Skip to main content
Dessert

Southern Lemon Pound Cake

A moist lemon-flavored pound cake with cream cheese frosting.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Southern Lemon Pound Cake

Oven325°F
Time1 hour and 20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together, then set aside the sifted mixture.

  2. Cream shortening, butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add 1 egg at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.

  4. Add flavoring.

  5. Beat the batter.

  6. Add portions of dry ingredients alternately with milk.

  7. Beat until completely mixed.

Bake and cool

  1. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan.

  2. Bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

  3. Remove the cake from the oven.

  4. Cool the cake.

Make and spread the frosting

  1. Cream together cream cheese and sifted confectioners' sugar.

  2. Add lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until frosting reaches spreading consistency.

  3. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1064Calories
30 gProtein
50 gFat
126 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Vegetable1 tbsp (14g)120
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cream Cheese1 oz (28g)99
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cakenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + cream cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + cream cheesetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,393 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter as it sets.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and creaming with sugar traps air for a tender texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with fat, helps give it a light, fine crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes lighter.
Cream cheese
Gives the frosting body, tang and a smooth, spreadable texture.

The step that matters

Adding the egg one at a time, beating after each. Each egg must be fully incorporated into the creamed fat and sugar; adding them together or too fast can cause the batter to curdle or separate, which affects the cake's texture.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, butter, milk, cream cheese):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits about as well
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, butter, milk, cream cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More lemon pound cake recipes

Preserved 4 See all 3 →

You might also like

Lemon PieLemon Pie37 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipes