Lemon Pound Cake Muffins

Making regular cakes into personal-sized cakes, like these lemon pound cake muffins, is a fun way to manage portions and create snack-sized treats for lunchboxes or the office. These mini cakes get a light lemony glaze that makes them more of a dessert than a breakfast muffin recipe (though if you eat these in the morning with coffee, we won’t tell anyone). They last well in or out of the fridge, and they can be dressed up with fruit and whipped cream or eaten as a simple little cake. These pound cake muffins are ideal for bake sales, potlucks and road trips—just about any time you need a hand-held treat.

What are pound cake muffins?

Traditionally made with equal parts butter, flour, sugar and eggs, pound cakes are on the dense side with a tight crumb, unlike cake recipes that result in a lighter, fluffier texture. Because of the amount of dairy, pound cake also has a rich flavor that stays moist during storage.

Pound cake muffins are simply pound cake batter baked in a smaller format. Pouring the batter into muffin cups makes it easy to determine single portions, and the cupcakes can be super cute when decorated. Because it’s cake batter instead of traditional muffin batter, they’ll be a touch on the sweeter side.

Ingredients for Lemon Pound Cake Muffins

• Butter: Butter is essential for any pound cake recipe. Some bakers prefer unsalted butter for all their recipes, but it’s fine to use lightly salted butter here.
• Sugar: You’ll need granulated sugar for the cake batter and confectioners’ sugar for the light lemon glaze.
• Eggs: Use room-temperature eggs so they combine more easily with the other ingredients. Cold eggs can cause the room-temperature butter in a recipe to solidify.
• Sour cream: Sour cream gives these muffins a rich and tangy flavor. You can use Greek yogurt if needed.
• Extracts: Real vanilla and lemon extracts give your pound cake muffins plenty of flavor. Some people like to add an extra 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract to this recipe for even more citrus power.
• Dry ingredients: You’ll need all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda for these little cakes.
• Lemon juice: Before squeezing lemons to extract their juice, use a Microplane grater to remove the zest. (It’s one of the best ways to use a Microplane.) Then, add that zest to the juice for an extra hint of lemon-y color and a flavor boost.

Directions

Step 1: Make the batter

Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the sour cream and both the vanilla and lemon extracts. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture, stirring just until moistened.

Editor’s Tip: As with many tender baked goods such as cakes, muffins and pancakes, the goal is to combine the ingredients with the least possible mixing to avoid developing stretchy gluten strands in the dough.

Step 2: Bake the muffins

Fill 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool for five minutes before removing the muffins from their pan to a wire rack.

Step 3: Add a glaze

In a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins. Serve warm.

Lemon Pound Cake Muffin Variations

• Add berries: Blueberries and lemon are an exceptional combination, and stirring in a handful of fresh berries would be an excellent addition to these pound cake muffins. Strawberries, raspberries and blackberries would be great too.
• Try frosting instead of icing: Cream cheese frosting or an elegant Italian meringue buttercream would take these muffins to another level. Or, think about a flavored topping, like strawberry frosting.
• Use a crumb topping: Make these more muffin-like with a classic streusel topping or a sprinkle of sugar instead of the glaze.
• Include some herbs: Consider adding a small amount of minced fresh rosemary, basil or thyme. The flavors will be surprising and delightful.

How to Store Lemon Pound Cake Muffins

To keep the muffins moist, put them in a cookie tin or other airtight storage container. They’ll last up to four days at room temperature and one week in the refrigerator.

Can you freeze lemon pound cake muffins?

Yes, these lemon pound cake muffins freeze nicely. Place them in a freezer-proof container, and if you can, use parchment to separate them so they don’t stick together. Use the cakes within three months.

Lemon Pound Cake Muffin Tips

How do you make sure the lemon pound cake muffins are moist?

The secret to making muffins nice and moist is having a high fat-to-flour ratio, so the butter and sour cream do a lot of heavy lifting for texture. Try not to overmix the batter, which can lead to toughness. And don’t overbake them; take them out of the oven as soon as the toothpick comes out clean. It’s ok to check the muffins five or so minutes before the stated time in the recipe. Every oven is different.

How should you serve lemon pound cake muffins?

Looking for a new take on strawberry shortcake? Cut lemon pound cake muffins in half and use them as the base for your berries and whipped cream. For breakfast, griddle muffin halves on a griddle pan with butter, then slather them with your favorite delicious and delightful jam recipes. They’d also be good as a base for a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream, or turn them into sweet croutons and sprinkle them atop a sundae.