Iced Lemon Pound Cake Recipe

This Iced Lemon Pound Cake Recipe was inspired by Starbucks’ famous lemon pound cake! If you love that pound cake, you’ll absolutely love this fresh lemon loaf!

Iced Lemon Pound Cake Recipe

A couple weeks ago I stopped in a Starbucks to get a yogurt parfait and saw the famous Starbucks iced lemon pound cake in the case I just had to have. After one bite, I knew I wanted to re-create my own recipe for it.

Let’s just say I did it! Well, I am sure it’s not their recipe, but boy does it taste just like it 🙂  My boys went nuts over this cake and my oldest has requested it for his birthday cake, lol!

It’s that good people and shhhh, don’t tell but I start the recipe from a cake mix. Trust me, no one will ever know. Happy baking!!

Here’s your simple line up of ingredients.

How to Make Iced Lemon Pound Cake

In no particular order, add all of your cake ingredients to the mixer.

Add your lemon pudding and milk.

4 beautiful large eggs.

Your oil and sour cream.

Freshly squeezed lemon juice 🙂  Mmmm!

Once mixed nicely, divide the batter between your loaf pans (9×5).

How gorgeous is this?! Wait until you taste it.

While the cakes are cooling, prepare the tangy icing.

Drizzle, drizzle and drizzle!

I am speechless. Lol!

Iced Lemon Pound Cake

Iced Lemon Pound Cake Recipe

This Iced Lemon Pound Cake Recipe was inspired by Starbucks' famous lemon pound cake! If you love that pound cake, you'll absolutely love this fresh lemon loaf!
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 24 slices
Calories: 212kcal
Author: Jenny
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Equipment

  • Oven

Ingredients

Pound Cake

  • 1 box yellow cake mix
  • 4.3 oz cook and serve Lemon Or 3.4 ounce instant Lemon pudding mix
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 8 oz sour cream
  • 6 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Icing

  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3-4 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

Pound Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray 2 loaf pans (9x5)generously with cooking spray.
  • Place all cake ingredients in no particular order into stand or electric mixer, beating until well combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. 
  • Divide cake batter between two prepared 9x5 loaf pansspreading evenly. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Remove and let cool for 15 minutes before removing loaves from pans.

Icing

  • Place powdered sugar into a large bowl. Drizzle in lemon juice stirring until smooth and thick. Should be a good drizzling consistency.
  • Drizzle icing over cakes after they are completely cooled, and let set for 20 minutes for a firm icing. Otherwise slice while still wet if desired.

Notes

You can make this same recipe into cupcakes, small loaves and even a layered cake. Adjust baking time accordingly.

Nutrition

Calories: 212kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 202mg | Potassium: 39mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 98IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 1mg
Keywords: best pound cake recipe, how to make pound cake, lemon loaf, lemon pound cake, lemon pound cake recipe, pound cake recipe, Starbucks recipe

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Have a great day! Come back soon 🙂

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279 Responses
  1. Porche

    As I was searching for a recipe, I came across this one and I just want to comment on how nice and creative this recipe guide was put together. I think I will use this too! Thanks for your help! 😉

  2. Carolyn Aebi

    Hi. I made this yesterday. My cakes rose but then when flat. Do you have any idea what I did wrong

  3. Jodi K

    If this really tastes like the pound cake from Starbucks, then you are THE BOMB! LOL
    Can’t wait to try it!

  4. Linda

    I am so sad…. I wanted to try this recipe because I LOVE the lemon pound cake at Starbucks and I have a coffee to do at school for the PTO day after next. I think I should of used the cook and serve pudding, I took the cakes out and they fell. They are a little brown, I put a piece of foil on top of all three, flat out. Help????

    1. Linda

      Also, my drizzle was not really drizzley… I used 2 1/2 cups of powered sugar and started with 4 T of lemon juice, then added warm water, enough to make it a little drizzley, not as much as the pictures though. Also, I saw a couple of comments on the size of the loaf pans, I think it should be 3 1/2 x 7 1/2. It is really good though but I want mine to be pretty and fluffy like yours!! I do love the taste!!

      1. Linda

        I just saw the comment above mine and think that my Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake Mix WITH PUDDING IN THE MIX might be the reason it fell. I will try Dunkin Hines if my store puts some more on the shelf tomorrow. (Can you tell I really want to master this recipe!!)

  5. Leslie

    Love this cake. I’ve made it numerous times! Word to the wise… Grocery store was out of my usual Dunkin Hines cake mix Suomi grabbed Betty Crocker one.mas soon as I started mix and pour into pans I noticed a problem. Looking back over the cake mix box I discovered theirs had pudding in it. That is the on thing I can think of that would cause such a huge difference in mixture. It is super thick. Ugh! Oh well…lesson learned!

  6. Glori

    I saw this recipe and I really wanted to try it because I needed a dessert fast and the cake mix and other ingredients are sometimes cheaper and faster and you get a guaranteed product. It was fantastic, I tend to stay away from lemon pudding because it is so strong, but this works really well with the sour cream in it, it gives a creamy texture. I added poppy seeds just to give it an extra pop and I made 2 loafs and literally was gone in 5 minutes. It served 15 people, but another 2 loafs would have satisfied everyone’s craving. This was summery, tasty and yummy, everyone thought I had made it from scratch (which I said I did ;p) Thanks for the recipe! A keeper!

  7. Ericka

    Crystal, I use wax or parchment paper in the bottom of my bread pans. Just cut a strip of parchment paper the width of the inside of your bread pan. Your breads will come out very easy. Just run your knife down the sides of the pan when bread is done and the bread will pop right out!

  8. Ericka

    I love Starbuck’s Lemon Pound Cake, I can’t wait to try this recipe! If this recipe tastes anything close to Starbucks, I will be in Heaven!

  9. Crystal

    I just made this and it is so unbelievably good! The glaze is fantastic (I added one TBS creme bouquet) and the only change I will make next time I make these, because I will make them again!, is that I will butter and flour the bottom of the pans. Thank you for such a fantastic recipe, even though I call them evil lol because they smell fantastic and live up to it! I swear I had to stop myself from running to the oven with a pot holder and a spoon and just shoveling it into my mouth before they were even done baking.

  10. aslam

    Always i love your photos and this recipe.So glad you came up with a recipe of a delicious cake and even glad it starts with a box mix.

  11. Nancy B

    Know what happens when you start to make the recipe, and realize the lemon pudding you bought is really banana cream? You use it anyways, and it turns out just as wonderful! I’ve also been adding lemon zest too. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, my family now loves!

  12. Judi Pence

    I have always loved Starbuck’s lemon loaf ~ so I was thrilled to find your recipe to duplicate it. I just finished baking it but mine sunk in the middle and I have no clue why. The taste is still good but it doesn’t make a lovely presentation . . . any thoughts? And, I have the same comment as several others . . . the small pudding box is 3.4 oz, so I am assuming you might have just transposed the numbers, because the larger box would be double the size of the small box. I’m determined to try it again, but this batch is for an event tomorrow and I’m a little disappointed in the fact that it sunk.

  13. lilkunta

    since this is from yellow cake mix is this just a iced lemon cake?
    i thought what makes a pound cake a pound cake is 1lb of each ingrediant[flour, butter, eggs, sugar].

  14. Linda

    I recently tried your copy cat Starbuck’s Lemon Pound Cake. It rises in the oven but when I remove it from the oven it falls. What am I doing wrong?

    1. Jenny

      Hi Linda, that means you need to bake the cake a bit longer. The same thing happened to me one of the times I made it, but after I baked it about 10 minutes longer the next time and it was great. It will be nice and golden brown on the top. Hope this helps!

  15. A. Seebs

    I am by no means a baker but my mother requested lemon bars for Mother’s Day. We settled for this cake and it did not disappoint! So moist. The easiest cake I have ever made that turned out just so great. Thanks!

  16. Lisa@BlessedwithGrace

    Just made your lemon pound cake. It is in the oven now and smelling so good! I cannot wait to try it. Thanks for sharing such an awesome and EASY recipe. 🙂

  17. Carmen

    This just came out of the oven and it is super yummy. I only had 2 problems #1 despite all the non-stick spray it stuck to the bottom of the pan and so I wasn’t able to take it to the function I was suppose to 🙁 Next time I’ll use butter and flour, no big deal. I was just wondering though, the top of mine fell after it came out of the oven, any advice?? Despite these minor setbacks, I will be making it again, and again. Thanks for the recipe.

  18. ERin

    I made this recipe and my cake fell. Did this happen to you? any advice for how to avoid this? Thanks!

  19. Jennifer R

    HELP! I am a seasoned baker and know my way around a recipe…that being said…I have made this recipe three time with the same result…the cake/loaf collapses and does not cook through to a cake like texture (feels and looks underdone). I have increased the baking time with each recipe (even going over the 55 min. max) but have the same results. I am using 3.4 oz box of instant pudding mix (thinking like others that it was typo in recipe). Has anyone made this according to recipe and had good results? The flavor is soo yummy but cannot/will not make again without knowing why recipe is not working.

    1. Mary

      I just posted a similar comment, then googled why a cake would collapse. Here is what I read (I have no idea for this cake):
      -make sure your oven is calibrated to the correct temperature.
      – make sure your baking soda is fresh. If it is old, it may not be as effective.
      -don’t overbeat once you start adding the flour. Beat well when creaming the butter, then stir only to combine when the flour is added.
      Stay tuned as I plan to try this again and be extra careful.
      If anyone else has suggestions, I would love to hear them.

  20. AmyD

    Hi,

    I found your site through Iowa Girl Eats and have been drooling ever since. I’m planning on making this cake for my boyfriend’s birthday. I will be traveling from FL to DC to see him. Any good tips for transport? Thanks and happy Wednesday! Amy

    1. Jenny

      Great to have you Amy! I would find wrap the cooled cake in plastic wrap then find a plastic container that fits the cake nice and snug. Hope it travels nicely 🙂

  21. Dena

    Made this for Easter and it was very good. Very moist and not too dense. The icing added just the right amount of tangyness (that’s a word, right?). Will be making again. Very refreshing. Thanks!

  22. Peggy

    I just made this cake from your recipe and it was amazing! My almost 3 year old daughter announced, “This is the best cake ever!” Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I think it’s even better than the cake at Starbucks – so moist and lemony. Love it!

  23. BJ Hixon

    Made this recipe last night for my fam of four. By this morning, completely gone! Both cakes, which means we each had about half a cake….I think you could safely say it was a hit.

    1. Jenny

      Sounds like what happened when I made it for our family! I think in 2 days it was totally gone, lol!!

  24. Jessica

    As I type this I have these in the oven. 🙂 I did make a minor change because of what I had in my cupboard. I only had soy milk. Then instead of loafs, I made large muffin size cupcakes. We are taking them to our elderly neighbor couple who both just had surgery and we thought taking them a couple large cupcakes would be a nice display – they could share one with coffee or something like that. Anyway, excited to taste them. 🙂 Thanks for the quick easy dessert recipe.

  25. Amanda

    Oh – and grab white cake mix, chocolate, yelow, etc and different pudding flaovrs depending on the flavor you choose.

  26. Amanda

    I tried this recipe the way above and it was amazing. So I made some changes and got a few variations of it 🙂
    Sub. vanilla, orange, lime, etc. extract/juice for the lemon and it comes out just as delicious but different! I dont eat sugar etc. but i LOVE to bake and luckily my dad makes a great taste tester. He loved every variation of this. I did find I could make half the icing and it was plenty for 2 loaves.

  27. Linda

    Tried to make this recipe twice. First time I baked 45 minutes & second 55 minutes. Both times it came out of the oven looking beautiful & almost to the top of the pan, but as it cooled it fell to half the size. The taste was great but was packy due to the falling. What am I doing wrong?

  28. Susan Kay

    I was just wondering have you tried this using a lemon cake mix instead of a yellow one? I am going to bake this today. Can’t wait!! Sounds yummy!!!

  29. Chris

    I just made the Lemon Pound cake. After they sat in the pan for 10 minutes they were completely sunk in. What did I do wrong?

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