Moist Lemon Cake
Pound cake with lemon zest, syrup soak, and white glaze, moist for days.
- Preparation
- 20 min
- Cook/bake time
- 55 min
- Total
- 1 hr 15 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Calories
- 446 kcal
- Servings
- 12
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cooking & baking
- 55 min
Pound cake with lemon zest, syrup soak, and white glaze, moist for days. The lemon syrup is poured over the still hot cake and soaks in completely, making it significantly moister than any glaze alone. The zest is rubbed into the sugar beforehand so the essential oils are released.
Why this works
The lemon flavor sits in oil glands right under the surface of the peel. If you rub the zest with sugar, the sugar crystals act like fine sandpaper. They tear open the glands and the essential oils bind to the sugar instead of evaporating during baking. The syrup, in turn, only works when hot. A warm crumb has open, expanded pores and absorbs the liquid. Poured onto a cold cake, the same syrup would simply run off.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Make the lemon sugar
Grate the zest of all four lemons and rub the zest thoroughly into the sugar with your fingertips until it becomes moist and intensely fragrant. This small step releases the essential oils from the peel and distributes them throughout the batter. Zest that is merely stirred in remains localized and significantly weaker.
- 2
Cream the butter
Beat the soft butter with the lemon sugar for five minutes until light and fluffy. This time is no exaggeration, because this is where the air is beaten in that will later make the cake light. Then add the room temperature eggs one at a time and continue beating for half a minute after each.
- 3
Finish the batter
Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt and fold them alternately with the yogurt into the butter mixture in two portions. Only stir until everything is combined. The yogurt makes the cake tender and, together with the syrup, ensures that it does not become dry even after days.
- 4
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased 30 cm loaf pan and smooth it out. Bake it at 170 °C top and bottom heat for 50 to 55 minutes until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Cover it loosely with aluminum foil after thirty minutes if the surface browns too quickly.
- 5
Soak and glaze
Heat the lemon juice and sugar for the syrup until the sugar has dissolved. Pierce the hot cake deeply several times with a wooden skewer and slowly pour the syrup over it so that it soaks in completely. Let it cool, then mix the powdered sugar with the lemon juice to make a glaze and pour it over the cold cake.
Our best tips
- Rub the zest with the sugar. This step takes thirty seconds and seemingly doubles the lemon flavor.
- The syrup must go onto the hot cake. Cold, it does not soak in but remains as a sticky layer.
- Only use organic lemons, as the peel is used.
Tasty variations
With poppy seeds
Fold 60 g of poppy seeds into the batter, which makes the classic Lemon Poppy Seed Cake.
With blueberries
Toss 200 g of blueberries in flour and fold them in, so they do not sink to the bottom.
Nutrition facts
| Calories | 446 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 60 g |
| – of which sugar | 42 g |
| Fat | 20 g |
| Fiber | 2 g |
Where the 446 kcal come from
per serving
Calculated from the ingredients – how we do it
We add up reference values for every ingredient and divide by the number of servings. These assumptions are baked in:
- Reference values per 100 g – for the raw ingredient, exactly as listed.
- Tinned goods count at drained weight, bone-in meat at purchase weight: you eat about 70 per cent of a chicken thigh and leave the rest.
- Water evaporates as you cook. The energy stays in the pot, the weight does not – so the figure is per serving, not per 100 g of finished dish.
- Anything listed without a quantity – “salt and pepper” – is not counted.
A guide value, not a lab measurement: no two onions weigh the same, and fat content varies from pack to pack.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my cake dry?
Usually baked too long or the syrup was left out. The skewer test should come out just clean, not bone dry.
Can I use bottled lemon juice?
For the syrup in a pinch, for the zest obviously not. Fresh juice tastes significantly rounder and less metallic.
How long does the cake keep?
Thanks to the syrup, it stays moist for five days, well wrapped. It also freezes easily, ideally without the glaze.
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