The BEST copycat Starbucks lemon pound cake recipe!!

 
 (Photo courtesy of yellowblissroad.com.)


Oh, my gosh! I found the absolute BEST copycat Starbuck lemon pound cake recipe last week. My son has always loved the Starbucks lemon pound cake with lemon icing -- he says he loves it mainly for the icing. So when it came time to plan a small, family-only graduation party for him (thanks a lot, COVID-19!), I decided to surprise him with a homemade version.

Whenever I decide to make something I don't already have a tried and true recipe for, the first thing I do is search the internet. As usual, my search turned up a boatload of recipes. I then narrowed my search results to those with anywhere between four and five stars and at least five reviews. Then came what is usually the hard part -- going through the first 20 or 30 of them looking for similarities, variations, notes from the author letting me know how their tastes might vary from my family's, etc.

The second recipe I looked at was this one from Kristin at Yellow Bliss Road. I could tell from reading it that it was exactly what I was looking for. Why? Three reasons. The first was the ingredients she chose and her explanations for choosing them. She went to the Starbucks website to look at the ingredients listed in the cake, then experimented with those ingredients and one substitute (lemon extract for lemon oil) until she found the perfect combination. Second, it was clear from her narrative that she has a good understanding of how ingredients interact with each other to affect the finished product. And third, it was clear that she loved the Starbucks version of the cake and had eaten it enough to know when she had gotten it right. I've tried too many "copycat" recipes that don't taste anything like the original. (Can you say "Olive Garden's Pasta e Fagioli?")

This lemon loaf was absolutely incredible! The cake was moist and lemony. It was dense like a pound cake should be, but it still rose enough to feel light. Then the icing on top was the crown jewel. My stars, what bright lemon flavor!! I may have to use that on a few other things. My son LOVED it! And so did everyone else. I had to give my mother a copy of the recipe before she went home, and made sure I saved it in my recipe organizer so I don't lose it. Of course, keeping track of recipes that I like is one of the main uses I've found for this blog. Now I'll never lose it!

Whether you love the Starbucks cake or just want to try making a really good lemon pound cake at home, give Kristin's recipe a try.