A delicious recipe for Italian Lemon & Olive Oil Pound Cake. This cake has a wonderful natural lemon flavor and is moist and dense. It’s topped with a tasty lemon glaze to make it even yummier!
We love all things Italian, especially the food! My husband had a work party where each person brought a dessert from their favorite country to share, so I made this delicious Italian Lemon & Olive Oil Pound Cake for it. This recipe was so fun to make. I love mixing ingredients, and it felt so fancy making this, but it was plenty simple at the same time.
This recipe has delicious ingredients in it. Obvious lemon, which I love. It makes my hands smell so good! It also has olive oil and ricotta. Yum! Once it’s baked, it’s topped with a beautiful and simple lemon glaze. I made sure I got to keep a piece to myself before he took it to work, and man, was it good! I love the lemon in it, and the lemon glaze is perfect.
One Year Ago: Pepperoni Pizza Grilled Cheese
Two Years Ago: Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (My favorite cookie!)
Three Years Ago: Weekend Brunch Casserole
Italian Lemon & Olive Oil Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 2 large eggs (separated)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons whole milk
- ¾ cup ricotta cheese (can substitute Greek yogurt)
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (strained)
- 3 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
Lemon Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line the bottom of 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf pan with parchment paper, butter the pan and the paper.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a bowl of an electric mixer, combine the egg yolks, granulated sugar, and lemon zest. Beat at medium speed until the mixture thickens, is pale yellow, and forms ribbons when the whisk is lifted, 3-4 minutes. Allow to sit.
- In a separate bowl, beat (or, whisk) the egg white to stiff peaks. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, in another bowl, whisk together the extra virgin olive oil, milk, ricotta cheese, and lemon juice. Slowly drizzle in the oil mixture with the mixture in the electric mixer with the machine running. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture, and mix just to combine. Add in the butter and mix just to combine.
- Remove the mixing bowl from the stand mixer and fold in the stiff egg whites.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake, rotating the pan once after 25 minutes, until the top of the cake is golden, the center bounces back when touched, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 45 minutes.)
- Carefully remove the cake from the loaf pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
- While still warm, prepare the glaze. Combine the lemon juice with powdered sugar until smooth. Add more lemon juice if needed for desired consistency. Pour over the pound cake and let it set. Enjoy!
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment!
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Oh my gosh, this looks amazing. I wish I had some right now!
Thanks so much Jamie!
This looks like something I would love!
Thank you Francesca!
This looks so GOOD! I love pound cake! I don’t think I’ve ever had Italian pound cake though so I will have to give this recipe a try 🙂
Thanks Amy! This pound cake is one of my favorite. Lemon is the best!
Yummy!! Pinned. Thank you.
Kathi
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it out.
Visiting from The Weekend Re-Treat. I love lemon and this loaf looks delicious! I’d love a slice right now.
This sounds so delicious! I’m looking forward to trying it:)
Looks delicious! I really like olive oil, but I was wondering: is this also good if you use coconut oil or almond oil? Because I don’t have olive oil at the moment, so I thought I will replace it with one those.
Alex- I can’t tell you for sure but I bet either would work! Especially since there isn’t very much olive oil in this recipe. Please let me know how it goes and what you try!
How many servings does the cake make? 🙂
It’s made in a regular size loaf pan so it just depends how big you slice each piece.
I followed every step right but it turned out less than an inch thick! why didn’t it rise??
I’m so sorry to hear that! I know how frustrating it can be when a recipe doesn’t turn out. The only thing I can think of is to make sure your baking powder is fresh.