Copycat Starbucks Iced Lemon Pound Cake (But Healthier)
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.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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!
For another recipe, try this whole Meyer lemon bundt cake recipe which uses the rind and all. You can choose to glaze or ice it, too.
You won’t regret making this cake, I can almost guarantee it!
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.
Make the Batter for the Better Than Starbucks Iced Lemon Loaf
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!!
Don’t miss another recipe or travel post; sign up for my free subscription below!
Way Better Than Starbucks Iced Lemon Pound Cake!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp lemon juice freshly squeezed (preferably Meyer lemon)
- 1 rind of a lemon (preferably organic Meyer lemon)
- 8 drop pure lemon oil
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 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
Christina’s Cucina is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Would love to try this tonight but I only have salted butter. Would that make it taste way too salty? Otherwise, I have all the ingredients and can’t wait to try it!
Sorry, Barb! Hope it’s not too late, but use the salted butter if that’s all you have, just omit the salt. Enjoy!!
Hi Christina
The cake using your recipe is indeed way better than Starbucks ones! My husband loves it! Better than one recipe l tried years ago!
Thanks
Mi Mi
That’s lovely to hear, Mi Mi! Thanks so much for letting me know, I appreciate it very much! <3
I have just read your post (again) “A Post about Commenting” – and thought I’d share this post that I put on FB a little while ago:
Heads up folks! I have been making lemon cakes for longer than I’d like to admit, but this afternoon I pulled out of the oven two of the most amazing lemon pound cakes EVER! Here is my advice go, do not pause, do not say “I’ll do that later” go NOW to christinascucina.com and look for a recipe called “Way better than Starbucks Lemon Pound Cake” and have at it! I didn’t have (and couldn’t find) any lemon oil, so used pure lemon essence instead (Christina said that it would do in a pinch, but I am going to search harder for the oil – though I just don’t see how these cakes COULD be any better!) What a terrific recipe. I haven’t iced them yet, so no picture, maybe I’ll try to take one of the finished cakes.
I have now found lemon oil, and am looking forward to making these cakes again!
You are so kind, Lee! Thank you so much for letting everyone know how your cakes turned out, including me! I’m so happy to hear it and also glad that you found lemon oil.
Thank you so much for your lovely review and kind comments! I appreciate them very much! Christina
Lee for years we lived very much in a mennonite community. There was an independent grocer there that carried both peppermint oil and lemon oil. The big stores took over the town so are no longer available so had to do some real leg work to find those oils as I use them for a couple recipes. Micheals craft stores have the oils in one of their sections. There are two small files per package. Each vile is about 1 tsp of oil. I hope this helps if you have not located them yet.
Thanks for your advice, Bev!
You can find lemon oil in most health food stores or by ordering from a high quality oil company like doTerra or Young Living. Don’t forget to get a high quality food/medicinal grade oil, not one from the big box stores for diffusing. The purity is not the quality you need for ingesting. I can hardly wait to try this for a memorial service later this week. I bought my lemon oil because i want the cake good an lemony, not just the icing.
Goodness, I didn’t even think someone might try to use the diffusing oil! I’ll make a note on the recipe. Thanks, Jules. I think you’re going to love the cake. Sorry it’s for a sad occasion though :(
This looks amazing. I plan to double the recipe, and make two cakes, they will be perfect for our deliveries to the local police station, fire station and Marine recruiting office. I usually make cookies or mini cupcakes, so a slice of cake will be a very different treat for them! When strawberries are cheap I make chocolate dipped strawberries – you wouldn’t believe the reception those got! Yesterday when we went to the fire station an amazingly good-looking firefighter kid opened the door and said (to my delight) “Oh, it must be Thursday!” We always deliver on Thursdays. I will report back on the response from all concerned – I am expecting it to be ecstatic!
What a lovely thing to do, Lee!! I love it! Isn’t it funny how fire-fighters always seem to be gorgeous?! Is that a prerequisite or something?! Haha! Please do let me know what they think, but I don’t know how anyone wouldn’t like a lemon cake! :) Thanks for doing this, it’s really a kind and wonderful thing to do. CC
I dont have lemon oil, and its very hard for me to get lemon oil where i live. Can i substitute with anything else?
Hi Nalina, no, you’ll just have to omit it. It will still be good, but not quite as lemony-flavored. :)
Christina, if only I had a slice of this next to my coffee right now. If only! Looks so delicious!
Too bad we’re not closer, I know!!
After reading your tutorial, recipe and looking at your pictures, I believe you. And theirs is pretty darn good! A “can’t wait to try” recipe!
Awesome! Let me know what you think!
My mouth is watering! This is one of my all time favorite treats from Starbucks. It may be dangerous to have this recipe at my fingertips!
It is difficult to eat just one slice, Luci! That I will say!
That looks so absolutely gorgeous! I love the lemon color inside the cake and I love how you have drizzled it. Can’t wait to try
Thank you so much, Veena!