Meyer Lemon Pound Cake With Candied Lemon Slices

12 slices
1 hr 15 min

My sister and her husband recently bought their first house. It has a large backyard and they're planning to plant a Meyer lemon tree along with some other citrus fruit trees. I'm hopeful that they'll share their harvest bounty in exchange for tasty, lemony baked goods. One such treat I plan to entice them with is my Meyer lemon pound cake topped with candied lemon slices.


Unlike a regular old standard lemon, a Meyer lemon has a thin edible rind. In this recipe, you will need paper thin slices. I recommend a Mandoline slicer but a very sharp knife will do in a pinch. The thin slices of whole lemons are placed on top and then sprinkled with a bit of sugar to candy them. It makes for a sweet, but not too sweet, eye-catching pound cake.

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake With Candied Lemon Slices
Recipe details
  • 12  slices
  • Prep time: 15 Minutes Cook time: 60 Minutes Total time: 1 hr 15 min
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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp fine kosher salt
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sour cream at room temperature
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup and 2 tbsps granulated white sugar
  • 3 Meyer (or other thin-skinned lemon variety) lemons
  • Cooking spray
Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Spray some cooking spray in a standard sized loaf pan to grease. Line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt).
Zest two of the lemons. Add the zest to a medium-sized bowl. Add the sugar to the bowl then use your fingers to extract the oils from the zest by rubbing it between the sugar granules.
Juice one of the zested lemons until you have 2 tbsps worth of juice. Add the juice to the lemon zest sugar mixture along with the sour cream and eggs. Whisk everything together until incorporated.
Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture using a spatula. Fold in the melted butter next. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Using a Mandoline slicer, or very sharp knife, slice the third lemon into paper thin rounds. Remove any seeds. If using a knife, I find that it is easiest to cut the lemon if you partially freeze it first in the freezer for about 20 minutes. If you cannot get your rounds sliced thin enough where the will drape over your knife, then I recommend you omit the decorative lemon slices on top.
Place the thin lemon rounds on top of the cake and sprinkle them with the remaining 2 tbsps of sugar. Bake for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges are golden brown in color. Let cool before serving.
Tips
  • Sometimes I'll add a dash of turmeric (you won't taste it!) into the dry ingredients to pump up the yellow color.
Comments
  • Aimee Aimee on May 25, 2021

    Yum! What a great tip to add tumeric to get that gorgeous yellow color.

  • Love your tumeric trick! Have used in in many chicken soup recipes for the same reason. Plus it's good for you! Going to make one as written. Then make a second batch and see how many of the mini loaf pans I can fill up. And obviously adjust the baking time accordingly. Would like to make for my boss and coworkers in individual portions so everyone will enjoy without worrying about covid. We are all lemon lovers and I have a tree. Feel so bad as lemons are expensive in the markets. Bet this would work well with limes too. Can't wait! We are going into the first heatwave of the season, may have to wait a week. Thanks for sharing your luscious recipe!

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