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This simple recipe for a classic Glazed Lemon Loaf Cake yields a refreshing and moist lemon cake. Top it with a simple and tangy lemony glaze for a scrumptious treat!
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If you love lemon desserts as much as I do you will want to try this Glazed Lemon Loaf Cake, a delicious, buttery and light lemon cake iced with a simple lemony glaze. Similar in texture to a pound cake, this lemon cake is a perfect way to celebrate the arrival of springtime and would definitely make a wonderful addition to your Easter and Mother’s Day celebrations.
Perfect for serving at brunch, for an afternoon snack and even sweet enough for dessert, this refreshing Glazed Lemon Loaf Cake will not disappoint. With only a few easy steps you can enjoy buttery lemon flavour coming from every bite of this moist and tender loaf. What’s even better, is that you can make this loaf with only basic baking ingredients and a couple of fresh lemons. To get the best lemon flavour and the most out of my lemons, I like to use both the zest and juice in my lemon flavoured baked goods.
How to Zest and Juice a Lemon
When using both lemon zest and juice in a recipe, it’s important to start by removing the zest from the lemons before cutting and juicing them. Trying to zest an already juiced lemon is not an amusing task! Also frustrating is not having a good zester to work with. Investing in a good zester will make sure that you get optimal results by getting all the aromatic zest off the lemons. Also, remember to only zest the coloured part of the citrus fruit, the white pith underneath is very bitter and will impart a bitter taste to your baked goods. Once you’ve zested the lemons, apply a bit of pressure on them while rolling them on the counter back and forth a few times, this will help you get more juice out of them.
The most challenging part of making this Glazed Lemon Loaf Cake is having to wait 50 minutes for it to bake and then letting it cool enough to glaze it. The glaze I used in this recipe is a simple mixture of icing sugar (confectioners’ sugar), a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a touch of cream or milk. Just combine the ingredients in a bowl and whisk, you can add more lemon juice if you prefer it tangier, and more cream or milk to get a thinner glaze. This simple lemony glaze gives the loaf a bit of extra sweetness and an extra hit of tanginess.
By the way, this loaf can be made ahead of time and frozen, just make sure to wrap it well. I would also recommend freezing it without the glaze, it can be glazed quickly once it has thawed and is at room temperature. If you love lemon flavoured desserts, you may want to take a look at this decadent Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Lemon Loaf Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest from two lemons
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup sour cream I used full-fat sour cream, yogurt will also work, but not the zero fat kind.
Lemon Icing
- 1 cup icing or confectioners' sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice more to taste
Instructions
Lemon Loaf Cake
- Place a rack in the middle section of your oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk and set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter with the sugar until light and creamy. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, beat again for approximately 30 seconds.
Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and the vanilla extract.
- With mixer running on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Approximately, 1/3 of the flour mixture, then add 1/2 the sour cream, add 1/3 of the flour, add the remainder of the sour cream, and then the rest of the flour.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake the loaf for 45 to 55 min. With a toothpick or a cake tester, check to see if the loaf is done at 45 min, if the toothpick comes out clean or with just a couple of crumbs the loaf is done, if not, check again in 5 minutes. Mine took 50 minutes to bake.
- Place the loaf on a rack to cool for 15 minutes before removing the loaf from pan. Remove loaf and let cool until cake is slightly warm. Pour lemon glaze on loaf.
Lemon Glaze:
- In a medium bowl, combine the confectioners sugar with lemon juice and cream or milk, whisk until smooth and pour onto the loaf while still slightly warm. Let glaze set for a few minutes before slicing and serving.
Your glazed lemon loaf cake sounds perfect for this summer served alongside some sliced fresh fruit or berries.
Hello Karen! You’re absolutely right, this would be delicious with some fresh berries. Thanks for stopping by!
Looks absolutely delicious! I’ll try with yoghurt I guess.
Thank you, yogurt will work!
Looks so tempting to eat 🙂
Thank you!
Looks so refreshingly delicious
Thanks so much Alex, I hope you’ll give it a try!