This Zesty Homemade Lemon Loaf Cake is so flavorful, the most refreshing, and incredibly universal. So many people are passionate about the flavor, and that makes this cake a reliable, fun, and delicious treat to serve! This cake is light as ever, bursting with flavor from lemon zest, extract, and juice, and is topped with a thick, shiny glaze!
What I Love About Homememade Lemon Loaf Cake
- flavorful
- easy to make
- no mixer
- quick cleanup
- light, airy, fluffy texture
- moist without being dense or heavy
- simple, yummy glaze
Butter and Oil
You'll notice both butter and oil in this recipe. Butter and oil are both fabulous for baking, but there are definitely advantages and disadvantages to using each!
Butter: The butter in this recipe contributes to flavor and the light and tender crumb. Melted butter adds to ease, deeper flavor, and better moisture!
Oil: The reason there is a touch of oil in this recipe is because it aids in creating a moist cake! I am a big fan of vegetable oil because it helps treats to be moist and stay moist for longer!
Making Lemon Cake
- Step 1: Whisk dry ingredients together
- Step 2: Whisk wet ingredients together
- Step 3: Combine wet and dry ingredients while adding buttermilk
- Step 4: Bake cake
- Step 5: Prepare glaze
- Step 6: Cool cake before topping with glaze
Tips to Perfect Cakes
Room Temperature Ingredients
Using room temperature ingredients will change your life. I am just so sure of it. Room temperature ingredients impact texture, bake time, color... literally everything.
In this recipe, you'll need room temperature eggs, sour cream, and buttermilk. If you forget to leave your ingredients out at least an hour before baking, place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes, microwave your milk for about 20 seconds, and microwave your sour cream for about 15 seconds.
Mixing
Something SO FUN about this recipe is the fact that no mixer is needed... thanks, melted butter! However, you will still need to be careful with how much you mix. When whisking the dry ingredients, whisking a few times to combine the flour, baking powder, and salt is fabulous. When mixing the wet ingredients, mix until you see them come together smoothly. When combining the wet and dry while adding the buttermilk, do not overmix. Don't do it. Mix until the batter is smooth, but do not mix after that. Doing so will lead to dry, dense cake!
Bake Time
Bake time is incredibly important for this zesty homemade lemon loaf. Underbaking could lead to wet, dense, and gummy cake. Overbaking can lead to dry, dense, and crunchy cake.
When this cake is done, it will begin to turn light golden brown on top, will be slightly darker around the edges, should have a crack down the middle, and will look slightly moist in the center.
A toothpick inserted into the center will come out with moist crumbs, and the top should spring right back up when poked! I started checking on my cake around 40 minutes, but it usually bakes in my oven for about 60!
Other Lemon Recipes
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Zesty Homemade Lemon Loaf
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cooling Time: 30 minutes:
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
- Yield: 9 inch loaf 1x
- Category: Lemon, Loaf Cake, Pound Cake, Summer, Cake
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Zesty Homemade Lemon Loaf Cake is so flavorful, the most refreshing, and incredibly universal. So many people are passionate about the flavor, and that makes this cake a reliable, fun, and delicious treat to serve! This cake is light as ever, bursting with flavor from lemon zest, extract, and juice, and is topped with a thick, shiny glaze!
Ingredients
For the Loaf Cake
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup sour cream, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- ⅓ cup buttermilk, room temperature
For the Glaze
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons milk
- ½ tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
For the Loaf Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper. Spray paper with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, mix melted butter, vegetable oil, and granulated sugar together with a wooden spoon or whisk until combined.
- Add room temperature eggs to the batter, one at a time, until the batter is smooth. Stir in room temperature sour cream, lemon extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Add dry ingredients into the batter, making sure to not overmix. Slowly add buttermilk as you stir in the dry ingredients. Batter will be thick.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake for 40 minutes before checking the loaf. If the top is browning, tent the pan with aluminum foil. Continue baking until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 12-20 minutes more depending on your oven!
- Allow cake to cool in the pan before removing to add the glaze.
For the Glaze
- In a large bowl, whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice, and milk together until smooth. The mixture will be thick and should fall off of the spoon slowly but consistently. If the mixture looks wet, thin, or watery, add powdered sugar. If the mixture is difficult to mix and does not have a consistent drizzle when lifted by the spoon, add a touch of milk until desired consistency is reached.
- Pour glaze over cool loaf. Store covered at room temperature for up to 4 days. Cake is best served fresh.
Keywords: Lemon, Lemon Zest, Loaf Cake, Cake, Summer
Kate says
My mom asked for us (her daughters) to make this cake for her birthday cake. My mom was obsessed with the cake! I was a little skeptical at first when the sour cream was added but it came out SO AMAZING! I had no idea that making something so elegant could be so easy!
★★★★★
Elise says
Yay!!! So glad you enjoyed the cake, Kate! I totally understand the hesitation with sour cream, but the tenderness it adds to baked goods is unmatched! Thank you fro trying and sharing!