Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Poppy Seeds

This is the tastiest lemon cream cheese pound cake with poppy seeds! It's naturally flavored with lemons and lemon zest, beautifully sprinkled with poppy seeds, and then glazed with a sharp lemon icing! It's like taking a bite right into summer. 

Why you will love this recipe:

I love lemon-flavored desserts; they are so fresh and bright-tasting. These lemon, thyme, and rosemary cupcakes and this Italian lemon ricotta cheesecake are some of my other favorites. 

This southern lemon pound cake is made with cream cheese, making it extremely moist, a bit tangy, and totally delightful. But even though it's made with cream cheese and it's a pound cake, it's not overly dense. It has just a touch of baking powder, which gives the bunt cake a little additional rise and helps create a lighter crumb. If you're looking for another great pound cake, check out this blackberry pound cake.

Key Ingredients:

Self Rising Flour: a low-protein self-rising flour like White Lily or Weisenberger Mills gives this lemon cake a tender crumb and a slight rise. White Lily and Weisenberger Mills flour are more similar to cake flour than it is regular all-purpose flour because of its low protein content. This kind of flour makes a lighter crumb, which is very beneficial in a denser cake like a pound cake. 

Self-rising flour is beneficial too because it already has rising agents and salt blended into the flour. 

Butter: butter provides flavor and structure to the cake; there is one stick of butter for each cup of flour, as is traditional for pound cakes.

Cream Cheese: cream cheese adds moisture, texture, and a tangy flavor to the cake. This is a very moist crumb, and the cream cheese and a bit of buttermilk help give its moistness. 

Lemons: This is a lemon bunt cake, and the zest from four lemons and the juice of two gives it its wonderful lemony flavor!

Eggs: eggs traditionally give these cakes their rise; there is enough air whipped into them to cause them to rise. This recipe also gets its rising help from the baking soda and powder in the flour. 

Step by step instructions:

• Beat the butter and cream cheese until fully blended. 
• Add in the sugar and beat until light and fluffy—about three minutes. Then add in the eggs, one at a time beating after each addition.
• Add in the vanilla and almond extracts and the buttermilk and lightly blend. 
• Slowly add in the flour and poppy seeds and beat on low until it's all been incorporated. 
• Add to a well-greased bunt mold (at least 10 cup capacity), and tap on the counter to remove any air bubbles. 
• Bake for 1 hour and 15 - 20 minutes or until the topped is browned and a knife comes out clean. 
• Make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar with the lemon juice. Stir until no lumps remain. 

Tips for success:

• To get your butter and cream cheese to room temp, place them into a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. 
• Beat the sugar into the cream cheese and butter until lots of air is incorporated. About three-plus minutes. 
• Slowly add in the flour; it will go everywhere if you try to add it in all at once. 
• Tap the bunt pan on the counter to get the air bubbles out of the batter. 
• Let the cake cool in the bunt pan for 15 minutes, and then turn out to fully cool. 

FAQ's

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