Italian Pound Cake

Name: Italian Pound Cake
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 1 h 20 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 16
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 1/2 c cake flour; 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour; 1/4 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp salt; 8 oz cream cheese, softened at room temperature; 2 stick (1 cup) butter, softened at room temperature; 1/2 c shortening; 3 c white sugar; 6 eggs, at room temperature; 1 Tbsp lemon zest - add to batter; 1 Tbsp lemon extract; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 1/2 c milk, at room temperature (depending on weather you may only need 1/4 cup milk - look at consistency, should be thick but smooth); LEMON GLAZE; 1 1/2 c confectioners' sugar; 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

By Jim Frigyes
@Jfrigyes

My Nonna (grandmother), Nonno (grandfather), & my mom love anything lemon - they brought over the start of lemon trees from Italy & we grew lemons while growing up & still to this day so we always had on hand. This was Nonna's go to cake when making sweets.

If you don't care for lemon - leave out the lemon extract, lemon zest & lemon glaze. Increase the vanilla extract to 4 teaspoons or use 2 teaspoons of another extract like almond.

Blue Ribbon Recipe

I love a lemon cake recipe, and this refreshing, moist lemon cake is delicious! Packed with lemon flavor, this lemon cake recipe isn't overly sweet which I loved. This would be great for a brunch, after a special occasion, or maybe even a special treat with a cup of morning coffee. So good! The Test Kitchen

Rating:

★★★★★ 4 votes5

Comments:

18 Comments

Serves:

Prep:

25 Min

Cook:

1 Hr 20 Min

Method:

Bake

Ingredients

Add to Grocery List

1 1/2 c

cake flour
1 1/2 c

all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp

baking powder
1 tsp

salt
8 oz

cream cheese, softened at room temperature
2 stick

(1 cup) butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 c

shortening
3 c

white sugar
6

eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbsp

lemon zest - add to batter
1 Tbsp

lemon extract
2 tsp

vanilla extract
1/2 c

milk, at room temperature (depending on weather you may only need 1/4 cup milk - look at consistency, should be thick but smooth)
LEMON GLAZE
1 1/2 c

confectioners' sugar
1 Tbsp

fresh lemon juice

How to Make Italian Pound Cake

Step-by-Step

* Do not preheat oven. Butter & flour a 10" bundt pan - set aside.
Sift together flours, salt, & baking powder; then set aside.
Using mixer - cream together the butter, shortening, sugar & cream cheese until light & fluffy. *If using a stand mixer - let this beat together for awhile while you are preparing the next steps.
Add extracts & mix to combine. Begin to whisk in eggs - 2 at a time making sure they fully incorporate before adding the next set of eggs.
Whisk in flour mixture alternating between the milk. Always beginning with the flour & ending with the flour. Mixing just until incorporated - over mixing at this point will make for a tough cake.
Pour batter into prepared pan, put pan in oven & set temperature to 350 degrees. Bake cake between 1 & 1.5 hours or until cake tester comes out clean. Begin watching cake after 45 minutes - if top begins to over brown - tent with foil for the remaining baking time. Begin to test cake at the 50-minute mark. Depending on your oven (gas/electric) the cake will cook faster/slower. You don't want to overcook this cake or it will be very dry & crumbly.
Allow cake to cool in pan for 15-30 minutes then remove from pan & cool on wire rack.
Once cool - mix powdered sugar & lemon juice together & drizzle over the top of the cake.
Notes:
*You can cook this in any pan you like - doesn't have to be a bundt pan - you can use 2 loaf pans too.

*You can use all butter in place of shortening if you like.

*If you do not have cake flour you can use all, all-purpose flour instead.

*When testing your cake - if a few crumbs stick to your toothpick/tester it's good to go -- just as long as there is no raw batter stuck to it.