Copycat Starbucks iced lemon pound cake tastes fabulous, and has no chemicals, strange additives or preservatives. Why go to Starbucks and pay for a slice when you can make an entire loaf that’s much healthier for about the same price?
We rarely go to Starbucks, but when we do, my daughter loves to get a slice of their iced lemon pound cake.
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So as an after-school surprise, I thought I’d make her a copycat Starbucks homemade version, which she’d also be able to take to school in her lunch. I started my baking endeavor by looking at the ingredients in Starbucks’ own lemon cake. I must say, I was extremely disappointed after reading the list. Let’s just say we’ll be skipping the pound cake purchases in future— just take a look at this~
Starbucks Iced Lemon Pound Cake Ingredients
Sugar, bleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin and folic acid), egg, unsalted butter (pasteurized cream), powdered sugar (sugar, cornstarch), water, lemon juice (lemon juice from concentrate (water, concentrated lemon juice), sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfate and sodium sulfite (preservatives), lemon oil), vegetable shortening (palm and canola oil), emulsifier (propylene esters, mono-diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate, tricalcium phosphate), nonfat milk, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), food starch – modified, natural flavor, salt, icing base (dextrose, stearic acid, agar agar, salt, pectin, guar gum, sodium hexametaphosphate), corn syrup, natural butter flavor (maltodextrin, natural butter flavor, annatto and turmeric (for color)), vital wheat gluten, guar gum, xanthan gum, natural lemon oil, beta carotene wsp (maltodextrin, glucose syrup, gum arabic, vegetable oil, tocopherol, vitamin c, beta carotene pure, silicon dioxide), titanium dioxide, pan spray (soy lecithin, [contains one or more of the following: canola oil, palm oil, soybean oil, natural flavor, mineral oil])
I don’t know about you, but this just puts me right off. Can you imagine making this in your own kitchen? Even the icing, which could easily be made of sugar, water and lemon juice, has sodium hexametaphosphate in it. The FDA claims it is “generally recognized as safe”. Generally? Hmmm, no thanks. If I can’t make it in my kitchen, I’ll pass.
You will probably also enjoy this beautifully moist Sicilian Whole Orange Cake recipe, too.
Now let me tell you about the Copycat Starbucks iced lemon pound cake I made, and you can easily make in your kitchen–it’s so much better! Honest! Why? Because it tastes like Starbucks’ pound cake without all the junk ingredients, that’s why. I hope you enjoy it–my daughter did!
I also made a loaf for a Downton Abbey party for her and her friends and they LOVED the copycat Starbucks pound cake!
Copycat Starbucks Iced Lemon Pound Cake
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Simplifying Lemon Pound Cake serves 12
Ingredients (compare to the list above!)
- 1 1/2 cups (7.5 oz) cake flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup (2 sticks) (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (8 oz) sugar
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice, preferably Meyer lemon
- zest of one lemon, preferably organic Meyer lemon
- 8 to 10 drops of pure lemon oil
Icing
- 1 cup (4.25 oz) confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
- about 3 tsp. lemon juice and water to make a runny glaze
Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC) and butter and flour a standard size loaf tin (about 5.5″ x 9.5″) and set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
Cream room temperature butter and sugar in mixer, scraping down the sides once or twice.
Add one egg, and mix well, then add about 2 tbsp of flour until blended. Continue with the rest of the eggs, and a little flour, scraping the sides of the bowl from time to time.
Now add the vanilla, lemon juice, lemon rind and lemon oil, and mix well.
Remove bowl from mixer and gently fold in the remaining flour with a spatula.
Place cake batter into prepared loaf pan and put into preheated oven for 15 minutes. Afterwards, lower the temperature to 325ºF (150ºC) and continue to bake for another 40 to 45 minutes, or until tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
My first cake fell in the center as it wasn’t finished baking when I checked it at 35 minutes, so you will just have to use trial and error to see how your oven bakes.
Let cool for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and place on rack to cool completely.
When cool, prepare the icing, if desired.
Just mix the confectioner’s sugar and lemon and water until smooth.
Spread or drizzle over cooled cake…
letting it drip down the sides.
Allow the icing to dry/set before cutting the cake with a serrated knife.
Oh, and one last thing: click the 5 stars in the recipe card if you think this copycat cake is way better than Starbucks Iced Lemon Pound Cake, thank you!!
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Way Better Than Starbucks Iced Lemon Pound Cake!
A lovely lemon pound cake similar to the one served at Starbucks without the massive number of incomprehensible ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (7.5 oz) cake flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup (2 sticks) (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (8 oz) sugar
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice, preferably Meyer lemon
- rind of one lemon, preferably organic Meyer lemon
- 8 to 10 drops of pure lemon oil
- 1 cup (4.25 oz) confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
- about 3 tsp. lemon juice and water to make a runny glaze
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC) and butter and flour a loaf tin/pan and set aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
- Cream room temperature butter and sugar in mixer, scraping down the sides once or twice.
- Add one egg, and mix well, then add about 2 tbsp of flour until blended. Continue with the rest of the eggs, and a little flour, scraping the sides of the bowl from time to time.
- Now add the vanilla, lemon juice, lemon rind and lemon oil, and mix well.
- Remove bowl from mixer and gently fold in the remaining flour with a spatula. Place cake batter into prepared loaf pan and put into preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 325ºF (150ºC) and continue to bake for another 40 to 45 minutes, or until tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and place on rack to cool completely. When cool, prepare the icing, if desired.
- Just mix the confectioner’s sugar and lemon and water until smooth. Spread or drizzle over cooled cake, letting it drip down the sides.
- Allow the icing to dry/set before cutting the cake with a serrated knife.
Notes
See my other lemon loaf recipe that's gluten free.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 14 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 102Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 55mgSodium: 105mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 3g
Nutrition information is only estimated.
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I found that this cake took an extra 15 min to cook. I may have had a little more lemons juice and I folded in a cup of fresh blueberries as well. So I’ll hold off judging until I make it again. Yes I will. Anyhow I think that if you have added too much lemon juice I would add 2 tbsp of poppy seeds to the flour and it would counteract the extra liquid. Keep on baking folks.
Thanks, Wendy! Yes, and every oven is different, too. I advise having an oven thermometer to make sure the oven is calibrated properly, as well. Hope you enjoy it!
I cannot find cake flour, can I use regular all purpose flour.
Here’s what you can do: remove 3 Tbsp of flour after measuring/weighing it. Add 3 Tbsp of corn starch. Sift the flour and cornstarch together and proceed with the recipe. Enjoy, Seeta! :)
I love lemon cake. I bought Meter lemons yesterday. So I can’t wait to make this. But what size of loaf tin do you use? Thank you bb
Hi Jean, a standard size (about 5.5″ x 9.5″). Let me know how it turns out! :)
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