, planning on baking this cake...can I substitute the shortening for something else? Also can I substitute the corn syrup for something else or just omit it altogether? Thanks!
Hi Carolyn! You can use butter for the shortening and just omit the corn syrup in the icing. You might need to add a bit more sugar and a bit of water to get it to the right consistency. Happy baking!
Thanks Lindsey. I made the cake and the icing ..... Delicious! Icing has a unique flavor..yum
I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Is the amount of baking powder correct. 1 Tablespoon sounds a bit much. I've never used more than 1, 1-1/2 teaspoon. Just checking before I make it. Looks really yummy!!
Hi Pam! It does seem like a lot but I just double checked the original recipe and it is 1 tablespoon. The key with a dense pound cake is not over-creaming the butter and sugar. Don't skip the strawberry icing! It is one of my favorites to this day! Happy baking!
I'm trying to make this dairy free because of allergies. Can the whole milk be replaced with almond milk or something?
Hi Danielle, I've never tried substituting the milk with almond milk, but you can certainly try. Butter is also a dairy, so you would need to replace that with a dairy-free option as well. Good luck!
There is a vegan butter called Earth Balance that works the same as normal butter and easy to find in most stores. Sometimes using a different milk can kill the whole thing though. Almond milk work well with this recipe. The cake was very moist still. I had to cook it for about 10 minutes longer but that very well could have just been my oven. It was requested that I make it again already so I guess it was a hit.
Ahh I had no idea! I'm glad almond milk worked!
This is by far the best recipe I have ever made on Pinterest! Instead of putting all the lemon I added a packet of vanilla powder, it was a hit! Thank you for this gem!!!!!
Thank you, Jaime! You just made my day! Happy baking!
How did you pour icing on so perfectly?
Slowly!!!! That way you can see where it is going and you can adjust where you are pouring and the flow. The key is also to make sure your icing is a good consistency - if it is too thin it will just run all over and won't make pretty drips. If you start pouring and it's too thin, stop and either let it sit to thicken or add more powdered sugar. If you let it sit, put a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface so it doesn't crystalize.
OH MY GOODNESS!! looks absolutely yummy ~ will be doing this weekend!! 😉
Happy baking!!! I hope you enjoy it!
My cake is over flowing all in the oven!!!! Now it's kinda smoky! Help what should I do? Will it stop? Omg all those ingredients!!!
Oh my goodness! I hope it stopped. I have definitely done that before (not with this recipe but when testing new recipes) and it is such a pain. Next time that happens you can put a piece of tin foil in the rack underneath to at least catch the spillover before it burns. The part that stayed in the pan should still taste good!
This is so beautiful, it almost seems a shame to eat it. Almost.
Thanks for the recipe - it's on tap for this weekend.
Thanks! Let me know how it goes this weekend!
very pretty and sounds yummy!
Thanks, Dina!
This is a beautiful cake! Love your photos.
Thanks Phillip! I recently got a "real" camera and it's been a bit of trial and error!
Woo~ looks so good and Purdy! I love how moist it looks. Strawberry and lemon flavors mesh so well together. Yummy!
Wow...your ancestors were in this country since its founding days? I don't think I have ever met a descendent of one of the first Americans. Fascinating!
Oh it is good...and it stayed moist for 3 days (maybe longer but that is when the last crumb was eaten)!
I think it's pretty cool and kind of crazy that we can trace our ancestry back hundreds of years. My Grandmother did all the heavy-lifting in the research department. She's inspiring.
This looks soooo GOOD!!!
Thanks! It's so good! 🙂
YUM!!! Love your patriotism & thank you for calling it 'Independence Day' - not just July 4th - we must cherish what the day celebrates, not just the date. Each generation must fight to preserve our liberty.
Of course! I believe it's our responsibility to teach our children that our ancestors fought hard for the freedoms we take for granted every day. Obviously you already did that 😉