Iced Gluten Free Lemon Pound Cake
This gluten free lemon pound cake is rich and dense, with tons of bright lemon flavor from plenty of freshly squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest. Add a thick layer of the simple lemon glaze, and it tastes like it came right from the coffee house case!
Yield: 1 standard loaf pound cake
Ingredients
For the pound cake
- 1 ¼ cups (175 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter; please click through for details)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- ¼ cup (36 g) cornstarch (or try arrowroot or potato starch)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 12 tablespoons (168 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 4 (200 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) freshly squeezed lemon juice
For the glaze
- 1 ½ cups (173 g) 173 g confectioner’s sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon (½ fluid ounce) freshly squeezed lemon juice plus more as necessary
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease a loaf pan that is no more than 9-inches by 5-inches, and set it aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, salt and about 3/4 of the lemon zest, and whisk to combine well, working to break up any clumps of lemon zest. Set the bowl aside.
Make the pound cake batter.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), place the butter and cream cheese and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
- Add the granulated sugar and mix to combine. Add the eggs and lemon juice, mixing well after each addition until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, beating well to combine after each addition. The batter will be smooth and thick, but relatively light.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and smooth the top with a wet spatula.
Bake the pound cake.
- Place the loaf pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake until a tester inserted in the center of the pound cake comes out clean (about 50 minutes).
- If the loaf begins to brown too much, cover it tightly with a piece of aluminum foil.
- Remove the pound cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the glaze & assemble the cake.
- Once the pound cake is nearly cool, make the glaze. In a small bowl, place the confectioner’s sugar, salt, and the remaining lemon zest, and whisk to combine and to break up any lumps in the confectioner’s sugar or the lemon zest.
- Add the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, and mix well. Continue to add lemon juice by the teaspoon, stirring in between additions, until the glaze is thickly pourable.
- Pour the glaze over the cooled pound cake, and allow to set at room temperature.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
Recipe originally published in March 2013. More text and resources added in 2020.