Lemon Pound Cake
A proper vegetarian built around unsalted butter, softened, butter for greasing the pan and cake flour — roughly 70 minutes start to finish, and rated medium to make. Scroll down for the ingredient checklist, a serving scaler and unit converter, and the method broken into 7 steps.
You'll mainly reach for oven and pan. At medium difficulty across 7 steps, it's manageable with a little attention. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Heat the oven to 165 C (325 F) and position a rack in the centre. Grease a 23 by 13 cm loaf pan with butter, then dust it evenly with flour and tap out any excess.
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat the softened butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high for about 4 minutes until pale and fluffy, then beat in the lemon zest.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each and scraping down the bowl, then mix in the lemon juice and vanilla; the batter may look slightly curdled, which is fine.
- On low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with flour, and mix only until just combined to keep the crumb tender.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake for 55 to 65 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack and cool completely before slicing.
You'll use: Oven · Pan · Whisk · Mixer
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter
- olive oil (¾ the amount) · coconut oil · margarine
- Eggs
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce (baking) · 1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water per egg
- Lemon
- lime · 1 tbsp white wine vinegar per lemon
- Milk
- any unsweetened plant milk · ½ cup evaporated milk + ½ cup water
Tips & common questions
How long does Lemon Pound Cake take to make?
About 70 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 7 steps and 12 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of butter?
Try olive oil (¾ the amount). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is Lemon Pound Cake vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
Lemon Pound Cake is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Glazed lemon pound cake in basket.jpg by www.WorthTheWhisk.com, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.