The details

Pound cake!! Gosh it’s so good. I’ve been working on my perfect pound cake recipe for a while. It’s got to be dense, melt-in-your-mouth, balanced in flavor, and with a tender, creamy crumb. This Lemon Blackberry Pound Cake has all that, plus tart lemon flavor and a delicious blackberry-honey reduction. I love lemon flavor, especially when paired with spring and summer berries–strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, I love it all. The flavor combo is so light and bright, and just screams warmer weather and the coming of Spring. This cake is delicious during the daytime and would make a great Easter lunch treat.

Process Notes

This cake is relatively simple, but here are a few process notes to set you up with success with this pound cake.

Creaming the butter on medium-high before adding the sugar is important! Pound cake has a lot of fat (e.g., butter, sour cream) and not a lot of leavener, so incorporating air into the butter during this first step helps give the pound cake some height! Don’t skip it. Similarly, slowly add your lemon sugar after creaming the butter to make sure the sugar doesn’t compress all that air you worked in.
Always always always massage your sugar with citrus zest. First off, it smells amazing and is like a treat for your hands. Secondly, it allows the zesty oils to penetrate the sugar and results in a greater depth of flavor.
Mix the batter until *just* combined, and no more. This is important to make sure the cake rises correctly!
In that same vein, don’t make the mistake I’ve made and open the oven before 1 hour of baking time. This can make your cake go hollow on the inside (yep) and it’s very sad. So just hold off. If you bake it at 325, there’s no way it will burn before that hour has elapsed.
Lastly, make sure you reduce the blackberries until they are thick and jammy! I’ve made a strawberry reduction with the same procedure and it turned out great. It would also be delicious atop this lemon pound cake, so feel free to give that a try if it’s your preference!

Similar Recipes

Citrus lovers, not to worry. Here are some of my favorite recipes that feature orange + lemon flavors:

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Lemon Blackberry Pound Cake

Print Recipe

Celebrate the flavors of Spring with this Lemon Blackberry Pound Cake. It has a dense, melt-in-your mouth texture, lots of tart lemon flavor, and a sweet blackberry honey reduction to top it off!

Yield: 1 medium loaf cake 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the lemon pound cake:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tbsp lemon zest (zest of 2 small or 1 large lemon)
2 eggs, room temp
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
4 oz sour cream, room temp
1/4 cup whole milk, room temp
2 drops yellow food coloring gel (optional)

For the blackberry reduction:

6 oz blackberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tbsp honey

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare your loaf or Bundt pan by lining it with parchment and/or generously greasing and flouring.
In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup granulated sugar + lemon zest. Massage the lemon zest into the sugar well. Allow this lemon sugar sit covered for the oils to continue to seep into the sugar.
Make your cake batter. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter on medium-high for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add your lemon sugar slowly while the mixer is mixing on medium until combined. After all the sugar is added, continue creaming butter + sugar on medium-high for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl in between additions. Beat on medium high 3-5 minutes until well incorporated. Add your lemon juice and vanilla, beating on medium until combined.
In a separate mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternate adding dry ingredients and wet ingredients while the mixer runs. The order will be 1/3 dry ingredients, sour cream, 1/3 dry ingredients, milk, 1/3 dry ingredients. Stop running the mixer as soon as the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients is incorporated. Add your food coloring if using and beat or fold briefly to combine.
Spoon your batter into your prepared pan and level off the top with a spatula. Bake at 325 for about 1 hour, 15 minutes. The top of the cake will be cracked and browned, and a toothpick inserted will come out clean when done. DO NOT open the oven until at least an hour of cook time has passed!
Allow cake to cool completely to room temperature on a cooling rack. Cake can be stored at room temperature, covered.
While cake cools, make your blackberry reduction. Heat blackberries and granulated sugar in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Berries will release juices, breakdown, and then begin to reduce. Reduce for about 5-10 minutes, until jammy and reduced by half. Pour berry mixture into a blender or food processor and blend until smoothish. Pour into a heatproof container and add powdered sugar and honey. Whisk until smooth. Allow to cool, then pour onto your cooled pound cake. You may need to use a spoon to help distribute the berry reduction around the cake.
Enjoy! This cake can be stored at room temp for up to 3-4 days, covered in an airtight container.

Notes

This recipe is written for one medium loaf pan. If using a bundt pan, as pictured, plan to double this recipe for both the cake and the blackberry reduction.
The berry reduction would also be delicious with raspberries or strawberries! Feel free to substitute the fruit of your choice. Fresh or frozen fruit can be used, as it ultimately gets cooked down and blended.

Author: Caroline Crockett
Category: cake, pound cake