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5 from 8 votes

Best Ever Lemon Loaf Recipe

Tangy, moist and delicious Lemon Loaf
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Keyword: best ever lemon loaf, lemon cake, lemon drizzle, lemon loaf, tangy lemon loaf

Ingredients

  • 125 gram/1/2 cup butter room temperature
  • 3 large eggs room temperature
  • 1 cup castor sugar
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1&2/3 cup cake flour
  • 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 cup sour cream room temperature

Lemon Glaze

  • 1/2 cup icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a loaf pan 9"x4" or about 22x11cm with butter and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper
  • Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda and set aside
  • In a large bowl beat the butter and sour cream together for at least 1 minute, using an electric hand mixer. Rub the lemon zest into the sugar. Add it to the butter mixture and beat for 4 minutes until it's light in color. You can beat this on a medium speed
  • Mix in the eggs, one a time. Ensure it is well incorporated
  • Mix in the lemon and juice
  • Add the flour, half at a time. Using the electric mixer, mix until combined, on a low speed. Do not be tempted to over mix.
  • Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Use a spatula and smooth the top. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Allow cake to cool completely before turning it onto a cooling rack

Lemon Glaze

  • Mix the icing sugar and glaze together using a whisk
  • Drizzle over the cool cake

Notes

  1. If you prefer more glaze you can double the amount of icing sugar and lemon juice
  2. The granulated sugar can be substituted with castor sugar
  3. Sour cream gives this cake that fine crumb and definitely adds a beautiful flavour to this loaf so I wouldn't recommend a substitute
  4. I don't feel the need to add vanilla essence, however, feel free to add a teaspoon if you wish
  5. I always use salted butter in all my baking. I understand that the salt content differs  from butter to butter but I don't think enough to create a disaster
  6. The size of the pan matters. If your pan is slightly bigger then you won't get it to rise well because the batter will spread out more