As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
A variation on the theme of a regular Pound, so this Lemon Cranberry Buttermilk Pound Cake was born.
I had some leftover buttermilk, so found this pound cake recipe today. I made it two ways: first as written, and then a second loaf with orange instead of lemon and added some dried cranberries too. I have frozen them both for later use, but they look so scrumptious and moist – I can’t wait for an opportunity to pull them out!
Pound cake
It is believed that the Pound Cake is of Northern European origin and dates back to the early 1700s. A recipe for pound cake is in the first U.S. cookbook, American Cookery, which was published in 1796.

Lemon Cranberry Buttermilk Pound Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf per mixture 1x
- Method: Easy
- Cuisine: Northern European
Description
Had some leftover buttermilk, so found this pound cake recipe today. I made it two ways: first as written, and then a second loaf with orange instead of lemon and added some dried cranberries too. I’ve frozen them both for later use, but they look so scrumptious and moist – I can’t wait for an opportunity to pull them out!
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup butter (add 1/2 tsp salt if using unsalted butter)
- 1 cup sugar (I decreased this for the orange version)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 lemon for zest only (or orange for my adapted one)
Syrup
- 1 lemon for juice only (again, orange for the adapted version)
- 4 tbsp. icing sugar (I used only 1/2 for the orange version)
Instructions
- Whisk or sift flour, baking powder, and salt (if using) together in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whip up the room temp butter until fluffy – I used my hand mixer.
- Add sugar and mix well again.
- Mix in eggs one at a time, beating well each time.
- Then mix in 1/3 of dry ingredients until barely combined with a mixer.
- Do the same with ½ of the buttermilk.
- Keep doing this with another 1/3 of the flour, then the rest of buttermilk, and then the last of the flour.
- Be careful not to overmix.
- Grate the zest into the mixture and fold through with a spatula.
- For the orange version, I added a couple of handfuls of dried cranberries here.
- Scoop into the well-oiled loaf tin, spread evenly, and bake at 325°F / 165°C for about 50 minutes.
- Mine needed a bit more time to brown and cook through, so make sure to use a cake tested and when it comes out clean, all good.
- Combine juice and icing sugar and brush over the loaf while warm.
- For my first one, I took the loaf out of the pan before brushing with syrup, and it was quite a mess.
- So, I left it in the pan for the second one to contain the mess – I like that method more.
Notes
Prepared, tried, and tested by Corlea Smit from The Recipe Hunter: Tried and Tested Recipes From Home Chefs
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 227
- Sugar: 20.7 g
- Sodium: 25.3 mg
- Fat: 9.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 34.8 g
- Fiber: 0.6 g
- Protein: 3.2 g
- Cholesterol: 52.5 mg

This sounds yummy!
Thanks Cherie, yes you’re correct, it’s super delicious. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
The amazing recipe blew my mind. The Lemon Cranberry Buttermilk Pound cake will be such a great appetite with our today’s dinner. Can’t wait to eat this😋
Abide – this is fantastic, please let me know what you think of it when you enjoy it. If possible please return to this post and leave a rating and review if possible, as it’s always great for others to read how much you love and enjoy it. Thanks again
Morning beautiful friend! This recipe popped up just in time when I was actually hunting for a pound cake recipe. Can’t wait to try this out.
I am so happy – it’s seems to be telepathy then – hope you will love and enjoy it. My daughter made these and its yum yum for sure,