Martha Stewart’s Lemon Pound Cake Gets a Punch From a Whole Lemon — *And* A Secret Ingredient

We all want to be the person who “wins” the summer barbecue with a show-stopping dish that strikes the perfect balance between utterly ingenious and seemingly effortless. But that culinary task is much easier said than done. If you’ve ever tried to smush a random, experimental ingredient (potato chips, anyone?) into cookie batter only to fail miserably, you know what we mean. Luckily, Martha Stewart has done the work for us by developing a recipe for lemon pound cake that calls for a whole, boiled lemon and a pomegranate.  

If you want to shake things up and innovate an old classic, it’s probably not a surprise that you can rely on Stewart. Our longtime favorite homemaker is known for being a bit of a chameleon. Famous at first for her picture-perfect image, then infamous for a stint in jail, she recently graced the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 81. So we trust that her rich yet light pound cake hits the mark between traditionally sweet and a tad bit tart (in a purposefully zesty way). 

“Move over, lemon zest: This cake gets a whole lemon — boiled, chopped, then stirred, pith and all, into the batter,” Stewart writes in Martha Stewart’s Fruit Desserts. “It’s somehow more intensely lemony yet less sharp than zest and juice alone.”

She also says that the pomegranate adds both brightness and color: “The juice tints the glaze pink, while the seeds are scattered across the top.”

You’ll spend just over two hours making the dessert, but we think that the time is an excellent investment. Plus, while the cake is cooking, you can use the extra downtime to practice a demure “thank you” speech to give your newfound, adoring fans. Your best bet is to play it off like Stewart and act like your culinary genius comes so naturally that it’s no big deal.

Martha Stewart’s Lemon Pound Cake Recipe

Ingredients 

1 lemon

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan

1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The glaze

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2 to 4 teaspoons 100% pomegranate juice

2 teaspoons whole milk (optional)

1/3 cup pomegranate arils (seeds)

Directions

In a medium saucepan, cover whole lemon by at least 3 inches of water. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until lemon is tender, about 30 minutes; drain, pat dry, and let cool. When cool enough to handle, roughly chop lemon, removing any visible seeds. Pulse in a food processor until finely chopped.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter a 41/2-by-81/2-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out any excess. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with chopped lemon and beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating until just incorporated.

Transfer batter to prepared pan, smoothing top with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 1 hour 25 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool 30 minutes. Turn out cake onto rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and 2 teaspoons pomegranate juice. Add up to 2 more teaspoons pomegranate juice, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until glaze is thick yet pourable. (For a lighter pink glaze, substitute with 2 teaspoons whole milk.) Pour pomegranate glaze over cooled cake. Top with pomegranate arils. Let set, at least 30 minutes, before slicing to serve.