Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake + Juneteenth Cookout 2021

Last Updated on June 11, 2021 by Chenée Lewis

For my family, no holiday gatherings are complete without a table full of desserts. There are always the usual must-haves: sweet potato pie, peach cobbler, banana pudding, icebox pies, and pound cakes of all varieties. This recipe for lemon sour cream pound cake reminds me of that dessert table, and all the 7-up cakes and sock-it-to-me cakes that the amazing bakers in my family bring to it.

I’m especially proud to share this recipe to celebrate Juneteenth, the oldest national celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. It commemorates June 19th, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger announced to citizens of Galveston, Texas that all formerly enslaved people were finally free — two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. From then on, Black Americans around the country have celebrated June 19th as Juneteenth, our country’s second independence day, a day of jubilation and remembrance.

Today, Juneteenth continues to grow in prominence, and is traditionally celebrated with parades, barbecues, street fairs, and rodeos. Food and drink are important parts of Juneteenth celebrations, which is what brings us to this year’s Juneteenth Virtual Cookout, an annual collaboration among Black food bloggers and creators to celebrate the culinary tradition of Juneteenth. This year, more than 40 Black creators have come together to contribute to this collaborative menu as a Freedom Day tribute, and you HAVE to see these amazing recipes!

The full list of all of the creators and their recipes is down below — you can take part in the Freedom Day celebration by trying and sharing these recipes, and following along with #JuneteenthCookout2021 on Instagram!

What is the origin of pound cake?

Early pound cake recipes date all the way back to the 1700s in England, and two pound cake recipes are included in 1796’s American Cookery, the first cookbook published in the United States by an American author, Amelia Simmons. As the decades progressed, pound cake recipes grew in popularity, particularly in Southern states.

In 1866, Malinda Russell, an African American woman born and raised in Tennessee, published A Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen, which is now recognized as the very first cookbook published by an African American chef. Mrs. Russell led a truly remarkable life, including working as a cook and a nurse, and owning a laundry, a boarding house, and a pastry shop. In A Domestic Cook Book, Mrs. Russell presents hundreds of recipes, mostly for sweets and baked goods. Several of them are unmistakable as pound cakes, and many have striking similarities to this lemon sour cream pound cake:

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Then, in 1881, when Mrs. Abby Fisher published What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, the second known cookbook by an African American chef, she included two pound cake recipes as well, cementing the pound cake as an archetype of both Southern and African American cooking.

Today, pound cakes of all types are a consistent presence on the tables of Black families. I personally find so much joy in knowing that when I bake this lemon sour cream pound cake, I’m honoring the culinary and pastry traditions of these trailblazing Black chefs, and all of the talented bakers in my own family as well.

How do you make a lemon pound cake moist from scratch?

The secret for a moist texture in this lemon sour cream pound cake is right there in the name: the sour cream! Just like with my chocolate sour cream pound cake, the sour cream in this cake creates a moist, tender cake while maintaining that rich, dense crumb that all good pound cakes have. Also, I would definitely recommend full-fat sour cream to achieve the perfect level of moisture.

Also, make sure not to over-bake your cake! Leaving your cake in the oven even a couple minutes too long can dry it out, so begin to check it a few minutes before the recipe says it’ll be finished.

Ingredients

• granulated sugar – we’ll use granulated sugar to create a nice sweetness and balance out the tartness of the lemon in this pound cake.
• lemon zest – pressing the lemon zest into the sugar helps to bring out the natural oils present in the zest, and gives us a brighter lemon flavor in this lemon sour cream pound cake.
• salted butter – make sure your butter is room temperature. If you prefer to use unsalted butter, just add ½ tsp of salt in with your dry ingredients.
• eggs – your eggs should also be room temperature.
• vanilla extract – be sure to use a high-quality pure vanilla extract. Or better yet, check out my post on how to make vanilla extract at home with just 2 ingredients!
• fresh lemon juice – the combination of zest and juice in this sour cream pound cake gives us such a perfect lemon flavor!
• sour cream – our not-so-secret ingredient! Make sure you use a full-fat sour cream, and that it’s room temperature as well.
• cake flour – using cake flour in this lemon sour cream pound cake gives us a soft, tender crumb that is so perfect with the buttery cake. Be sure to use a kitchen scale to measure by weight, or use the spoon-and-level method to measure by volume. If you don’t have cake flour, see below for an easy substitute!
• baking soda – we’ll add a little baking soda to make sure that we get a nice lift to this cake.

Finally, we’ll make an easy lemon glaze for this sour cream pound cake!

• powdered sugar – provides the structure and sweetness for our glaze. Just like with our cake flour, be sure to measure it correctly.
• lemon zest and juice – for a boost of lemony flavor. Add a little extra lemon juice as needed to achieve the right thinness.
• melted butter – a touch of butter gives the glaze a richer texture!

Equipment

This lemon sour cream pound cake requires basic cake tools — an electric mixer, a whisk and rubber spatula, and of course, a Bundt or tube pan! My favorite pound cake pan is this Nordicware Elegant Party Bundt Pan, which provides such a neat shape and divides into lots of perfectly-sized slices!

Tips and F.A.Q.

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